Bahrain Grand Prix – qualifying

April 14, 2007 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Current air temperature 33°C; track 44°C; wind 1.8m/s; humidity 35%
There were a few spots of rain during the morning practice session; Hamilton was fastest, 0.006s quicker than Raikkonen.

Q1:
First out is Wurz, followed by Coulthard and Button.
JB had an engine failure but he won’t be penalised because it had already completed the required 2 races.
Wurz 1:34.985
Rosberg 1:34.470
Trulli 1:34.462
Webber 1:34.211
Liuzzi 1:34.024
Davidson 1:33.403 in the Super Aguri!
Hamilton 1:32.580
5mins left – everyone bar Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen & Kubica have set a time
(Alonso goes P2 on hard tyres)
Massa 1:32.443
3mins left; bottom six are Sato, Schumacher, Wurz, Coulthard, Albers & Sutil
Rosberg changes to soft tyres and jumps from P16 to P7
Chequered flag is out
Bottom six: P17=Sato; 18=Liuzzi; 19=Speed; 20=Sutil; 21=Coulthard; 22=Albers.
Apparently DC has gearbox problems.

Q2:
90secs gone and no-one on track as yet
Kobalainen is apparently in the T-car after a(nother) fuel pump problem
Schumacher is first to go out, followed by Toyota teammate Trulli and both Williams
TSN commentators are talking about Michael Schumacher’s ongoing involvement with Ferrari and how he’s a calming influence on Massa because “he [MS] has never lost his temper” – seriously??
Schumacher 1:32.294
Trulli 1:32.853
Webber 1:32.808
Heidfeld 1:32.233 (that beats the fastest Q1 time)
Hamilton 1:31.732
Button is the slowest so far @ 1:34.660
(Alonso to P3)
5mins left; Massa & Raikkonen yet to set a time but they’re both on track now
Massa 1:31.359
(Raikkonen to P3)
3mins left; bottom six are Fisichella, Schumacher, Kovalainen, Wurz, Barrichello & Button.
Both Ferraris pit but most of the rest of the field takes to the track for their final couple of laps
Chequered flag is out but the bottom 6 are all on hot laps
Wurz up from P14 to P9
Kovalainen up to P10
Fisichella steals P10
Bottom six: P11=Wurz; 12=Kovalainen; 13=Davidson; 14=Schumacher; 15=Barrichello; 16=Button.

Q3:
Battling for the top 10 spots are: Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg & Fisichella.
Hamilton is already at the pit lane exit … and he’s on hard tyres
The two BMW Saubers line up behind LH, followed by the Ferraris and Webber
Session starts; looks like everyone’s on hard tyres, saving a soft set for their final flying laps
Hamilton 1:34.206
A puff of smoke from Hamilton’s McLaren but that could just be overfill
10mins left
Heidfeld pits – new hard tyres
Hamilton in for soft tyres
Looks like most are pitting for soft tyres now, just before the “half-time” mark for this session
Trulli (P10) is still ~3secs of the peak pace
5mins left
Massa 1:33.090
4mins left; the order: FM, LH, KR, FA, RK, NH, NR, MW, GF, JT
3mins left: order unchanged
More pit stops before the final push
Final minute of Q3
Massa goes fastest in Sector 1
Chequered flag is out
FM quickest in S2
Massa improves his P1 time @ 1:32.652
Hamilton still P2
Raikkonen can’t improve on P3 … and nor can Alonso with P4