Singapore Grand Prix: Qualifying Results

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Final Classification
Pos/Driver	Team	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Q3 Time
1. Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:44.519	1:44.014	1:44.801
2. Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.501	1:44.932	1:45.465
3. Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:44.282	1:44.232	1:45.617
4. Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	1:44.740	1:44.519	1:45.779
5. Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.311	1:44.207	1:45.873
6. Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	1:45.548	1:44.520	1:45.964
7. Sebastien Vettel	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:45.042	1:44.261	1:46.244
8. Timo Glock	Toyota	1:45.184	1:44.441	1:46.328
9. Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:45.103	1:44.429	1:46.611
10. Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:45.127	1:44.826	1:47.547
Eliminated After Q2
11. Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:45.642	1:45.038
12. Jenson Button	Honda	1:45.660	1:45.133
13. Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:45.493	1:45.212
14. David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:46.028	1:45.298
15. Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:44.971	No Time
Eliminated After Q1
16. Nelson Piquet Jnr.	Renault	1:46.037
17. Sebastian Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:46.389
18. Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:46.583
19. Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:47.940
20. Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	No Time

La Source-gate: Drivers Have Their Say

Felipe Massa:

“What happened is that he took an advantage by cutting the chicane.

“You can ask drivers how many overtaking moves you see there.

“None between the last corner and the first corner, because there is such a small straight there. That is my opinion and it doesn’t change.”

Sebastian Bourdais:

“I think it is very clear, the rules are clear. Maybe the penalty is very hard but he has made the same mistake twice, he did in Magny-Cours and he did it in Spa.

“I don’t really understand why there is such a mess around it, there is a rule book and everyone has to obey the same thing. The penalty is rough but it is up to you to give the position back.”

Nico Rosberg:

“He did have an advantage because he would not be so close if he had not cut the chicane but the penalty was a bit harsh as it did not have a big result in the end result. But it won’t stop us from trying to attack definitely.”

Jarno Trulli:

“I agree the penalty was quite big but I am not a steward. But it is also clear he got an advantage.

“The rules are very clear, if you cut the chicane you get the advantage you have to drop it and lose advantage, in Lewis’ case he should not attack in the first corner that is it.

“This last chicane, they have a lot of run off area they give you more chance to attack because in case of mistake you won’t end up in wall or gravel. We have more chance to overtake.”

Giancarlo Fisichella:

“I just seen pictures so difficult for me to say if it is right or not what happened. For sure maybe he took a small advantage that is why he had the possibility to overtake him again in braking for Turn One, but obviously 25 seconds penalty was quite a strong penalty.”

Williams Focusing on 2009’s FW31

One of the first Frank Williams F1 cars, the FW06

Williams-Toyota part-owner Frank Williams says his team will focus the majority of their efforts on their 2009 car after another disappointing performance at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend.

The Grove-based team were tipped as one of the favourites to fight behind the top squads during pre-season testing, and they lived up to that when Nico Rosberg finished on the podium in the opening race in Australia.

Williams’s performances, however, have become worse as the season progressed, as non-privateer teams progress more rapidly than independents like Williams, and the team have scored just two points in the last seven races. They are currently tied with Toro Rosso-Ferrari in seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Williams said during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that his team are not planning any more significant developments for the last five races of the 2008 calendar, and instead will focus on 2009.

“We recognise that we are right at the back of the grid effectively, too often though not every time. We recognise that this year’s car is almost as developed as we can successfully do it, short of a major revamp of all the aerodynamics and next year’s car [with the drastic rule changes for 2009] is the one where we pin our hopes.

“We’re not saying ‘watch out for our next race’ because it isn’t going to be like that. We just have to soldier on and get more out of what we’ve got.

“There are one or two little bits for the remaining races but essentially our main focus is on next year’s car because it is almost a fresh start for everybody with the aero rules. We started on that quite a long time ago and we will see how it works for us.”

