BlogF1

Robert Kubica today became the first Pole to take a pole position in Formula One as he charged around the dusty Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. In what should have been a Ferrari wash-out BMW have set the cat among the pigeons and Kubica has now disrupted the Scuderia’s plans of a second easy-win. Massa redeemed himself slightly to take second but it was clear the intention was pole position. In that respect the plan hasn’t worked. Hamilton ended Saturday in third. Continue Reading

Robert Kubica has claimed his very first pole position, being powered to the front of the grid in his BMW F1.08. Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton weren’t too far behind though, the Ferrari pilot only being 0.027s shy of the Polish drivers pace. Hamilton finished a further 0.18s down in third while Kimi Raikkonen ended his Saturday in fourth in the sister Ferrari. Both Scuderia Toro Rossos suffered a poor showing and could only manage 15th for Sebastien Bourdais and 19th for Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg graced the final session and eventually qualified in eighth. Continue Reading

FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting has confirmed the changes made to qualifying after the incident that occurred at the Malaysian Grand Prix. In Sepang two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen had completed their hot laps before the end of the third qualifying session and cruised slowly back to the pitlane to save fuel and tyres. However, Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso were still completing fast laps and the closing speed between the two parties could potentially have led to a horrifying accident. Continue Reading

The FIA have announced yet another tweak to the process of deciding the grid for each race. The change comes about after the dangerous scenario that presented itself in Malaysia last weekend when Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso found themselves on hot laps while the other surrounding cars were cruising slowly back to the pitlane. The primary reason for the 200km/h speed difference between the cars is because of the race-fuel issue: Cars entering the third phase of qualifying must carry the fuel they intend to qualify and race with. Thus, once the hot lap has been completed, the drivers then try to save as much as possible to further their first stint in the race. Continue Reading

It doesn’t come as much surprise that BMW boss Mario Theissen wants changes to be made to the qualifying procedure as soon as possible. BMW driver Nick Heidfeld was unnecessarily held up while attempting to qualify in Malaysia. The incident can only really be described as ridiculous and dangerous. The videos and article can be viewed via this link, but needless to say Thiessen is backed by an awful lot of people. Continue Reading

Following the penalties handed out to Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton, the top of the grid changed slightly as the McLaren duo fall back five places each to eighth and ninth respectively. The demotion of McLaren promotes qualifying-master Jarno Trulli in the Toyota as he originally went fifth. However, I feel the Italian may be running quite light. If it turns out that Trulli isn’t though, it would be a surprise to me, but once again confirm that Jarno is pretty good in qualifying. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld receive promotions, the Pole to fourth and the impeded German to fifth. Renault-powered Red Bull driver Mark Webber improves to sixth while Renault factory team driver Fernando Alonso sits just behind in seventh. Continue Reading

Felipe Massa has taken pole position for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix at the humid Sepang circuit. The Brazilian has been looking pretty handy around the track all weekend and finally brushed off advances from team mate Kimi Raikkonen with a stunning final lap that saw him clear both McLaren’s as well. The Woking-based team are not enjoying this circuit as much as Albert Park, but Heikki Kovalainen lines up third with Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Continue Reading

The FIA have again tweaked qualifying. Instead of splitting the three sessions equally into 15 minute phases, they have now added 5 minutes to phase one (Q1) and deducted 5 minutes from phase three (Q3). The reason behind this change is aimed at reducing the fuel-burning phase that happened in Q3 last season. However, the FIA are attempting to solve the problem with the wrong solution and Q3 was a great disappointment for me earlier today. Continue Reading

Lewis Hamilton starts his 2008 championship campaign in the best possible position, having secured pole position for tomorrow’s race around the Albert Park lake. In what was an eventful session that saw an early exit for reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen, the final ten minute dash turned out to be quite the anti-climax. I’ll save the discussion of the new qualifying format for another post, so let’s go through the field and see how they all did. Continue Reading

Continue Reading