F1: Singapore (Night Race) Qualifying Review

Massa's sparks in the first ever night race.

The most eagerly anticipated race probably in the history of formula one had its qualifying session today. The Singapore street circuit looks phenomenal underneath the black sky with bright lights beaming down onto the track. The 24-corner track has both narrow and wide sections mixing up the Valencia and Monaco grand prix’s and great to watch for the fans. It also provides a new challenge for the teams as they have to alter their cars for the bumpy ground.

Felipe Massa took the night race’s first ever pole position with a simply outstanding lap. Hamilton did get provisional pole but in the dying moments, Massa had to deliver, and deliver he did. Hamilton did well after Q2 scares of just qualifying in 10th. The brief scare was an eye-opener to the leader of the current drivers championship as he only did one lap in Q1. To be honest, it looked like he only needed that one lap, anything more would of been a waste but in the end, he got on the front row of the grid.

Kimi will start tomorrow’s race in P3. He looked back to his old self after he had a scare in Q1 almost not qualifying. After that, he was consistently fast and almost had pole, something we haven’t been able to say for a while now. Vettel also looked very strong today which is understandable from the confidence he gained from the previous win in Monza. The youngest ever winner of an F1 grand prix almost got within the top four but starts in P7 behind Heikki, Kubica, and Nick Heidfeld.

Fernando Alonso, was the previous holder of the youngest ever winner and he would probably want to put today behind him as tragedy struck at the beginning of Q2. The Spaniard’s car stopped after the fuel wasn’t getting to the engine to make it run which they should fix by tomorrow. El Alonso was one of the big guns and could’ve fought through into the front of the grid as he was fast in practice all week. He starts in P15.

Overall, a good day in terms of entertainment. Many teams will be happy with their performances over the entire week and will look forward to tomorrow, where round one of the four races to the crown of the drivers championship will be decided. I was a little concerned about Hamilton’s body language in the post-qualifying interview as he didn’t look comfortable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear what he was saying because the idiots at ITV couldn’t position the mic correctly!

My Verdict: Tomorrow’s race will be great to watch but I’m not sure about the entire result. Part of me hopes for rain as it adds to the spice but if it does, the race have a boring safety car since rain in Singapore comes down heavily. Could there be an upset? Will Hamilton still be at the top of the drivers championship after tomorrow? Leave your thoughts!

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F1: Monza Qualifying Review

Vettel wins his first F1 pole in Monza

After an incredible week in Spa, with a lot of controversy off the field regarding the stewards decision to strip Hamilton of his victory but I’ll come to that part later. Like last week, the weather played a pivitol role in the outcome of qualifying at least. Heikki was consinstently fast throughout qualifying and was actually the first person to dig into the 1.35’s. But pole position went to

the phenomenal Vettel who recently signed to replace DC next season for Red Bull.

The rainy races are fantastic to watch because anything can happen which essentially closes the performance gaps between cars and relies more on driver input. Today’s qualifying was an even contest with Hamilton, Kimi and Robert Kubica getting knocked out in Q2! This was the most surprising and eventful time during the entire day. Kimi and Kubica just struggled to find time and grip and whether that’s down to car setup or just being rubbish in the wet, I don’t know.

Lewis’ P15 start is down to one thing. His/his engineer’s tire choice. The commentators called it a risk, I just think they’re damn right insane. I can see why they tried the intermediate tire as tram lines were appearing after Q1. If they really wanted to try it, they could have for a lap to see its performance. But why after seeing that it was rubbish did McLaren not bring Hamilton into the pit (just like a pit-stop) to change his tires and send him back out again on the extreme wets to get him into at least the pole position shoot out?!?!

Take nothing away from Vettel who probably would still have got pole even if the bigger three drivers qualified for Q3 as he was amazingly quick. This kid does have a bright future ahead of him and will surely be a Ferrari or McLaren driver in the future. Other good performances this weekend was Vettel’s Toro Rosso team mate Bourdais who starts in P4. Mark Webber also had a good session starting alongside Bourdais in P3.

Quick mention on Massa who also struggled. Hamilton will be hunting him down throughout the race so he must also look to head for the top of the grid. Massa starts in 6th place behind Rosberg who was also quick in Williams’ 500th grand prix weekend. Can he capture some points?

For full qualifying times and the starting grid for tomorrow’s race, click here

F1: Hockenheim Grand Prix Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position in with a simply phenomenal lap in a very windy Hockenheim. As Ron Dennis correctly said that being at the front with no one in front of you is pivotal at this circuit due to the high speed corners as well as straights so Lewis looks in good shape for tomorrows race.

Felipe Massa will join Hamiltion on the front row in 2nd place. The Brazilian also looked amazingly quick throughout the weekend. He did a great job considering the misery that faced him at Silverstone. However, in his post-qualifying interview, he said that “it’s not a recovery”. The sister Ferrari on the other hand, looks like it needs to be recovered. Kimi Räikkönen was slow all weekend and looks to be really struggling as he will start the race in P6.

A great day for both Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso who start in fourth and fifth place consecutively. They’ll both look for podium finishes which could happen if something were to go wrong with Hekki Kovalainen’s (who finished 3rd) car. Sebastian Vettel and DC were two others who looked good this weekend. Vettel will certainly be a great replacement for DC next year as he has both youth and pace on his side. For sure, he is one to watch for the future.

Robert Kubica was slow again this week and seems to be having real problems with his car. Despite this he managed P7 while team-mate Heidfeld will start in 12th. Both Jensen Button and Nico Rosberg looked better this week than in Silverstone and that’s probably down to the car as Rosberg couldn’t drive in a straight line and Button found it hard to get into 2nd gear two weeks ago. However, improvements still need to be made in both cars for them to restart their challenge in the mid-grid battle.

Tomorrows race will be an interesting one as it looks like there could be rain and the wind will play a key factor in addition to fuel load as stratergy is the most important thing.

For the starting grid and qualifying times click here.

F1: Silverstone Grand Prix Qualifying

After a bad races for McLaren Mercedes in Montreal and Magny-Cours, it is safe to say that they are back. Recently joined driver Heikki Kovalainen grabbed his first ever pole position while British hero Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in a week where he had to do something a little more special due to bad press. The man from Finland looked quicker than anybody all weekend in both practise and qualifying as he knows the track so well from his driving apprenticeship. He was actually half a second quicker than second-place Mark Webber who was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the weekend so far.

The other surprises included the lack of pace shown my Felipe Massa who will start tomorrows race in 9th place. Defending champion Kimi Raikkonen looked off the pace too until Q3 where he held provisional pole (for about 3 seconds) and will start P3 in front of Hamilton.

Robert Kubica was also relatively slow starting P10. BMW surely look like they’re waiting for next year to really step up their game however further development will be needed for this year although Nick Heidfeld finished in 5th place.

Q1 saw an early departure for Jensen Button, who looks very slow in the Honda. They really need to get some further investment to develop their car or Button may be on his way out. Nico Rosberg who was literally fighting with his car to keep it going in a straight line. His suspension problems really look to be hurting his season. Maybe he should have moved to McLaren when he had the chance.

David Coulthard will be slightly disappointed at coming out in Q2, only 6 hundreds of a second off the pace. He would have loved to be in the top ten for his last British GP. It’s hard to see why his car is so much slower than the sister car that Mark Webber drives but his invaluable experience will be missed by Williams. It will be very interesting to see his replacement, whether it is Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel (who also looked quick finishing in P8).

The race will be both exciting and eventful as no one knows what will happen especially after recent weeks. As usual, car setup, fuel load, strategy and the weather will play pivotal roles.

For the starting grid and qualifying times click here.