Several new rules will come into play next season in order to improve the spectacle by reducing speeds and increasing overtaking, in a revamp that could see any team make a significant jump in performance.

Williams is confident his team will do a good job with the KERS system to be introduced next season, although he believes that building it themselves will not mean they will have an advantage over their rivals.

“It is not as though it will give us a particular advantage. We think, as most manufacturers, we will do a good job with KERS. Patrick [Head] has his own group in the company and we have been working on it for a number of months. It is much more affordable if you do it yourself providing you are successful with it.

“We are doing it because we have to do it. I imagine most people will come out with roughly similar horsepower.”

Neal’s View: The sweeping rule changes for 2009 meant that many teams switched focus to 2009 once they realised they were not going to be competitive in 2008. The 2009 cars will see an end to the evolutionary development (because of the rule changes) and any car could be winning races next season. Although the top three should still be at the front, there is no reason why Honda, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, and even Williams cannot close the gap.

Belgian Grand Prix: Predictions

Formula One Blog likes to test it’s knowledge by predicting the outcomes of qualifying and races, so here are our thoughts on today’s race. Unfortunately, time is limited so we will only cover the points positions.

1st: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

2nd Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

3rd Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

4th Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)

5th Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)

6th Fernando Alonso (Renault)

7th Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)

8th Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari)

Check back later to see how close we were.

New Poll: Who will win the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix?

Pole-sitter: Lewis Hamilton

Following a thrilling qualifying session that saw a fantastic lap from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, and both STRs in the top 10, Formula One Blog has issued a new poll.

Click on the link in the top right corner of the page to vote on who you think will win tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix!

Qualifying Predictions: How close were we?

As some of you may have seen, we at Formula One Blog earlier put our neck on the block and tried to predict the results from today’s qualifying. Our predictions can be seen here.

So how did we do?

We got the front row correct, albeit in the wrong order as Lewis Hamilton beat Felipe Massa for pole.

Our prediction of the second row was spot on, with Heikki Kovalainen outqualifying Kimi Raikkonen.

The third row saw Nick Heidfeld qualify 5th (we thought it would be Jarno Trulli), but we were correct in Fernando Alonso qualifying 6th.

We also got the fourth row correct, unfortunately in the wrong order, as Mark Webber took 7th, and Robert Kubica grabbed 8th.

The fifth row was a surprise STR-Ferrari lockout, as Sebastian Bourdais (9th) outqualified his teammate Sebastian Vettel (10th). We thought it would be Nick Heidfeld in 9th and Timo Glock in 10th.

We thought that Jenson Button (Honda), Nelson Piquet Jnr. (Renault), David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault), Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari), and Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) would drop out in second qualifying period, however we were only correct with Piquet, Coulthard, and Rosberg. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, also, did not make the top-ten shootout.

Finally, we thought the first to go would be Adrian Sutil (Force India), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota), Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Honda). Swap the surprising Bourdais for Jenson Button, and we would have been spot-on.

Neal’s View: All in all, we predicted the grid quite accurately. Qualifying was not what you could call wet, so surprises should have been few and far between. Did anyone predict Sebastian Bourdais getting into the final session?

Spa Qualifying: Times

Final Classification
Pos/Driver	Team	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Q3 Time
1. Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.887	1:46.088	1:47.338
2. Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:46.873	1:46.391	1:47.678
3. Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.812	1:46.037	1:47.815
4. Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:46.960	1:46.298	1:47.992
5. Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	1:47.419	1:46.311	1:48.315
6. Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:47.154	1:46.491	1:48.504
7. Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.270	1:46.814	1:48.736
8. Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	1:47.093	1:46.494	1:48.763
9. Sebastian Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:46.777	1:46.544	1:48.951
10. Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:47.152	1:46.804	1:50.319
Eliminated after Q2
11. Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:47.400	1:46.949
12. Nelson Piquet Jnr.	Renault	1:47.052	1:46.965
13. Timo Glock	Toyota	1:47.359	1:46.995
14. David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:47.132	1:47.018
15. Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:47.503	1:47.429
Eliminated after Q1
16. Rubens Barrichello (BRA)	Honda	1:48.153
17. Jenson Button (GBR)	Honda	1:48.211
18. Adrian Sutil (GER)	Force India	1:48.226
19. Kazuki Nakajima (JAP)	Williams-Toyota	1:48.268
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)	Force India	1:48.447

