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| Hungarian GP 3rd - 6th August 2006 - Qualifying Report |
Length:
4.381 km |
| Politics have held the front page in Formula One news of late and today was no exception. Twenty four hours after Fernando Alonso was hauled before the stewards and given a two second qualifying time penalty for ‘dangerous driving’ in Friday practice, Michael Schumacher, the man most likely to benefit, found himself in the same position having passed cars under waved red flags in this mornings practice session.
Going into the three part session, therefore, the two title challengers found themselves in close company again, yet potentially further down the grid than they had expected. And so it proved, as the first segment of the session got under way at a colder than expected Hungaroring with twenty two cars taking to the circuit as the lights turned green. Mindful of the need to be two second up on the 16th placed car in this first part, both Alonso and Schumacher turned in very quick laps, with the Spaniard in the Renault turning in a last second 1:19.7 compared to the Germans 1:19.4. Both were through, however, to the second part of the knock out. Felipe Massa held the ‘official’ fastest time of the session, and credit must go to Robert Kubica, the young BMW-Sauber driver from Krakow quicker than team mate Nick Heidfeld straight away, and to Tiago Monteiro who dragged the MF1 through to the next stage. Missing for part two were the usual pairs of Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed for Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto for Super Aguri, and also Christijan Albers in the second MF1 and a disappointed Nico Rosberg who was caught out by the balance of the Williams on new tyres. So to the next stage, and it had become evident early on that the Bridgestone runners were experiencing graining problems, particularly a hindrance in the final sector of the circuit. Two different ways of attacking the time penalty were to be observed at the respective Renault and Ferrari camps; while Alonso simply took a few laps in to bed in his tyres for the race, making no attempt at a fast lap, Michael went the other way entirely, giving the car everything and more on the way to a quite stupefying lap of 1:18.8, comfortably fastest of the weekend. Even that was not enough, however, as the tenth placed man was inside two seconds, and the two contenders were destined to line up in the midfield. Lost at this point along with Michael and Fernando were Heidfeld, David Coulthard and Christian Klien in the Red Bulls, and Monteiro, who opted not to go for a time knowing full well he had not the pace to progress. Kubica, by way of the two penalised drivers, had made it to the top ten shoot out on his first attempt. The final stint began as usual with the cars circulating a few seconds off the pace, the new boy Kubica leading the pack in the early stages, and with eight minutes to go all but the two Toyotas and the BMW-Sauber peeled off into the pits. The first set of quick runs saw Massa quickly fastest with a 1:19.8 that nobody really matched and a second round of pit stops followed, including the three cars that had not stopped previously. And so it was down to the last minute scenario, the one we are so used to with this qualifying format. Cleary, Kubica, plus the two Toyotas, had fuelled quite heavy and ruled themselves out of the pole positions fight, and the same must be assumed of Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian in the second Renault could only manage a 1:20.9 for eighth place, sandwiched by the two Toyotas (Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, in that order) and ahead of Kubica in tenth. Ahead of them Massa had laid down a 1;19.8 in the last minute, quickly challenged – but not surpassed – by Pedro de la Rosa in the Mclaren, Mark Webbers Williams and, in a return to form, the two Hondas of Jenson Button and, particularly quick today, Rubens Barrichello. All of these had set times within two tenths of each other, but that much shy of Massa and, with the flag having fallen, Ferrari will have been excused in believing the young Brazilian had done the job with a fast, if somewhat ragged, lap. They had reckoned without Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had the Mclaren flying, just shy of Massa in the first sector, equally so in the second, but in the all important third sector of the Hungaroring Kimi was simply awesome, and flew across the line with the clocks stopped at a stunning 1:19.599 – the second ‘surprise’ pole on the trot for Mclaren and Raikkonen. So Kimi lines up alongside a Ferrari again, this time that of Massa, with Rubens Barrichello an excellent third next to Pedro de la Rosa in the second McLaren. Rubens’ team mate Button set fourth best time, but suffered an engine change and will line up fourteenth. Third row will be Webber and Ralf Schumacher, with Fisichella and Jarno Trulli on row four. Ninth and tenth will be all BMW-Sauber, Robert Kubica next to Nick Heidfeld, and the sixth row will feature the penalised Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard in the first of the Red Bulls. Christian Klien will be behind those two with Jenson Button, and Alonso will take up the next spot alongside Tiago Monteiro. Behind them are Liuzzi, Rosberg, Speed, Sato, Albers and Yamamoto in that order. A mixed up grid, then, and a chance for Raikkonen to prove that the Mclaren is now a race winning machine. But what of the two title chasers? Will they be able to come through from the back and fight for a podium, or even a win, and can young Kubica score points on his debut? |
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