10/05/2008
NEWS STORY
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Ahead of today's Qualifying session, the air temperature is 16 degrees C, while the track temperature is 26 degrees. It is bright and sunny. The officials are confident that there will be no rain during this session.
There is still a lot of confusion as to the form here, with nobody appearing to have a clear advantage at this stage. While the Ferraris dominated yesterday, the Italian team played its cards very close to its chest this morning, as did many of its rivals, most notably BMW.
The top sixteen were covered by less than a second this morning, while Bridgestone admits that it has been caught out by the temperatures this weekend, admitting that - should the 2009 event be held at the same time of year - it would opt for soft and medium as opposed to medium and hard.
The question mark over this year's compounds will surely add to the drama over the next hour.
Following the withdrawal of Super Aguri, we will lose five cars at the end of phases one and two in this session, as opposed to six.
Fisichella is first out, neither Force India driver unlikely to make it through to the second phase today. The Italian forfeits three grid places today after jumping the gun at the start of yesterday's opening session. Glock, Bourdais and Vettel are also on track.
As Fisichella posts the benchmark (29.273), Nakajima and Sutil head down the pitlane.
Glock goes quickest (27.539), ahead of Vettel and Fisichella, as Nakajima begins his first flying lap of the afternoon. The Japanese driver posts 28.114 to go third.
With fourteen minutes remaining, the tyre blankets come off and Hamilton heads down the pitlane. Kimi Raikkonen is already on track.
Glock consolidates the top spot with a 27.412, as Raikkonen goes quickest in the first sector. The Finn maintains the pace in the second sector, finally crossing the line at 26.766. However, Kovalainen has already gone quickest in the first sector, while Hamilton is also on a very fast lap.
Kovalainen goes quickest (26.736) but is immediately leapfrogged by his teammate who posts a 26.192. Massa can only manage fourth, the Brazilian posting 26.931.
Coulthard is the first driver out on the soft compound, the Scot posting 26.939 to go fifth, as Rosberg takes seventh.
Massa improves to second with a 26.526, as Piquet goes ninth.
With just under nine minutes remaining, Kubica is the first of the BMWs to come out.
Webber (hard) goes sixth (27.124) behind his teammate.
Button goes ninth, an improvement on his previous lap, but the Hondas still not looking right.
All eyes on Kubica (hard), who goes ninth with a 27.312. Meanwhile, Heidfeld takes seventh with a 27.126.
Vettel (softs) improves from fifteenth to thirteenth with a 27.442. Elsewhere, Kubica goes fifth while Heidfeld abandons his second flyer having encountered traffic. Next time around the German improves to seventh.
Under three minutes remaining and Button is back on track on hards. Raikkonen and Massa have also opted go out again. Only Hamilton and Kovalainen appear to have settled for their times.
Massa goes quickest in the second sector, the Brazilian maintaining the pace in the final sector, going quickest with a 25.994.
Rosberg improves to twelfth, as Trulli takes fourth with a brilliant lap. Alonso takes ninth, as Barrichello improves to twelfth.
Piquet goes wide and consequently fails to improve, the Renault driver being one of the 'big names' to miss the cut.
Fastest in that phase was Massa, ahead of Hamilton, Raikkonen, Glock, Trulli, Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber, Alonso and Coulthard.
We lose Sutil, Fisichella, Bourdais, Piquet and Nakajima.
The second phase should be a thriller, with both Toyotas seemingly determined to make it through to the final phase. We are sure to lose another couple of big names over the next fifteen minutes, question is, who?
The lights go green but there is no rush to get to work. Indeed, it is almost four minutes before we see the first sign of action.
One of the first out is Alonso, the Spaniard running on softs. Hamilton watches impassively from the pits.
Coulthard (softs) begins his first flying lap, he will be the first driver to post a time in this phase.
The Scot crosses the line at 26.895, but moments later Alonso posts 26.522 to take the top spot. Webber takes second with a 26.794 but is immediately demoted when Raikkonen goes quickest, crossing the line at 26.050.
