Felipe Massa Takes Pole In Brazil: Lewis Hamilton Starts in Fourth

Adam PooleNov 1, 2008

With such a short lap, (around 72 seconds) the gap between first and the drop-out zone of fifteenth at the end of Q1 was just 0.8s. But it was Massa who managed to secure provisional pole in the first session of Saturday's qualifying session with a remarkable 1m11.830s, the first man to break the 1m12s wall.

In the early stages, it was Toyota who set the benchmark as both of their drivers manage to get on the front row, a Toyota one-two. It was Hamilton's team mate, Kovalainen who was the first front-runner and he managed to split the Toyotas and put his McLaren in a provisional second.

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Hamilton's first and only lap of Q1 managed to put him into provisional pole with a superb 1m12.213, whereas his title contender, Felipe Massa, only managed to put his Ferrari in fourth after his first run-out. It wasn't until Massa's eighth lap that he managed to secure pole at the end of Q1 with his super-fast 1m11.830s lap, almost four-tenths faster than the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen's pace wasn't fantastic at the start of Q1, but he manages to go from ninth to second with a fantastic 1m12.083s lap, a clean lap from the defending World Champion. A Ferrari front row at the minute.

Whilst McLaren sit-tight in the pit lane, the chequered flag goes down on Q1 and Glock manages to secure fourth, Heidfeld manages to squeeze in eighth, Alonso pushes Glock to fifth and slides into fourth, and retiring driver David Coulthard manages to make it through to Q2 finishing the session in fifteenth.

At the end of Q1 we say good-bye to both Williams, both Force Indias and Jenson Button.

Again, Toyota are the first two cars on track as Q2 gets the green light and Timo Glock sets the standard in the low 1m12's. Ferrari are quick to join the running and Finn, Kimi Raikkonen, gets a momentary provisional pole which is swiftly taken off him by team mate Felipe Massa.

Hamilton leaves the pits and is on track to match Massa on the front row and manages to pull something special out in sector two to go over the line and take provisional pole buy only eight hundredths of a second—but teammate Heikki Kovalainen is flying, and as a result, he takes P1 with a 1m11.768s.

Massa stays in the garage as Kimi Raikkonen heads out but fails to improve his time as he stays fifth. Struggling with pace, Robert Kubica, fails to make the cut for Q3 and will start the race tomorrow from 12th.

In a last minute sprint, a completely unexpected Sebastian Vettel manages to push Hamilton down a spot and take second with a clinical 1m11.845s.

Sebastian Bourdais manages to shoot up from eleventh to eighth with a 1m12.075s lap, a superb lap from the Frenchman.

At the end of Q2 we say good-bye to Piquet, Kubica, Webber, Coulthard, and Barrichello.

Timo Glock is once again the first man on th track in Q3 followed shortly by Vettel and it is Vettel who sets the early standard, easily beating Timo Glock.

Massa heads to the track, followed by everyone bar Bourdais. Massa is quickest in sector one and sector two and crosses the line with a strong 1m12.863s lap.

Hamilton, on track, seemed to push his Bridgestones too hard on his out-lap and fails to challenge Massa with a poor attempt, he comes into the pits, a quick change of tyre and goes straight back out and does a very slow out lap to preserve his tires.

Raikkonen, in the mean time, takes P2 with a strong lap from the Finn, only to be pushed off the front row my Jarno Trulli—Trulli having a fantastic session today, obviously he likes this track.

Heikki Kovalainen, the fastest man in Q2, has dropped off the pace a bit and manages only fourth, behind both Ferarris and Trulli.

Massa heads out for his second lap, can he beat his own P1 time? Yes he can, but only just. The "home" driver pushes his F2008 to its limit in sector three and goes over the line with a 1m12.368, remember, he is carrying race fuel as well, surely a very short first stint.

Hamilton takes P2 momentarily but Raikkonen follows shortly behind and pushes him down to third as he goes 0.005s quicker than the McLaren on a 1m12.825s.

A final kick in the face for McLaren as Jarno Trulli, the dark horse, manages to split the Ferraris and hit second—surely he is running on fumes? There can't be much fuel at all in his car.

Hamilton starts tomorrows race in fourth, Kovalainen in fifth, but directly behind Hamilton on the starting grid is Fernando Alonso—a man who has pledged his support to Ferrari in the closing stages of this season, could this be dangerous, or will Fernando follow his word from recent interviews and just leave the title contenders to win their own race?

Hamilton has got to be thinking about how to attack turn one, ideally, he could do with getting away from the line very quickly and getting past Raikkonen before Alonso can come into play—but having said that, if he is in front of Kimi at turn one, nothing to say that Kimi couldn't come into play. However you look at it, Lewis Hamilton isn't in an ideal position, he just has to hope that Kovalainen can cover him from behind.

In a post-race interview with ITV Lewis Hamilton said, "Obviously I think the guys in front are on a different strategy, [to me] that could be bad for them, it might be good. We're in a good position to finish where we are, and possibly make a few steps forward."

Final Starting Grid for Sunday's Brazilian Grand-Prix*

1. MASSA Ferrari

2. TRULLI Toyota

3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari

4. HAMILTON McLaren

5. KOVALAINEN McLaren

6. ALONSO Renault

7. VETTEL Toro Rosso

8. HEIDFELD BMW

9. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso

10. GLOCK Toyota

11. PIQUET Renault