[15th March 2008]
Qualifying began at Albert Park, Melbourne for the Australian GP on Saturday 15th March 2008. Memories were still afresh of the three way title race of 2007 where Kimi Raikkonen pulled off a fascinating conclusion. A championship 21 years in the making since another three way battle between Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost in 1986 with a similar outcome.
A few cars made its way onto the track and placed a bookmark as to which cars would lay down the rubber for the top end duopoly. The three teams to set interests on were, other than the ones at the top of course, on the basis of off season practice and testing were Red Bull and Toyota and also Force India for obvious reasons.
Over the course of the season, Red Bull, Toyota and Renault are expected to battle for mid-field supremacy, a place which proves consistently entertaining, when the Ferraris and McLarens abruptly decide to devise a perfect package which insipidly, at times, hog up uninterrupted race wins. Hopefully, without traction control this season, and consequently considering the numbers of cars which looked twitchy and gave armfuls of opposite locks during the entire Qualifying session, the season may prove to be a juggler’s delight.
Q1 saw Lewis Hamilton getting his McLaren twitching twice in a single lap, one occasion when held up behind a BMW. The BMWs did not particularly impress in the first session either with Nick Heidfeld locking up and Robert Kubica's run interrupted by Raikkonnen's inlap. Heidfeld eventually came good though but did not look strong enough. Hard compounds may be the attribute here. The Ferraris did not seem to be bothered as there was no reason to be. Felipe Massa finished 3rd and Raikkonen 5th. Hamilton finished 10th and Fernando Alonso 14th, another snobbish display of the guys on top. Nelsinho Piquet Jr and Sebastian Bourdais sadly did not make the cut and Giancarlo Fisichella disappointed a billion fans with no fault of his own. Kazuki Nakajima moved on to the next session though.
Q2 saw the potential birth of a possible inter-team rivalry, when Raikkonen could no longer take a part due to a fuel pressure failure. This leaves Massa a lot of freedom to concentrate for the rest of the session and perhaps for the race, and hopefully a thought that can fuel another Hamilton vs Alonso of 2007. The weather was hot and Kubica was drowsy as pictures were shown of him in a drink & drive state in his car. Mark Webber, married to a demonic wife called bad luck, had his brakes explode and crashed backwards into the barrier. Alonso was heard addressing about a lot of understeer and consequently with a subtle hint that he would not win the championship this year. Hamilton and Massa both looked fast but Hamilton’s lap was far from neat (read: aggressive). Ruebens Barrichello classified 11th and Honda were insane with subtle contentment. Toyota and Sebastian Vettel moved to the final session.
Q3 saw both the McLarens having a bit of an off track excursion which may have lost them a few hundredths of a second which can be accredited to a heavy fuel load added with an aggressive drive. Hamilton set a clean lap to get a pole. But the driver of the day was the sleepy Kubica, who even though went a bit off the track due to a very aggressive take of turn 12, managed to control the car well and settle for P2.
