The 2008 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix Thread
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mlittle
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....now, that was a qualifying session! There were moments I though a couple of cars(Raikkonen in particular) came close to swapping ends during qualifying, but all in all qualifying was your typical fast-n'-furious session, especially the end of Q2 and Q3.
Is it just me, or did Hamilton play it a little too close in Q2, going out as late as he did; I mean, if there had a caution on track anywhere delaying him for a bit, he might not been able to run 2 laps at the end(IIRC, his first of the 2 laps wasn't fast enough to get him into Q3....
)....
Is it just me, or did Hamilton play it a little too close in Q2, going out as late as he did; I mean, if there had a caution on track anywhere delaying him for a bit, he might not been able to run 2 laps at the end(IIRC, his first of the 2 laps wasn't fast enough to get him into Q3....
).... The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. 
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere....
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere....
Here is a team by team summary following qualifying (GMM):
FERRARI
Pole sitter Felipe Massa's Q3 advantage over his championship rival Lewis Hamilton in Singapore qualifying was a huge seven tenths. "With hindsight it's easy to say maybe I could have run with slightly more fuel," the Brazilian, who described his best lap of the circuit as "perfect", said. Kimi Raikkonen was on the pace in Q1 and Q2 after his evening practice technical problem, and qualified behind Hamilton.
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Hamilton ultimately qualified on the front row, but he very nearly had to sit out the Q3 action, scraping in by the barest of margins after messing up an early lap. "Thank goodness," his engineer was heard saying on the radio. Heikki Kovalainen was quicker than his teammate in Q1 and Q2 and qualified fifth in Q3 when he brushed a wall. "Even a minor mistake can cost you a few places," the Finn said.
BMW-SAUBER
Robert Kubica qualified fourth, two places ahead of his teammate Nick Heidfeld, and both declared themselves "happy". Technical boss Willy Rampf said: "We are well prepared for the race."
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Sebastien Bourdais did not break through the Q1 barrier, but his Monza winning teammate Sebastian Vettel climbed all the qualifying hurdles and lines up P7 on the grid. "As yet, we have seen nothing in the data to indicate an anomaly," said engineer Giorgio Ascanelli, after Bourdais complained about a bizarrely-behaving STR3.
TOYOTA
The TF108 has not been a standout performer on the bumpy Singapore streets, but - unlike the usual qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli (P11) - Timo Glock raced through all qualifying segments and is eighth. "Jarno has had a difficult weekend," said technical boss Pascal Vasselon.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Nico Rosberg has featured in the upper elements of the timesheets throughout the Singapore weekend, and qualified ninth. "I did hope for a little more," admitted the German, whose teammate Kazuki Nakajima completes the top half of the grid. "Congratulations to Kazuki on his first top ten qualifying result," said technical boss Sam Michael.
HONDA
It says a lot about Honda's 2008 car, which is better suited to high downforce tracks, that Jenson Button (P12) is "pretty happy" to miss the Q3 cut by three tenths of a second. "It's nice to have the pace to compete in Q2 again," the Briton said. Rubens Barrichello is ahead only of the slowest Force Indias, after complaining about qualifying traffic.
RED BULL-RENAULT
Mark Webber and David Coulthard, who share the seventh row of the grid, got through Q1 but progressed little further with the Renault-powered RB4. "It's not good to start the race in the middle of the pack," said Coulthard, who did only 6 laps in the earlier evening practice session before a gearbox problem.
RENAULT
Fernando Alonso continued his mighty Friday form into Saturday, topping the evening practice timesheets and showing pace in Q1, but he will start the race from P15, after a 'fuel supply' problem in Q2. "I will need a miracle with the strategy to be able to make progress on this circuit where it looks difficult to overtake," said the Spaniard, after furiously emerging from his stranded R28 that he said was fast enough for a front row grid position. With much slower pace, Nelson Piquet dropped out in Q1 and will join Alonso on the eighth row.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
A day to forget for Force India; slowest in practice, two crashes (one in practice on the notorious turn 10 kerbs, one caused by a puncture in qualifying) for Giancarlo Fisichella, and an awfully-slow Q1 laptime for Adrian Sutil. "I think this is probably one of our worst qualifying performances so far this year," the latter said.
FERRARI
Pole sitter Felipe Massa's Q3 advantage over his championship rival Lewis Hamilton in Singapore qualifying was a huge seven tenths. "With hindsight it's easy to say maybe I could have run with slightly more fuel," the Brazilian, who described his best lap of the circuit as "perfect", said. Kimi Raikkonen was on the pace in Q1 and Q2 after his evening practice technical problem, and qualified behind Hamilton.
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Hamilton ultimately qualified on the front row, but he very nearly had to sit out the Q3 action, scraping in by the barest of margins after messing up an early lap. "Thank goodness," his engineer was heard saying on the radio. Heikki Kovalainen was quicker than his teammate in Q1 and Q2 and qualified fifth in Q3 when he brushed a wall. "Even a minor mistake can cost you a few places," the Finn said.
BMW-SAUBER
Robert Kubica qualified fourth, two places ahead of his teammate Nick Heidfeld, and both declared themselves "happy". Technical boss Willy Rampf said: "We are well prepared for the race."
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Sebastien Bourdais did not break through the Q1 barrier, but his Monza winning teammate Sebastian Vettel climbed all the qualifying hurdles and lines up P7 on the grid. "As yet, we have seen nothing in the data to indicate an anomaly," said engineer Giorgio Ascanelli, after Bourdais complained about a bizarrely-behaving STR3.
TOYOTA
The TF108 has not been a standout performer on the bumpy Singapore streets, but - unlike the usual qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli (P11) - Timo Glock raced through all qualifying segments and is eighth. "Jarno has had a difficult weekend," said technical boss Pascal Vasselon.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Nico Rosberg has featured in the upper elements of the timesheets throughout the Singapore weekend, and qualified ninth. "I did hope for a little more," admitted the German, whose teammate Kazuki Nakajima completes the top half of the grid. "Congratulations to Kazuki on his first top ten qualifying result," said technical boss Sam Michael.
HONDA
It says a lot about Honda's 2008 car, which is better suited to high downforce tracks, that Jenson Button (P12) is "pretty happy" to miss the Q3 cut by three tenths of a second. "It's nice to have the pace to compete in Q2 again," the Briton said. Rubens Barrichello is ahead only of the slowest Force Indias, after complaining about qualifying traffic.
RED BULL-RENAULT
Mark Webber and David Coulthard, who share the seventh row of the grid, got through Q1 but progressed little further with the Renault-powered RB4. "It's not good to start the race in the middle of the pack," said Coulthard, who did only 6 laps in the earlier evening practice session before a gearbox problem.
RENAULT
Fernando Alonso continued his mighty Friday form into Saturday, topping the evening practice timesheets and showing pace in Q1, but he will start the race from P15, after a 'fuel supply' problem in Q2. "I will need a miracle with the strategy to be able to make progress on this circuit where it looks difficult to overtake," said the Spaniard, after furiously emerging from his stranded R28 that he said was fast enough for a front row grid position. With much slower pace, Nelson Piquet dropped out in Q1 and will join Alonso on the eighth row.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
A day to forget for Force India; slowest in practice, two crashes (one in practice on the notorious turn 10 kerbs, one caused by a puncture in qualifying) for Giancarlo Fisichella, and an awfully-slow Q1 laptime for Adrian Sutil. "I think this is probably one of our worst qualifying performances so far this year," the latter said.