Massa has scored pole position for the very first F1 night race at Singapore, beating Lewis Hamilton by six tenths of a second. Hamilton pulled out an impressive lap at the end of qualifying, especially considering the fact that he almost didn’t make it through to Q3. His first lap in the second session went wrong, and he had to abort it, and his second lap saw him tenth. Once again, he had to abort the third, and thankfully for him no one managed to push him out. Alonso finished 15th in that session, as he had to retire his car moments after hitting the track.
In team mate comparisons, Vettel pulled out an impressive 7th to Bourdais’ 17th, and Button finished in 12th to Barrichello’s 18th. Fisichella finished last having only managed to complete two laps due to a gearbox problem from Free Practice 3.
We also learned today that Kovalainen is using up his free engine joker for this race, and will therefore start with a fresh motor.
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
From an unexpected pole position to a superb victory, Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest ever F1 race winner by taking his maiden win in Italy.
The race got underway with a safety car start due to the weather conditions, but it was only a couple of laps before racing began proper. Vettel pulled out an early lead, whilst team mate Bourdais was a lap down having stalled on the grid.
The first few laps were amazingly clean, with very few incidents. In fact, the race itself only saw one retiree in the form of Fisichella. He collided with Coulthard during an overtaking manouvre that dislodged his front wing. The wing went under the car and the Force India headed straight into the tyres.
Hamilton one-stopped his way up the field, but made another bad tyre decision by taking on extreme wets when the rest of the field had inters. He had to pit an extra time, but finished a respectable 7th, just behind Massa. Raikkonen woke up towards the end of the race and finished 9th.
Congratulations to Vettel, and the other podium finishers Kovalainen and Kubica. I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Free Practice 3 was wet, and very little meaningful running took place, although Hamilton and a few brave drivers did take to the track. When qualifying began, it was still raining, but the first session looked like things were going to plan, as both Honda’s, Nakajima and Sutil were all knocked out. Finally, after proclaiming it their target all year, Force India got through to the second session with Fisichella at the wheel. McLaren appeared to make a bad decision in Q2, sending Hamilton out for one lap on intermediate tyres. He returned to the pits for extreme wets, but couldn’t get a lap time together, and finished that session at the back, starting 15th on the grid, just behind Raikkonen.
In Q3, Massa and Kovalainen were the soul representatives of the top two teams, but it was Toro Rosso who made it work. Vettel took an early lead, when conditions were less wet, and as it began to rain once more, no one could beat it. The Italian squad start their home race from their first pole position.
That’s it for today, join me again tomorrow with all the info from what’s bound to be an incredible race.
Today is the 7th September 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
The story of Spa is one of the first lap and the last lap. As the lights went out, Raikkonen had a great start and jumped into second behind Hamilton. Kovalainen had a poor start and dropped from third to 13th. Raikkonen managed to overtake Hamilton and dominated the race from there.
There were only two retirements during the race, Piquet spun out and crashed into the barriers, and Barrichello pulled into the pits with a gearbox problem.
As the last laps got underway, it began to rain, and Hamilton had closed up the gap to the Ferrari considerably. The pair were battling corner to corner, one second Lewis was in front, the next it was Kimi, until ultimately, Raikkonen spun in the wet and hit the wall. Hamilton and Massa crawled round the last lap in the wet on the wrong tyres and McLaren got the victory.
It has been reported that the stewards are investigating an incident between the pair where Lewis had to give a place back to Kimi, but as yet, we don’t know.
Therefore, I will be back later with another F1 Minute.
Welcome to F1 Minute, today is the 6th September 2008.
Hamilton has put McLaren on pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix tomorrow, posting a time three tenths of a second faster than second place Felipe Massa. Kovalainen aimed for the front row as well, but missed, settling behind the Ferrari, with Raikkonen in turn behind him.
For the second race in a row, both Toro Rosso drivers made it into the third session of qualifying, although didn’t get any higher than 9th and 10th. For a moment it looked as though Force India might be able to get into Q2, as Sutil was running in 14th, but inevitably he was pushed down the order. Both Force Indias and Hondas start at the back of the grid, plus Nakajima who had a very poor showing.
Heidfeld had a good day though, qualifying 5th well ahead of Kubica in 8th, trying to ease some of the pressure on him from BMW.
There was no rain to speak of, and no major incidents, and it looks as though tomorrow may be a dry day as well.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
You’re listening to F1 Minute and it’s the 5th September 2008.
