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Hamilton takes pole

Lewis Hamilton did all he could to place his Mclaren at the front of the grid for tomorrows Chinese Grand Prix, taking pole position with a last minute flyer, having seen Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari run quickest in both prior sessions.

The lead title protagonist timed his lap perfectly, his 1:35.908 eclipsing the Finns 1:36.044 with no time left to run, and he now has a perfect opportunity to try and control the race from the start.

Felipe Massa was quickest in the shoot-out until the dying stages, being eclipsed by his team mate Raikkonen, and by Hamilton, by the merest of fractions of a second, and will start third alongside Fernando Alonso in the second Mclaren.

Looking at the times it would appear that Alonso may be fuelled somewhat heavier than Hamilton, leading to interesting tactical connotations in both camps.

An excellent fifth place goes to David Coulthard, the Scot out-pacing his generally quicker team mate Mark Webber all session, the Australian lining up seventh – with Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota between the two Red Bulls – on weekend that sees the Red Bull pair looking very good indeed.

Ralf was the only Toyota runner to get into the final section, Jarno Trulli having fallen in the second session to start 13th.

Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica line up a rather lacklustre eighth and ninth in the BMW’s, while Jenson Button pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat to take tenth position in what must rank as the years worst car – the Honda RA107. Team mate Rubens Barrichello could not get out of the first session, and will start 17th.

Excellent efforts by Tonio Liuzzi and Sebastian Vettel see the STR duo take the sixth row, while Heikki Kovalainen joins Trulli on row seven, the Renaults disappointing today as Giancarlo Fisichella could only manage 18th.

Anthony Davidson was again mighty in the Super Aguri – Ron, this guy should be on your shopping list, give him a go – and took a worthy 15th, quicker than a very disappointing Nico Rosberg in a Williams that really should have done much better – Alex Wurz in the second FW29 starts 19th, while Takuma Sato in the other Aguri will line up alongside him.

At the back came the Spyker pair, this circuit not suiting the improved car at all.

This race is by no means a foregone conclusion, as one can bet that the strategies of the four top runners are significantly different. The World Championship is at a vital point – Raikkonen must win to stay in it, Alonso must finish ahead of Hamilton to stay in it, Massa will do his best for his team mate, and Hamilton needs to keep cool and do his best.

Join UpdateSport tomorrow for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Written: Sat, 06 Oct 2007 07:24:35