We move to China for the penultimate race of the season. With all the interviews before qualifying, Martin Whitmarsh was heard saying that Lewis had NOT followed orders in Japan, and Patrick Head was heard saying that although drivers need to be aggressive, sometimes that doesn't pay off and a driver has to drive conservatively especially at this stage of a championship, which it seems that LH hasn't been doing.

Nelson Piquet Jr. was the first driver out onto the circuit for Q1 as usual and setting the first time of 1:37.511.

Lewis came out and set a fantastic first time, and was the first driver to break the 1:35 mark.

At the end of Q1 we lost Coulthard, Nakajima, Button, Sutil, and Fisichella in that order. McLaren looked very strong after Q1, Toro Rosso and Renault at this stage looked stronger than the Ferrari's. After the session, DC expressed the fact that he wasn't happy with Nick Hiedfeld, and watching it, I can see what he meant. DC was clearly on a flying lap and Nick on an in-lap, and he should have moved out of the way.

In Q2, Kubica was having serious problems with the balance of his car and he was unable to set a decent time, and finished a very unimpressive 12th place, he will move up a place after Mark Webber takes a 10-place grid drop due to having to change his engine after a blow up in practice. Also out of Q2 were Piquet, Glock, Barrichello and Rosberg.

In Q3, after the first runs, it looked like LH and FM were running slightly heavier than their team mates. Both came in and put fresh soft compound tyres on.

At the end of Q3, Lewis starts the race from a well deserved Pole position, Raikkonen starting a fantastic second with Massa at third, maybe, carrying more fuel. Alonso after saying he will help the Ferrari's out as much as he can starts the race in fourth.

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