Massa On Pole For Turkish GP

Istanbul Park and Felipe Massa must possess a special bond.  The Brazilian has been on pole in 2006 and 2007 subsequently winning both events.  This afternoon’s qualifying was no different, and he looked in a different league to the rest of the drivers as he powered his Ferrari into pole.

Although he looked very strong, Raikkonen looked like he was struggling in places but with low fuel in Q2 he was very fast to the rest of the field.  Being down in 4th, I believe him to be running longer stints than Felipe.

McLaren showed better pace, and are lining up 2nd and 3rd.  Hamilton decided to use only the hard compound Bridgestones in the final session, shunning the option compound tyre.

Robert Kubica was hooked up in the BMW Sauber and got 5th, his team mate lagging down in 9th.

Webber, Alonso and Trulli making up the slots between them.

David Coulthard got through to Q3, but will start 10th after deciding not to waste tyres on doing laps in that final session.

Rubens Barrichello will start 12th tomorrow, the day on which he becomes the most experienced F1 driver of all time, with his 257th start.  Button is just behind in 13th.  Both drivers admitted that the car was pushed as far as it could go, and now they “Need another step to move forward”.

Glock was down i 15th, after a poor lap where he appeared to have gone off, uncovered by the FIA coverage.  Surprising as he had been in 4th place in Session 1.

Nelson Piquet was knocked out in session 1, a disappointing surprise for the Brazilian.

With Super Aguri gone it was left to Force India to prop up the table.

Pos Driver Make Q1 Q2 Q3 laps 1. Massa Ferrari 1:25.994 1:26.192 1:27.617 16 2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.736 1:26.290 1:27.808 16 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.192 1:26.477 1:27.923 15 4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:26.457 1:26.050 1:27.936 17 5. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:26.761 1:26.129 1:28.390 17 6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:26.773 1:26.466 1:28.417 17 7. Alonso Renault 1:26.836 1:26.522 1:28.422 18 8. Trulli Toyota 1:26.695 1:26.822 1:28.836 20 9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.107 1:26.607 1:28.882 20 10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:26.939 1:26.520 1:29.959 16 11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:27.367 1:27.012 13 12. Barrichello Honda 1:27.355 1:27.219 13 13. Button Honda 1:27.428 1:27.298 14 14. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.442 1:27.412 15 15. Glock Toyota 1:26.614 1:27.806 15 16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:27.547 9 17. Piquet Renault 1:27.568 7 18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.621 8 19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.807 10 20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:28.325 9