Daily Update Formula1 News

"Bahrain is a technically interesting circuit. The layout means a lot of braking and a lot of accelerating out of low speed corners. Maximising traction out of the corners is the key to a good lap time, but if a car has less than ideal traction, additional unwanted heat can be created, and this will make matters more difficult for competitors. There is a lot of heavy braking here too, and it will be interesting to see how the different braking characteristics between the KERS and non-KERS cars affects lap times, and also the racing. Tyre management and minimising unnecessary tyre heat in what could be very hot conditions are very important considerations here. We have the medium and super soft tyres and we expect the medium tyre to be very durable. The super soft should present more of a challenge in terms of durability than the medium, however the data from the Bahrain pre-season tests show that this tyre can be managed well on this track if the correct set-up is found."
Hirohide Hamashima
ref[formula1.com]

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Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, resisting a strong challenge from his main title rival Felipe Massa.

Heikki Kovalainen put the second McLaren third on the grid, but three-time race winner Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) will start only fourth this time.

McLaren looked on course for a front row sweep after the first flying laps of Q3, with Hamilton and Kovalainen provisionally holding first and second.

Massa was back in fifth thanks to a scruffy first run, but he recovered well to set a 1:47.678 lap at the second attempt to usurp Hamilton.

The Briton was already responding, however, beating all three of Massa's new benchmark sector times and producing a 1:47.338 to snatch pole back by over three tenths of a second.

Kovalainen, who had topped Q2, had to settle for third, just over a tenth quicker than Raikkonen.

Nick Heidfeld out-qualified his BMW teammate Robert Kubica for only the second time this year as the German took fifth, alongside Renault's Fernando Alonso, while Kubica had to settle for eighth.

Mark Webber scraped into the top ten in the closing moments of Q2 and then earned seventh in Q3 - which was something of a breakthrough on a so far difficult weekend for Red Bull. David Coulthard only managed 14th in the second car.

Toro Rosso again got both cars into top ten, with Sebastien Bourdais going fastest of all in Q1 with a shock late lap. The Frenchman and teammate Sebastian Vettel had to be content with the fifth row when it came to Q3, through, with Vettel saving fuel and only opting for one qualifying attempt.

Webber's improvement meant that both Toyotas were pushed out of the top ten. Jarno Trulli looked set to reach Q3 until Webber's improvement pushed him down to 11th, while Timo Glock didn't improve sufficiently on his last Q2 run and had to settle for 13th. Renault's Nelson Piquet will start between the Toyota pair.

Force India appeared to be on course for their best qualifying result of the year as Adrian Sutil grabbed 14th and Giancarlo Fisichella edged up to 16th towards the end of Q1.

But last gasp improvements from Glock, Webber and the Hondas relegated Sutil and Fisichella to 18th and 20th respectively, split by Kazuki Nakajima's Williams after a very disappointing performance from the Japanese rookie. His teammate Nico Rosberg was 0.7 seconds faster in Q1, but couldn't better 15th in Q2.

Although Honda managed to beat the Force Indias, they couldn't summon enough speed to avoid Q1 elimination, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button ending up only 16th and 17th, 0.6 seconds slower than they needed to be to reach the next segment.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.887 1:46.088 1:47.338 12
2. Massa Ferrari 1:46.873 1:46.391 1:47.678 16
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.812 1:46.037 1:47.815 16
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.960 1:46.298 1:47.992 14
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:47.419 1:46.311 1:48.315 18
6. Alonso Renault 1:47.154 1:46.491 1:48.504 18
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:47.270 1:46.814 1:48.736 19
8. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:47.093 1:46.494 1:48.763 20
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:46.777 1:46.544 1:48.951 19
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.152 1:46.804 1:50.319 16
11. Trulli Toyota 1:47.400 1:46.949 13
12. Piquet Renault 1:47.052 1:46.965 15
13. Glock Toyota 1:47.359 1:46.995 13
14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:47.132 1:47.018 15
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:47.503 1:47.429 12
16. Barrichello Honda 1:48.153 9
17. Button Honda 1:48.211 9
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:48.226 9
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:48.268 9
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:48.447 9
ref[AS]

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Bridgestone used this week’s Barcelona test to complete their second major evaluation of the 2009-specification slick tyres which could be adopted next season in place of the current grooved rubber. It follows their first test in Jerez last December.

Bridgestone brought three slick compounds to the Circuit de Catalunya, each team receiving a total of nine sets. In line with proposed 2009 regulations, the tyres were used without tyre warmers and, for the most part, on cars running reduced downforce levels.

“Running with the slick tyres has been interesting and we are also happy with their performance,” reported Tetsuro Kobayashi, Bridgestone Motorsport’s technical manager. "We have accumulated good data for analysis from the four days here. This data will be processed and investigated carefully to evaluate our next steps.”

Kobayashi also played down fears that getting the cold slicks up to temperature without tyre warmers could present a safety issue. “The situation of warm-up with these tyres is much improved as we look to the future with no tyre blankets," he said.

The teams will get their next chance to sample Bridgestone’s latest slick developments in around three months’ time, but Kobayashi believes the men at the wheel have already had a pretty good glimpse of the future.

“The drivers now have a greater understanding of driving Formula One cars with slick tyres to the 2009 regulations with lower levels of downforce and no tyre blankets,” he added. “We should all expect to see more progress next time we test slicks, which is planned for the Jerez test in July.”
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