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[myownalias]

Oh great strategy on the timing there for Mclaren Lewis could have had that.

Lewis is seriously pissed off. McLaren f**ked him up again royally. What's going on with them?

Nope, Lewis' f**ked himself; he was caught napping going into the final chicane and got mugged by Schumacher and Webber... didn't you wonder how he found himself behind Schumacher? Third isn't so bad, the McLaren look strong and have been better in the race than qualifying this season. Disappointed to see Vettel on pole again, I was really hope for a McLaren to beat him to pole!

[bud]

Lewis is seriously pissed off. McLaren f**ked him up again royally. What's going on with them?

I don't think that's the case, he got out in time but had some issues with Webber and Schumi

[Hammer278]

Caught napping or preparing the space between himself and the car in front?

McLaren are responsible for timing it such that the driver has sufficient time to get through the lap and NOT get impeded by traffic. If there were cars coming up behind Lewis, it is McLarens responsibility to inform him of conditions in front and behind. They have the bloody GPS at hand not Lewis.

[oaba09]

What happened to rosberg?

[Hammer278]

Hydraulics issue.

[bud]

Apart of qualifying is making that gap for yourself. He got out of the pits ahead of Webber and Schumacher so not sure how he got tangled up with them.

[bud]

Hamilton: Schumi nearly crashed into me
Lewis Hamilton insists he did have enough time to do a final flying lap in qualifying but "dangerous" driving from rivals cost him.

With drivers heading out for their final run in qualifying at Suzuka, Hamilton was sitting at the top of the timesheets with a 1:30.617 and looked good to challenge for pole position.

However, the McLaren was one of the last to venture out, just ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher.

And with everyone leaving it very late, it was a mad dash for the line with Hamilton losing out after being overtaken by both Webber and Schumacher.

The end result was the McLaren driver was not able to put in another flying lap and dropped to P3, behind pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button.

"You could see on TV. I would have to watch replay," said Hamilton.

"Jenson was in front of me, he slowed down to get his gap and I was coming to the last corner trying to make sure I had a gap between him and me.

"It wasn't that big and then just was I was coming into the chicane, I looked in the mirror and saw Mark diving inside me.

"And then I didn't see Michael but he came past me and we nearly crashed with me to the left. It was quite dangerous."

Be good to see a replay of this. Obviously if Webber and Schumacher held back for a gap they wouldn't have made a time. So they went for it.

[Pandaman]

Think Hamilton was trying to get a bit of a gap between himself and JB (you can see JB turning the final chicane in the camera shot). Before he know it, webber and Schumi were steaming past as they knew they had to get on it to pass the line. Hamilton should of pelted then as well but I think he thought he needed to get a gap between him and Schumi but by that time it was too late. Judging by Whitmarsh' comments post session, the team was urging Hamilton to make pace to get past the line, so could be a Hamilton mistake.

[andrew]

Vettel on pole and Massa quicker than Alonso and great effort by Kobayashi at his home GP. Can't complain about that!

Just a pity Webber is 6th. Could have done with him "destorying" Button, Hamilton and Alonoso race.

As for the Hamilton v Schumacher incident, I've not seen it yet but going from what I've read it seems he has gone from blastingSchumacher to blaming himself now.

Lewis Hamilton accepts blame for qualifying error

Sounds like one driver trying to make a gap for themselves but at the same time holding up other drivers who need to get past. They all make daft overtakes in qualifying. I think someone did it in Singapore.

[stephen2682]

well with lewis missing his last lap, doesn't that mean he's gained a set of soft tyres??

[spankyham]

I think it's getting a bit silly with so many teams in the top 10 choosing to not even run a lap in Q3. Not that fair to the paying punters at the track. The FiA has already changed tyre allocation rules during this year, perhaps its time for them to give teams a couple of extra sets of tyres for Q only - the teams have to hand them back after Q.

Also, I think it will take a drive of sheer brilliance to get a Ferrari on the podium tomorrow. Both the RB's and Macca's are considerably faster and also don't have the tyre heat problems that SF have.

I still think it will be an enthralling race.

[What's Burning?]

I think it's getting a bit silly with so many teams in the top 10 choosing to not even run a lap in Q3. Not that fair to the paying punters at the track. The FiA has already changed tyre allocation rules during this year, perhaps its time for them to give teams a couple of extra sets of tyres for Q only - the teams have to hand them back after Q.

Also, I think it will take a drive of sheer brilliance to get a Ferrari on the podium tomorrow. Both the RB's and Macca's are considerably faster and also don't have the tyre heat problems that SF have.

I still think it will be an enthralling race.

I've said the same thing about qualifying an tires pretty much since the second of third race. It's killing the thrill of qualifying and the added strategy to the Sunday race is minimal given the dominance of the lead teams. Not much is going to change, and I'd like to see a 2012 season where we have a set of qualifying tires and a set of race tires, period. Hell go one step further and simply bring an extra two sets of softs for qualifying and that's it. Then we can see everyone pace right from Q1.

[Hammer278]

I think it's getting a bit silly with so many teams in the top 10 choosing to not even run a lap in Q3. Not that fair to the paying punters at the track. The FiA has already changed tyre allocation rules during this year, perhaps its time for them to give teams a couple of extra sets of tyres for Q only - the teams have to hand them back after Q.

Also, I think it will take a drive of sheer brilliance to get a Ferrari on the podium tomorrow. Both the RB's and Macca's are considerably faster and also don't have the tyre heat problems that SF have.

I still think it will be an enthralling race.

I've said the same thing about qualifying an tires pretty much since the second of third race. It's killing the thrill of qualifying and the added strategy to the Sunday race is minimal given the dominance of the lead teams. Not much is going to change, and I'd like to see a 2012 season where we have a set of qualifying tires and a set of race tires, period. Hell go one step further and simply bring an extra two sets of softs for qualifying and that's it. Then we can see everyone pace right from Q1.

But....but...but..what about the TREES??

[andrew]

the trees.

[andrew]

I think it's getting a bit silly with so many teams in the top 10 choosing to not even run a lap in Q3. Not that fair to the paying punters at the track. The FiA has already changed tyre allocation rules during this year, perhaps its time for them to give teams a couple of extra sets of tyres for Q only - the teams have to hand them back after Q.

Also, I think it will take a drive of sheer brilliance to get a Ferrari on the podium tomorrow. Both the RB's and Macca's are considerably faster and also don't have the tyre heat problems that SF have.

I still think it will be an enthralling race.

I've said the same thing about qualifying an tires pretty much since the second of third race. It's killing the thrill of qualifying and the added strategy to the Sunday race is minimal given the dominance of the lead teams. Not much is going to change, and I'd like to see a 2012 season where we have a set of qualifying tires and a set of race tires, period. Hell go one step further and simply bring an extra two sets of softs for qualifying and that's it. Then we can see everyone pace right from Q1.

How about unlimited tyres like they used to have back in the good old days before there were Mickey Mouse tyre rules? Worked perfectly well, hang the cost!