- 27 Sep 08, 15:36#68443Well, what an interesting session. First of, I was surprised how bumpy the circuit is. It's great to see the cars bottoming out and moving around and the drivers and engineers being forced to correct this. The track looks exciting to drive around, but there are few places for overtaking. If we see lots of exterior shots tomorrow, things may get a bit boring, but some onboard shots of the cars wriggling around may live things up a bit. Rain, of course, would be welcome as well. Also, the cars looked great under the lights. The Ferrari looks great, but I think the McLaren just edged it. That said, I don't want all races to be held at night. It's a nice novelty and should be kept as that.
I feel a bit sorry for Alonso. He would definitely have been on the first or second rows had his car not have packed up on him. Piquet's performance was disgusting once again. Piquet has had more than enough time. The excuses are getting boring. Formula One is the highest class of motor racing. Constant and inexplicable failure cannot be tolerated.
It's as well for Hamilton that Alonso did not get to set a competitive lap time. Contrary to what ITV said, McLaren did not waste time and prevent Hamilton from doing another run. When Hamilton came into the pits after messing up his initial attempt, there was not quite enough time to get an extra run. The time was used to make a few tweaks to the car. I think he was also on the option tyre when he exited the pits, which is not as good as the prime tyre for a couple of reasons. Even so, I do accept that he was a bit ragged in Q2. Kovalainen's fifth position looks poor, but he has probably got a lot of fuel in the car relative to all of the guys ahead of him. In fact, I dare say Kubica is running on fumes. Hamilton's second is not bad, but not brilliant. He did make a few errors in the first two sectors of his final run which definitely lost him a couple of tenths, but, again, fuel is a factor. I would put a lot of money on Massa running a lap or two lighter than Hamilton.
Vettel and Glock both put in good laps in cars that weren't really handling the bumps too well. When you consider how far they are above their team mates (and, in the case of Toro Rosso, Red Bull) you can see what a good job they did.
It's good to see Williams in the top ten. They're not as fast as I thought they would be, but the cars are probably loaded with fuel. The chances of a safety car or something are pretty high, and if that does happen, they'll certainly gain a lot.
Ayrton Senna: WDC 1988,
1989, 1990, 1991
McLaren: WCC 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998,
1999, 2007McLaren: WDC 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2008
Hopefully one of em will have a chance of a podium if there is a safety car, however i'm not banking on it after what happened in Valencia.