Trulli takes fourth, as Rosberg goes sixth, meanwhile, all eyes are on Massa. The Brazilian goes second, having gone quickest in the final sector, however, Hamilton is already on a fast lap. The Englishman goes third (26.477) as Kovalainen takes fifth.
Kubica (softs) begins his first flying lap. The Pole goes quickest in the second sector, finally crossing the line at 26.505 to go fourth, following a mistake in Turn 12. Teammate Nick Heidfeld can only manage tenth (27.096).
Three-and-a-half minutes remaining, and only Kubica, Kovalainen and Heidfeld are the only drivers on track.
Barrichello, Rosberg, Vettel, Glock and Button still in the danger zone. With Heidfeld, Coulthard and Trulli not entirely safe.
Only the Ferrari duo opts not to come out for a final run, for the rest it's business as usual.
Kovalainen (softs) goes quickest in the first sector, however, he loses time at Turn 9 as he gets out of shape. At the line it's 26.290, which is good enough for third.
Lots of greens on the timing board - indicating personal bests - but no purples. That said, Kubica goes quickest in the second sector, as Coulthard improves to P6.
Kubica goes second, as Alonso fails to improve. Webber takes fifth, as Trulli holds tenth to make it through to the final phase.
Therefore, we lose Glock, Vettel, Button, Barrichello and Rosberg.
Quickest was Raikkonen, ahead of Kubica, Massa, Kovalainen, Webber, Hamilton, Coulthard, Alonso, Heidfeld and Trulli.
Heidfeld and Trulli are first out for phase three, followed by Hamilton. The German does one lap on softs before returning to the pits.
With six minutes remaining, nobody has posted a time, though everyone bar Coulthard is on track.
Trulli posts the benchmark (30.299), however, this is sure to be destroyed in the next couple of minutes.
Hamilton posts 29.093, but is soon demoted by Massa (27.896) and Kubica (28.711). Moments later, the two are split by Raikkonen, who posts 28.444. Alonso goes fourth (28.832) as the replay shows Hamilton making a mistake which screwed his lap.
Against all odd, Hamilton goes out on hards for his final run. With 2:40 on the clock, neither Coulthard or Webber have posted a time, though the Australian is on track.
Hamilton posts a personal best in the first sector, but gets a little out of shape in the sector. He's fastest in the final sector, thereby moving up to second, however, Massa looks set to improve.
Raikkonen, Kubica and Kovalainen all look set to improve. Kovalainen takes provisional pole, but is beaten by Massa, while Raikkonen can only manage fourth.
The session ends, and Massa, winner for the last two years, starting from pole, ahead of Kovalainen, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kubica, Webber, Alonso, Trulli, Heidfeld and Kubica.
A great session for Massa, but clearly not the lock-out Ferrari had been hoping for, or is this another case of the Maranello outfit opting for a different fuel strategy for its two drivers?
McLaren will be delighted to be starting from second and third on the grid, Hamilton making a brave decision to make his final run on hards while Kovalainen has clearly demonstrated that his Barcelona crash has had no lasting effect.
A very off session from BMW, with Heidfeld well off the pace of his teammate and qualifying a lowly ninth. Surely even a brave strategic decision would have him a little further up the grid than that.
A tremendous performance from Mark Webber and indeed, the Red Bull team, which has both drivers in the Top Ten. All we can hope now is that both drivers can stay out of trouble tomorrow - watch those mirrors DC - and that their cars can go the distance.
Alonso is sure to be disappointed with seventh, especially having started from the front row in Spain, but surely this is the best the French team can have hoped for. That said, why couldn't Piquet at least make it into the second phase?
Another strong performance from Jarno Trulli, though it's a mystery why teammate Timo Glock couldn't maintain his phase 1 pace in phase 2.
Honda and Williams will be hugely disappointed, but in reality neither team could have expected much more.
What remains now is to see what strategy the team opt for tomorrow - tyres as well as fuel - and to keep an eye on the weather, for this could be the true deciding factor.
Although a Tilke track this is one of the German's better efforts and has produced some decent races in the last couple of years. Therefore, following the tedium of Barcelona, let's hope that Istanbul can produce some real Turkish delight on Sunday.