| Picture Viewer |
Gear Heads - F1 Discussion Thread 
Val says: Ferrari dominate as Massa grabs pole in Monaco Felipe Massa gets pole position for the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix. MONACO, May 24, 2008 (AFP) - Brazilian Felipe Massa secured pole position for Sunday´s Monaco Grand Prix when he outpaced his Ferrari team-mate and defending champion Kimi Raikkonen in the final seconds of Saturday qualifying. The Latin American made nonsense of his declared hatred of the unforgiving street circuit in the Mediterranean principality by producing a sublime effort to outpace not only Raikkonen, but also both McLaren drivers. Raikkonen ended up second ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate, Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who was fourth.
They will share the second row of the grid after failing to build on their speed earlier in the weekend. In effect, this also means that Massa is favourite to grab his third win of the season and the eighth of his career in Sunday´s traditionally-processional race around the old harbour. It was Massa´s 12th career pole position and Ferrari´s first pole in Monaco since 2000. Poland´s Robert Kubica was fifth for BMW ahead of German Nico Rosberg in a Williams. Twice champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso in a Renault was seventh and Italian Jarno Trulli eighth for Toyota.
That left the two Red Bulls of Australian Mark Webber and David Coulthard in ninth and 10th places.
Coulthard had a huge accident but escaped unhurt at the end of the second mini-session.
The first mini-session in warm, but overcast conditions saw the prompt elimination of the two Toro Rosso drivers Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais and German Sebastian Vettel, who will start the race from 16th and 18th places respectively, along with Brazilian Nelson Piquet in his Renault, who was 17th. German Adrian Sutil in a Force India was 19th and his team-mate Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was 20th, an outcome that meant they fill the back row of the grid.
Massa was fastest in the opening mini-session when the conditions were benign - an air temperature of 20 degrees, a track temperature of 24 degrees and humidity of 75 per cent. Rain appeared imminent.
The second mini-session was led by the Ferraris, with Massa on top, but the action was overshadowed by Coulthard´s crash in the closing seconds. The Scot´s Red Bull appeared to hit the barriers at around 260 kph in the tunnel and the first sign of trouble was the sight of a wheel flying ahead of his car into the sunlight.
The Monaco-resident´s car then appeared after smashing into the barriers with both right wheels missing. The session was red-flagged. He was unhurt and when the debris was cleared the session resumed. He had clocked the 10th-fastest time.
The second mini-session saw the removal from the fray of German Timo Glock in his Toyota, Briton Jenson Button in a Honda and German Nick Heidfeld in a BMW Sauber. They will start 11th, 12th and 13th on the grid.
Japan´s Kazuki Nakajima in a Williams and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the second Honda were 14th and 15th.
That left the leading teams to enjoy the final shootout in dry conditions with the sun attempting to make an appearance. It certainly shone on Massa. Original post: F1 Discussion Thread |
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:17 PM.