The Belgian Grand Prix weekend got underway today with two free practice sessions, one led by Massa and the other by Alonso.
Free Practice 1, Massa was fastest ahead of Raikkonen and then Hamilton. It stayed dry for most of the session, although the track started out wet after overnight showers. There were no major incidents but Trulli had some electronic problems and Kubica moaned to his team for pretty much the entire morning.
Free Practice 2 saw some rain, and some incidents. Webber, Fisichella, Raikkonen, and Piquet all came off track, with the first two unable to continue. Alonso was fastest ahead of Massa and Kovalainen.
After both sessions, drivers were allowed to practice starts from the grid. In FP1, Bourdais couldn’t take part because his car came to a stop at the end of the pitlane, and in FP2 Kubica couldn’t take part because he stalled it. How embarrassing.
That’s everything for today. Join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
It was just yesterday that I told you about BMW’s desire for Nick Heidfeld to start getting some better results, and the German driver has made a good start. He topped the timesheets for Day 2 at the Monza test, pipping Rosberg in the Williams by just two tenths of a second.
Kovalainen was third ahead of Vettel and then Massa, who caused the one red flag throughout the day, having a quick trip into the gravel.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Ferrari, team principal Stefano Domenicali has been talking about the dynamic within the team. Whilst they’re not ready to put their full support behind just one driver yet, Domenicali is quoted as saying that Raikkonen is more than happy to support Massa if it should fall that way. He also said he has faith that Raikkonen can pick up his game once more, it’s just a matter of the team giving him a car that he likes.
And talking of the championship, McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh believes a big part of the title this year will come down to the uncontrollable factor of the weather.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Today is the 27th August 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
Day 1 of the test at Monza has wrapped up with a fine showing from Felipe Massa. He topped the timesheets just ahead of Kovalainen in the McLaren and then Rosberg in the Williams. Piquet did the most work, 117 laps, but he ended the day as the slowest car.
Having said that though, Renault seem to think that going slowly can actually help them get better results. We’ve seen the two Renault drivers posting painfully slow lap times during practice at the last two Grands Prix, and we’ve not really known why. Now it seems that Renault are convinced their tyres do better after running a couple of slow laps. They’re using data from the German race when Piquet finished second having run some laps behind the safety car. Apparently Alonso will be testing this phenomenon when he gets his turn in the car this week.
And very quickly to finish, BMW have apparently told Heidfeld he needs to start getting some better results if he is to keep his race drive for next year.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
The Valencia preview quotes are starting to trickle in now, and we have plenty of excitement from McLaren. Hamilton says he is enjoying the break for a chance to recharge his batteries but he’s also looking forward to getting to the new circuit. “I enjoy visiting new racetracks and I’m looking forward to getting into the cockpit on Friday morning. It looks like being an amazing track.” He also says that although he doesn’t want to make any predictions about the championship, what he can say is that the key is to be consistent over the remaining races.
Whilst we’re on the subject of championships, Gerhard Berger has said that he’ll be sad to see Vettel go to Red Bull next year, but knows the driver has to move on to better things. He said: “He can do everything really and I am convinced that one day he will win the Formula 1 championship.”
Finally, back to McLaren, Kovalainen says that his win in Hungary was great, but it really doesn’t change anything, he still thinks he has a lot to learn.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
Hands up everyone who was expecting a boring Hungarian Grand Prix? Yup, me included. This race was anything but, though. Whilst the lack of overtaking did hamper things somewhat, we still ended up with a podium of Kovalainen, Glock and Raikkonen.
Here’s a quick summary of what happened: Hamilton lined up on pole, but Massa got a fantastic start from third and overtook both Kovalainen and Hamilton to take the lead of the race. He pulled away a decent enough lead and retained his position through the pit stops.
During the second stint, Hamilton picked up a puncture, which meant he had to bring forward his pit stop, and take on the soft tyres much earlier than he would have wanted. It looked like nothing could stop Massa from taking victory, but three laps from the end, the Ferrari engine blew up on the home straight, leaving Massa a short but agonising walk back to the garage.
Kovalalainen inherited the win whilst Glock picked up second after a really strong performance. Hamilton finished 5th, and continues to lead the driver’s championship.
That’s it for today, I will be back tomorrow with all the reactions from the race, in another F1 Minute.