Spa Free Practice 3: Times

1. Nick Heidfeld (GER)	BMW-Sauber	1:47.876
2. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)	McLaren-Mercedes	1:48.165
3. Fernando Alonso (ESP)	Renault	1:48.307
4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR)	McLaren-Mercedes	1:48.356
5. Felipe Massa (BRA)	Ferrari	1:48.692
6. Sebastian Vettel (GER)	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:48.768
7. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)	Ferrari	1:48.815
8. Nico Rosberg (GER)	Williams-Toyota	1:48.836
9. Nelson Piquet Jnr. (BRA)	Renault	1:48.946
10. Mark Webber (AUS)	Red Bull-Renault	1:49.054
11. Jarno Trulli (ITA)	Toyota	1:49.057
12. David Coulthard (GBR)	Red Bull-Renault	1:49.125
13. Robert Kubica (POL)	BMW-Sauber	1:49.250
14. Sebastian Bourdais (FRA)	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:49.256
15. Timo Glock (GER)	Toyota	1:49.535
16. Kazuki Nakajima (JAP)	Williams-Toyota	1:49.830
17. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)	Force India	1:49.949
18. Adrian Sutil (GER)	Force India	1:50.034
19. Rubens Barrichello (BRA)	Honda	1:50.061
20. Jenson Button (GBR)	Honda	No time

Belgian Grand Prix: Qualifying Predictions

Formula One Blog is not scared to it’s neck on the line and predict the eventual grid for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix. Here’s what we came up with:

Pole: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

2nd Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

3rd Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)

4th Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

5th Jarno Trulli (Toyota)

6th Fernando Alonso (Renault)

7th Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)

8th Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)

9th Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)

10th Timo Glock (Toyota)

Drop out during Q2:

Jenson Button (Honda), Nelson Piquet Jnr. (Renault), David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault), Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)

Drop out during Q1:

Adrian Sutil (Force India), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota), Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Honda).

Neal’s View: This is my prediction based on the strength of those involved. However, rain at Spa often throws up many surprises, and, should qualifying be in the rain, expect more of the same.

Spa Free Practice 2: Times

1. Fernando Alonso (ESP)	Renault	1:48.454
2. Felipe Massa (BRA)	Ferrari	1:48.504
3. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)	McLaren-Mercedes	1:48.740
4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR)	McLaren-Mercedes	1:48.805
5. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)	Ferrari	1:49.328
6. Nico Rosberg (GER)	Williams-Toyota	1:49.405
7. Sebastian Vettel (GER)	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:49.427
8. Adrian Sutil (GER)	Force India-Ferrari	1:49.585
9. Jarno Trulli (ITA)	Toyota	1:49.715
10. Nick Heidfeld (GER)	BMW-Sauber	1:49.725
11. Robert Kubica (POL)	BMW-Sauber	1:49.875
12. David Coulthard (GBR)	Red Bull-Renault	1:49.922
13. Sebastian Bourdais (FRA)	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:49.948
14. Timo Glock (GER)	Toyota	1:50.281
15. Kazuki Nakajima (JAP)	Williams-Toyota	1:50.364
16. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)	Force India-Ferrari	1:50.740
17. Jenson Button (GBR)	Honda	1:50.925
18. Rubens Barrichello (BRA)	Honda	1:51.238
19. Nelson Piquet Jnr. (BRA)	Renault	1:51.334
20. Mark Webber (AUS)	Red Bull-Renault	1:51.640