F1-Blog

The first qualifying session of the season has been one that we as spectators were not expecting.

Lets have a look at how well the teams went compared to their expected results.

Ferrari - It was a mixed bag for the new look Ferrari team. Kimi Raikkonen ’sandbagged’ for the first 2 parts of qualifying, making Massa and the McLaren’s look quick. He than ran a 1:26.072 in the third part of qualifying, nearly half a second quicker than his nearest rival.

Massa though stopped out on track during the Q2 session with a damaged gearbox. It seemed to happen after he took too much kerb in one of the corners.

McLaren - A good day for both of the new McLaren drivers. With a 1:26.493 Fernando Alonso lines up second on the grid, with his team mate Lewis Hamilton starting in fourth with a 1:26.755. Both drivers seem to be carrying a little more fuel than perhaps the Ferrari of Raikkonen.

If the team has played the strategy right then they will be strong runners on Sunday.

BMW - As was expected from the BMW team, they have produced a good, quick car. This showed with Nick Heidfeld qualifying in third with 1:26.556. It was not a one off quick run though, as his rookie team mate Robert Kubica managed to run a 1:27.347 to grab the fifth spot on the grid.

The team could certainly be the ‘fly in the ointment’ for the race, and probably this season.

Renault - What can only be described as a bad day for the Renault team. Giancarlo Fisichella managed to claim sixth spot with a 1:27.634, that puts the fastest Renault over one and a half seconds slower than the Ferrari of Kimi.

Heikki Kovalainen did not do well either, after initial speculation about his speed he dropped out of qualifying in the second session, and will start from 13th.

Red Bull - Mark Webber seemed to go quite well in the Red Bull. The car seemed fairly well hooked up, and as such claimed the seventh spot on the grid in the dying moments of Q3 with a time of 1:27.934. His older team partner David Coulthard seemed to struggle with the cars balance and was one of the drivers not to make it through to the Q2 session, David will start 19th.

Toyota - The Toyotas were possibly the shock cars of the qualifying session. Both of the cars have looked off pace all weekend so far.

Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli pulled of a fine display of what can be achieved. Ralf managed a 1:28.692, and Jarno a 1:28.871 to claim 8th and 9th on the grid.

Jarno even dragged a jack down the pit lane in Q2.

Super Aguri - The Honda works team cannot be pleased at their Super Aguri ‘junior’ teams results. Both of the SA cars showed good pace. New boy Anthony Davidson managed to put his car on the 11th spot on the grid.

Takuma Sato was the real surprise encounter of the Q3 session. He managed to get through to the Q3 session to grab the 10th spot, a feat that neither of the works Honda cars achieved.

Williams - The Williams team will have mixed emotions about how they performed. The team will be happy that the cars were reliable and were not massively off the pace.

Nico Rosberg will start in 12th, but his time in Q2 was only a second or so behind the fastest man in that session.

Alexander Wurz showed he needs a little more practice in the race team, he starts 15th with a time around half a second behind his young team mate.

Honda - The Honda team knew that they were in trouble coming into this race weekend, how much they were struggling though, had not been made clear.

The Hondas have struggled all winter season, and showed in qualifying that the raft of aero parts that the team brought with them this weekend have not worked. Jenson Button struggled, forced and dragged his car through into the Q2 session, but could not make the car anywhere near fast enough to get through from that stage. Jenson will start 14th on the grid. Team mate Rubens Barichello will start from 17th after not even getting through to Q2.

Scuderia Toro Rosso - The STR team were expected to be on the pace this season. The Adrian Newey chassis is the same as the Red Bull team run, the engine is a Ferrari one, so what happened?

Scott Speed will start in 18th, while Vitantonio Liuzzi will start on the second last row in 20th.

Spyker - The Spyker team will start from the back of the grid in their first full season. The team will get better, it has hired some good staff, now has a serious backer, and two young and capable drivers.

So with the qualifying over it’s down to the race, how much fuel are the cars running? What tyre strategies are the teams to use? And who is the quickest car and driver combo in 2007’s F1 season?

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