UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Hamilton on pole

Massa with work to do

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday with a solid performance in his McLaren. Unfortunately for the team, Heikki Kovalainen could not secure a much needed front row start; instead Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari will take to the front row.

Conditions were dry at the start of qualifying which saw regular backmarkers in Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil of the Force India team drop out of qualifying. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in the home Honda's also fell by the wayside, as well as the surprising Nick Heidfeld. The BMW has not looked good at all this weekend and once again he found himself with work to do. Unfortunately he could not make up the lost ground and will start from 16th. Timo Glock was again the surprise, setting the fastest time in the first session.

The second session saw Nelson Piquet once again disappoint the Renault squad as he dropped out of contention, qualifying a low 12th on the grid. Mark Webber, who is usually a qualifying specialist, will also be disappointed after the speed they showed this weekend as he bowed out unusually early in 13th, just ahead of both Williams drivers - Kazuki Nakajima ahead of Nico Rosberg. David Coulthard was the unlucky 11th fastest in a session that was dominated by Lewis Hamilton and the front runners.

The final session came down to its regular shootout and it was Lewis Hamilton laying down the law as he beat out Raikkonen by two tenths. Raikkonen was also comfortably ahead of compatriot Kovalainen, who narrowly edged Fernando Alonso from third position as just three hundredths of a second separated them. It was an even closer margin between Alonso and Felipe Massa for fourth, with the Ferrari driver losing out by two hundredths, meaning he will have a large amount of work to do if he wants to beat Hamilton this weekend. Robert Kubica in the second BMW put his team mate to the sword once more as he completed another solid run in sixth, ahead of the two Toyotas with Jarno Trulli slightly shading Glock. Sebastian Vettel beat home his Toro Rosso team mate Sebastien Bourdais, but both look to be on long strategies for the race.

Written: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:39:34