F1-Blog

The qualifying session started with some strange occurrences, even though Renault asked the German Stewards over turned an FIA injunction about the mass damper system, they still decided not to run the system on the car, worried the FIA would overturn it and penalise Renault.

The SA06 of Takuma Sato showed it had a little better pace than the 'Orange Arrows' car that they have been running by popping in between the two Midland cars.

Trulli started his weekend off badly in the Toyota, when his new specification RX06 engine gave up on him in practice and he has had to take a 10 place penalty for replacing it.

The qualifying proper showed up some strange issues as well, the Renault's had very little pace, all the grid believed they had been sand bagging in practice, but it seems that it is not the case. Fisichella was the fastest Renault only getting the 5th spot.

The Ferrari cars where both quick, Massa making the first showing of speed, with Michael close behind. The two Scarlet cars are 2nd and 3rd for Sundays race.

The surprise of the day though was the McLaren of Kimi. Not only did he pop it onto pole on Mercedes home grand prix, he did it in style setting a 1:14:070 with race fuel. Michael could only manage a 1:14:205, this proves that the McLaren team have certainly found some pace over the last couple of weeks, or that they are running Kimi very light indeed.

The tyre war looks to be closer this weekend as well. Michelin have brought a new 'experimental' tyre to the race and it seems (in Qualifying at least) to have brought the Michelin teams back up to the same performance level as the Bridgestone teams.

Let's hope the race turns out to be a good one, the track has a few good overtaking opportunities, and with Alonso so far back on the grid, we should get to see some good driving. 

1.  RAIKKONEN       McLaren

2.  M.SCHUMACHER    Ferrari

3.  MASSA           Ferrari

4.  BUTTON          Honda

5.  FISICHELLA      Renault

6.  BARRICHELLO     Honda

7.  ALONSO          Renault

8.  R.SCHUMACHER    Toyota

9.  DE LA ROSA      McLaren

10. COULTHARD       Red Bull

11. WEBBER          Williams

12. KLIEN           Red Bull

13. VILLENEUVE      BMW

14. ROSBERG         Williams

15. HEIDFELD        BMW

16. LIUZZI          Toro Rosso

17. SATO            Super Aguri

18. MONTEIRO        Midland

19. YAMAMOTO        Super Aguri

20. SPEED           Toro Rosso
21. TRULLI          Toyota*
22. ALBERS          Midland*

* demoted 10 places due to engine change

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