The Ferrari duo were never realistically challenged around the French track, and they seemed to be revelling in their advantage. Lewis Hamilton took the fight to them, but even when the McLaren driver set the fastest time in the opening session, the Ferrari boys rubbed salt into his wounds with glee, both going out for unnecessary final runs and beating his time with ease, simply to demonstrate their authority. By the end of the final top ten shootout, the Ferrari's were comfortably at the top of the times, with Kimi Raikkonen grabbing the pole ahead of Massa, and even then, Massa failed to better Kimi's early time on his final run, allowing Raikkonen the luxury of cruising back to the pits and aborting his own final flying run. All in all, it was an anti-climax of a session.
Hamilton ended the final session behind the Ferraris in 3rd place, his hopes of getting any higher ruined when he messed up his first run of the final part of qualifying at the Nurburgring chicane. This though, of course, actually translates to 13th place on the grid with his penalty from Canada, and it will be interesting to see whether the fuel load he ran in qualifying will allow for a comeback drive. His team mate Heikki Kovalainen had a pretty messy session, and ended the day 6th (i.e. 5th), which was a disappointment for McLaren, who would have wanted Heikki to take points off the Ferraris here.
As for BMW, they seem to be having a wretched time with the Magny-Cours track. The joyful 1-2 finishers in Montreal two weeks ago struggled throughout the session. Indeed for much of Q1, it looked like season-long qualifying struggler Nick Heidfeld wouldn't even be making it any further, mired as he was in 18th place until his final flying run. He didn't manage a further leap in pace in Q2, despite the times being tight, and lines up 11th, with championship leader Robert Kubica faring a little better in 6th after Hamilton's penalty.
With all the mess-ups and grumbles conspiring against the recognised non-Ferrari frontrunners, the coast was clear for some of the midfielders to step up to the plate. Renault had been showing decent pace all weekend, Nelson Piquet Jr even grabbing a low-fuel time topping lap in free practice 3 earlier in the morning, and in qualifying, Fernando Alonso plonked his R28 right up on the second row, a net 3rd once Hamilton is demoted. He is joined on the second row by former team-mate and current Toyota man Jarno Trulli, who recovered from a silly spin at the start of Q3 to secure 4th.
That spin of Trulli's ruined Mark Webber's opening flying lap to boot, and the Aussie could only recover to 8th (i.e. 7th), behind the third row pair of Kovalainen and Kubica. After enjoying a lucky old time of it so far in 2008, there were signs in this session that the old bad luck he has had down the years was making a reappearance. Along with that incident, he seemed to be held up in Q1 by a strange bit of goings on between Kazuki Nakajima and Kovalainen, who ended up seeming to block the Red Bull driver. Fortunately, that had no repercussions for the Aussie, and hate mail can be solely directed at Mr J. Trulli.
The rest of the top ten will be comprised of David Coulthard, right behind his team mate as the Scot tries to impress enough for one last year in F1 for 2009, Timo Glock, who had problems of his own early on in Q3 after running wide, and ended up slowest of the top ten competitors, and Piquet Jr, who as eliminated in Q2, as is his way, but nets a top ten spot thanks to Hamilton's demotion.
Elsewhere, the Toro Rosso duo could only manage mid-grid placings, despite Sebastian Vettel looking quick throughout the practice sessions, and they line up either side of Hamilton in 12th and 14th. Nico Rosberg, who also suffered a grid position penalty, minimised the effects of his drop by only qualifying 15th, and hey presto, he only drops back five places! Still last for the Williams boy, and he'll be hoping for some first lap shenanigans in order to get anywhere near the points. A terrible session all round for Williams, as Kazuki Nakajima was eliminated in Q1 and will start 15th.
Finally, Honda had a dreadful session, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello ending right down the bottom of the times with the Force India twins. Ross Brawn's tenure of the team only seems to be making things worse, and the lack of pace the team has managed recently only makes Barrichello's appearance in Q3 in Montreal all the more incredible.
All in all though, a grid that Ferrari probably would have struggled to realistically make any better for them. Their cars serenely line up on the front row, while all manner of Alonsos, Trullis and Webbers litter the ground around their rivals. Tomorrow may well be one for the Ferrari fan only.
| French GP Grid | |||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:16.449 |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:16.490 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:16.840 |
| 4 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:16.920 |
| 5 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:16.944 |
| 6 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:17.037 |
| 7 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | 1:17.233 |
| 8 | David Coulthard | Red Bull - Renault | 1:17.426 |
| 9 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:17.596 |
| 10* | Nelson Piquet Jr | Renault | 1:15.770 |
| 11* | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:15.786 |
| 12* | Sebastian Vettel | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:15.816 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton † | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:16.693 |
| 14* | Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:16.045 |
| 15** | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | 1:16.243 |
| 16** | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:16.306 |
| 17** | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:16.330 |
| 18** | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Ferrari | 1:16.971 |
| 19** | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Ferrari | 1:17.053 |
| 20* | Nico Rosberg † | Williams - Toyota | 1:16.235 |
** - Eliminated in first session
† - Dropped ten places on grid for Canadian GP pit idiocy
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
