Hamilton on form as Kovalainen fails to enter top 10
By Syco Bill
April 25 2009
Well, well, well, how many more different cars are we going to have on the front row? Melbourne saw the two Brawn GP cars dominate the front row of the grid through qualifying. Malaysia saw the Brawn of Jenson Button and the Toyota of Trulli on the 1-2 slot. China ended with Red Bull cars taking the 1-2 and now, the most unlikely two cars are dominating in Bahrain, the two Toyota's of
Juano Trulli and Timo Glock. The Toyota team hasn't seen a pole position in qualifying since 2005 with Ralf Schumacher driving for the team. But to add to the team’s excitement they now have a 1-2, their first in the sport. Can Toyota turn around there lack in race performance and produce their first win. I am hoping they do not (sorry guys) as I have put bets on Fernando and unfortunately Kubica. I say unfortunately as the BMW cars struggled to produce the same pace as they had last year and the qualifying saw the two cars in 12th and 13th respectively. The German and Pole have recently complained with the lack of updates on their car and compared to last year, we can all understand why they are angry.
McLaren: Hamilton managed to get his car into 5th position, showing some more signs of improvement to the McLaren Mercedes. Hekki put in a fine effort, taking his apexes with ease, however not being able to produce a strong position like his Brit team mate. Hekki in his interviews didn't look happy with his performance and he shook his head in disappointment as he got out of his car.
Brawn: The Brawn GP cars, showed that they can have their off days and although still quick, they lacked in pace to provide another dominating front row like their in Melbourne. Other teams in the paddock can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the Brawn Cars are beatable. Still, Jenson managed to get his car into 4th and Reuben’s got his car into 6th.
Renault: The Renault team had another tough session, however Fernando Alonso managed to outperform his car and put his Renault into 7th. Things are looking dismal for Nelson Piquet Junior, as he ran wide at the last corner during Q2, putting him in a dismal 15th position. Nelson is under a lot of pressure at Renault to perform, he has a 3 time world champion father and Flavio Briatory needs Piquet to perform ASAP. If Nelson doesn't perform he could be out within two races, as said by David Coulthard, BBC. Good Luck Nelson, personally I will never be a fan; however he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders and deserves some support.
Red Bull: Mark Webber left the track today feeling quite miserable, he ended up being kicked out of Q1 and being placed 18th with Adrian Sutil of the Force India being demoted to 19th after blocking him on Webbers flying lap. Sutil had moved across the racing line to put space between Fernando and himself before he started his flying lap. However, as Adrian pursuded his goal, he moved across in front of Webber, who was about to slip stream Sutil. This caused Webber to swerve and therefore was seen to block Webber. Sutil admitted his mistake and quickly went to apologise to Mark in the Red Bull headquarters in the paddock.
The race should be interesting :)
| 1 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | ||||
| 2 | 10 | Timo Glock | Toyota | ||||
| 3 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | ||||
| 4 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | ||||
| 5 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| 6 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | ||||
| 7 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | ||||
| 8 | 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | ||||
| 9 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | ||||
| 10 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | ||||
| 11 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| 12 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | ||||
| 13 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | ||||
| 14 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | ||||
| 15 | 8 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | ||||
| 16 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | ||||
| 17 | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | ||||
| 18 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | ||||
| 19 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | ||||
| 20 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari |
