Qualifying Shocks...

www.formula1.com wrote:
Glock loses ten places after two grid penaltiesToyota’s Timo Glock will drop ten places on the grid for the start of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after two five-place penalties - one for an unscheduled gearbox change and one for impeding another driver during qualifying.

Revisions to the regulations for the 2008 season require gearboxes to last for four consecutive events, but problems in Saturday morning’s final practice session forced Toyota to replace Glock’s ahead of qualifying.

Glock was then deemed to have impeded Red Bull’s Mark Webber during qualifying and handed a second penalty by the Melbourne stewards. The German had qualified in ninth place at Albert Park, but is now due to start 19th on his Toyota race debut.

Honda’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella, Williams’ Nico Rosberg and Glock’s Toyota team mate Jarno Trulli were also reprimanded, but not penalised, by the stewards for setting their fastest laps under yellow flags.

www.formula1.com wrote:
Hamilton draws first blood in Melbourne
On a day that Ferrari might prefer to forget, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton opened his 2008 world championship challenge by grabbing pole position for the Australian Grand Prix from a super-impressive Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber.

With Kimi Raikkonen already sidelined after fuel pump problems in Q2, team mate Felipe Massa had to uphold Ferrari honour alone in Q3, but after recording 1m 27.178s on his first run, he failed to improve on his second. Kubica, meanwhile, was on a blinder that resulted in 1m 26.869s even though he ran wide in Turn Nine. The Pole kept his foot in it and didn’t appear to lose an awful lot of time, and planted his BMW Sauber on the front row for the first time in his career.

Hamilton’s smoother 1m 26.714s, however, was good enough to settle the issue and to give the Briton his seventh career pole. €t was a good day for McLaren, with Heikki Kovalainen taking third, ahead of Massa, with 1m 27.079s.

Nick Heidfeld’s 1m 27.236s was good enough for fifth in the second BMW Sauber, then came Jarno Trulli’s Toyota on 1m 28.527s, Nico Rosberg’s Williams on 1m 28.687s, David Coulthard’s Red Bull on 1m 29.041s and Timo Glock’s Toyota on 1m 29.593s. Sebastian Vettel made it through to Q3 for Toro Rosso, but was unfortunate to suffer mechanical problems on his first out lap, and thus starts tenth with no time.

Q2 got off to a bang when Mark Webber spun his Red Bull in Turn 6 after a suspected front-right brake failure and momentarily brought out the red flag. That coincided with the news that, having trickled as far as the pit-lane entry with a dud Ferrari in Q1, Raikkonen was not allowed under Article 33.2 of the Sporting Regulations to take any further part in qualifying, as his car had effectively stopped on circuit. Thus Webber automatically took P15, Raikkonen P16.

The session also saw the demise of the Hondas, Rubens Barrichello finishing 11th on 1m 26.173s and Jenson Button 13th on 1m 26.259s; Fernando Alonso’s Renault on 1m 26.188s, and Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams on 1m 26.413s.

Q1 weeded out both Force €ndias, Giancarlo Fisichella just missing the cut with 1m 27.207s and Adrian Sutil spinning in his efforts to better 1m 27.859s, which left him 19th. Between them was debutant Sebastien Bourdais, who took his Toro Rosso round in 1m 27.446s.

Likewise, the Super Aguris were split. Takuma Sato was 20th with 1m 28.208s, ahead of Renault's Nelson Piquet Jnr who continued to struggle to 1m 28.330s, and Anthony Davidson on 1m 29.059s.

www.formula1.com wrote:
FIA post-qualifying press conference - Australia

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers:
1st Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 1m26.714s;
2nd Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), 1m26.869s;
3rd Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren), 1m27.079s.

Q: Lewis, a new look to qualifying and a sensational qualifying session. Obviously we don’t know the fuel loads involved and your friend Robert put you under massive pressure with two or three minutes to go.
Lewis Hamilton: He did. Both these drivers here did a fantastic job. It is good to see Robert up there with us but also to see Heikki. His first race with the team and he has done a fantastic job. It was very very close. Obviously in the first session, Q1, I did not get a very good lap. But then the last lap I was able to bridge the gap and put the sectors together.

Q: Spectacular driving over the two days here in Melbourne. Your verdict on the new technical regulations and what it is like inside the car?
LH: Well, I have always been for them. I really do like the new regulations that we have. Driving with traction control is slightly different obviously than driving without it but it really brings out, I guess, the best in all the drivers. You really have to push yourself. But you know the feeling in the car is great. The car feels fantastic. I think the team have done a fantastic job really to prepare the car this weekend but also to get all the bits out here, so to all the guys back home ‘Good job’.

Q: Talk us through that pole lap Lewis. A lot of pressure. How god was it? How does that rank with your others?
LH: I can do better, for sure. Being on pole is a great feeling but there are always improvements that you can make. I started off very well but I find that the gap is always very tricky. I had a huge gap but then all of a sudden at the last corner I saw that there was a Williams up ahead, so I was pretty much behind the Williams, I think two or three seconds, for most of the lap. Whether or not that makes a difference who knows but I am happy with the result.

Q: Robert, congratulations to you too. For some unbelievable slides too. What a spectacular lap that was. Talk us through that quickest lap of yours.
Robert Kubica: For sure, I think a made a mistake in the corner of turn 12 where I went off over the artificial grass and lost more than a couple-of-tenths there. But you know this is the new style. We know we can make some good results in qualifying and I took quite a lot of risk which in the end didn’t pay off because I lost more and I could maybe stay in front of Lewis but, anyway, I think it is a great achievement for the whole team especially that the beginning of the season, the beginning of testing, was quite hard for the people who have designed this car and built this car. But we have done a very good job. All the people in Munich and Hinwil have worked very hard to be here and thanks to them I am here.

Q: Talk us through the weekend because yesterday didn’t appear to be brilliantly quick but then today right of the pace from minute one.
RK: Yeah, yesterday we faced some problems. This year’s car is pretty difficult to balance and it is extremely difficult to find the right balance and the right set-up especially when the track is green and yesterday the conditions were very difficult, very windy. Also in qualifying we had some wind but anyway we have done a good job and let’s hope for the race.

Q: It looks like without traction control, without aids under braking, that you’re loving it just as much as Lewis.
RK: I found it really no different with TC or with no TC. I found after two rounds in winter testing I forgot how it was with TC. But what is strange is that I found much better braking stability without engine brake system which means that I think we missed something last year with this system but anyway it is gone. We think of the future and I think we are in good shape.

Q: Heikki, turning to you. Congratulations on a fantastic result for the team. The first Ferrari down in fourth place and you were quickest in Q1. Talk us through qualifying.
Heikki Kovalainen: It was like all weekend. I have just tried to take things steady and not make mistakes, just push a little bit more all the time. Q1 was a reasonable lap and the car felt it had a pretty good balance all the way through the qualifying sessions and just at the end the team managed to make a perfect lap but this is the way it is now. I think it is a very good start with my new team and I am very happy with the team and I am looking forward to the whole season and to the race tomorrow.

Q: Talk a little bit about the team and the character of the team?
HK: I think there is a great motivation back in Woking and also the support from Mercedes is fantastic. It is a huge team with a lot of people involved. Like this weekend, although we had very good practice sessions the boys worked last night until 5.30 am as they had picked up a problem overnight and managed to fix the problem which potentially could have been a problem in the race. This is the type of energy we have at the moment in our team and it is really fantastic. I am very lucky to be part of it now and I want to make sure that I keep my position here and have a good and strong future with them.

Q: Lewis, your thoughts on, as Heikki said, a great fillip for the team and it won’t have escaped your notice that Kimi Räikkönen is down is 16th place and Felipe Massa is fourth. What a way for the team to the year after the tribulations perhaps of 2007.
LH: Absolutely. We have just turned over a new leaf and as Heikki said Mercedes-Benz and McLaren have done a fantastic job. They have pushed right to the limit. Last night we had a couple of problems, but they were ready to do whatever they needed and they were here today and pushed very hard to get the car set up properly and be out there. Really, for the start of the season it couldn’t be a better position for both of us.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, it couldn’t be a better start could it?
LH: I don’t think so. It was a great qualifying session. It was a bit nerve-wracking at the beginning and we don’t really get a great lap. We were held up a bit and it wasn’t really easy to find the gap today. Finding the gap was a lot harder than I have experienced in the past. But we managed to find some sort of gap towards the end and I was able to get a reasonably decent lap but I still felt that I lost a little bit of time throughout the lap.

Q: Robert came close, didn’t he?
LH: He did. He did a fantastic job and it was great to see them up there with us. Like I said before it was great to see Heikki who is new with the team pushing hard.

Q: It was a completely different qualifying strategy as well with the full fuel tank going through. Do you think you would change anything with your approach to qualifying or was your approach perfect?
LH: I think my approach was fine. I am happy with the approach I had. Again there are definitely places where I can improve and where the team can improve but it is very difficult coming from a light fuel load and going to a heavy fuel load. Going out and trying to brake at the same spot, you can’t do that. You have to re-adjust.

Q: Major factors for tomorrow?
LH: Obviously the start. Everyone starting with the new regulations which makes the starts a little bit trickier and I think tomorrow you will see a wide range of good starts and bad starts. I think last year it was always the same. This year it will be quite tricky.

Q: Robert. Congratulations. Did you expect to be so competitive here?
RK: The beginning of the season we struggled a bit with the car which we were not expecting. But the team have done a fantastic job. Yesterday we faced some problems but this morning was much better and qualifying proved that we had good pace. I took the risk in pushing very hard on the last lap in Q3 which did not pay-off as I went off in turn 12. I lost more than two-tenths, even three-tenths there which cost me a pole. But the race is very long.

Q: Do you feel you have the right balance now?
RK: I think we were OK for qualifying but conditions can change tomorrow, and again, this year’s car is pretty difficult. It’s a very quick car but it’s difficult to put it in the right place in every corner but we are working on it, we have done a really big step. The guys in Hinwil and Munich have done a really good job in the last couple of months, developing, facing the problems and trying to resolve the problems, and I think they’ve done a very good job which is why I’m here.

Q: It was said early on, at the start of testing, that the car was very twitchy; have you ironed that out, is it a little bit more comfortable?
RK: As I say, the car is a quick car but it’s difficult and it’s very tricky to find the right balance, the right set-up but if we compare the beginning of testing or even the beginning of February to now, we have gone miles forward and if we have started the season the way we have started, we can be very competitive in later races. I hope some changes will come, they are under development.

Q: Heikki, you must be hugely satisfied to be third after qualifying.
HK: Yeah, of course, satisfied but there is still room for improvement. As I’ve said all weekend, I would just build up as the weekend goes on, as the year goes on. We are perfectly on track with that. Last year was quite a shaky start to the season, I certainly feel much better now and I just don’t want to make the same mistakes again, so I drive within the limits that I feel I can do with the car now and hopefully throughout the year we can improve the car and the set-up and I improve my driving and then at the end we will hopefully arrive a couple of places better than now. But today, all of the qualifying sessions were very good for me, odd mistakes here and there but it just happens, you just have to iron them out. Apart from that, not much to say. I’m very happy to be here, obviously, and tomorrow I think we are looking strong for the race as well.

Q: Lewis mentioned problems, you mentioned a problem; can you elaborate on that?
HK: What problem do you mean? Ah, yeah, there was something in the car which they picked up actually back in Europe, in dyno, some problems. I don’t want to talk about them in detail because to be honest, I don’t know…
LH: Ask the team.
HK: Yeah, exactly, I don’t know all the details that well, but it was a serious matter and they managed to fix it which is very good.

Q: Is that a worry for tomorrow though?
HK: No, that’s not worrying any more. We identified the problem and we fixed it, so that’s not a worry. Hopefully there are no other problems. Reliability has been fantastic, so fingers crossed.