Lewis Puts Himself In Perfect Position
By Emma Aitken
October 11 2008
Ferrari looked set to start tomorrow's Japanese Gran Prix with a front row lock out. Then Hamilton, Kovalainen and Alonso spoilt the fun. Lewis claimed pole from Kimi and Heikki came out on his final lap to rid Massa of his third place. Then, Fernando put paid to that by knocking Massa down to a fifth starting position on tomorrow's grid.
October 11 2008
Ferrari looked set to start tomorrow's Japanese Gran Prix with a front row lock out. Then Hamilton, Kovalainen and Alonso spoilt the fun. Lewis claimed pole from Kimi and Heikki came out on his final lap to rid Massa of his third place. Then, Fernando put paid to that by knocking Massa down to a fifth starting position on tomorrow's grid.
Lewis Hamilton put himself in a fantastic position to keep his world championship dreams alive by taking pole position in Japan today.
At the beginning of Q3 it looked like Ferrari had locked out the front row but by the end of the session things looked very different.
It had looked like Kimi Raikkonen was finally going to take pole position; it would have been his first since Magny Cours in June but Hamilton responded with a blistering time of 1m18.404s to claim pole for himself.
To really scupper Ferrari’s day Kovalainen came out on his final lap of the session and did his team mate a great favour by knocking Massa down to fourth on the grid.
It didn’t end there though. Fernando Alonso continued his great form and put in the lap that was to demote the Brazilian to fifth which is where he will start tomorrow’s race.
Kubica will line his BMW up beside Massa, in a disappointing day for the team as his team mate Nick Heidfeld failed to make it any further than Q1 today.
Toyota had a great day in front of the home crowd, rewarding their fans by filling the fourth row with Trulli taking seventh place and team mate Glock lining up behind him in eighth.
Yet again it was another successful qualifying performance for Toro Rosso. The two Sebastians, Vettel and Bourdais complete the top ten, lining up ninth and tenth respectively.
Sister team Red Bull Racing will, once again line up behind their little sister team. David Coulthard put in a great single lap performance to get his Red Bull to 11th on the grid, out qualifying Webber for a change, who will start in 13th. Renault’s Nelson Piquet will split the pair on the grid.
The Williams team had a good start to the weekend in the practise sessions but couldn’t emulate that performance in qualifying. Nakajima and Rosberg start 14th and 15th respectively. Nick Heidfeld, who was knocked out of qualifying in the first session will line up in 16th.
Barrichello out-qualified his team mate Button. Both Honda drivers failed to give their home crowd anything to cheer about. They start 17th and 18th respectively. The Force India’s of Sutil and Fisichella complete the grid. POS Driver Team 1 Hamilton McLaren 2 Raikkonen Ferrari 3 Kovalainen McLaren 4 Alonso Renault 5 Massa Ferrari 6 Kubica BMW 7 Trulli Toyota 8 Glock Toyota 9 Vettel Toro Rosso 10 Bourdais Toro Rosso 11 Coulthard Red Bull Racing 12 Piquet Renault 13 Webber Red Bull Racing 14 Nakajima Williams 15 Rosberg Williams 16 Heidfeld BMW 17 Barrichello Honda 18 Button Honda 19 Sutil Force India 20 Fisichella Force India
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