11-Oct-08: Hamilton Takes Pole Position in Japan

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Today is the 11th October 2008, and this is F1 Minute.

Free Practice 3 was declared wet on Saturday morning in Japan, although the rain had stopped and the track dried throughout. We saw a mixed up session, with Kubica, Glock and Piquet ending up the fastest three.
For qualifying, the rain had well and truly gone, and the sun came out. Hamilton took pole position by two tenths of a second. Raikkonen managed to improve on his recent qualifying performances by lining up second on the grid. Meanwhile Massa posted the third fastest time, but was pushed down by both Kovalainen and Alonso, and so lines up fifth.

Both Toro Rossos and both Toyotas are in the top ten, whilst Heidfeld was the surprise of the day, failing to get through the first session. BMW left him on the harder tyre during the first stint to try and save rubber for later on in qualifying, but unfortunately it was the wrong decision, and there was no later on in qualifying for him. Kubica, meanwhile, starts sixth. The other disappointment was from Williams who had been looking strong but start 14th and 15th.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.