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| Turkish GP 24th - 27th August 2006 - Qualifying Report |
Length:
5.338 km |
| For those of you who, like me, remember the days of 'all out' qualifying from the dim and distant past, the current 'knock-out' format will undoubtedly seem contrived in the extreme. However, the final few minutes often produces some interesting scraps and qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix proved no exception.
The opening session confirmed what we had suspected, that being the Ferrari is the fastest combination around Istanbul. First Michael Schumacher and then Felipe Massa put the red cars clearly ahead of their rivals, challenged only by the two Renault and the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher (who has an engine change penalty applied), with the BMW-Saubers in close company behind them. Eliminated after the quarter hour were both Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto in the Super Aguri's and the Toro Rosso pair of Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi, along with a disappointed David Coulthard for Red Bull and the Midland of Tiago Monteiro. The question at the moment was whether McLaren had chosen to take it easy so far, or whether the car simply had not the pace of the front runners. With session two looming we were about to find out. For the record, fastest time so far, from Massa, had been 1:27.306. Straight away the two BMW runners took to the circuit, Robert Kubica immediately into the 1:27's with his first effort. Team mate Nick Heidfeld, too, was absolutely on it, his first effort the fastest of the day so far, a 1:27.2. The F.106 has looked excellent all weekend and nothing had changed today. Toyotas much heralded new front wing set up appeared to be paying dividends as Ralf Schumacher quickly eclipsed the white cars with a 1:27.062, but just behind him Fernando Alonso had the Renault hooked up beautifully. Simply stunning in the first sector, the World Champion took a tenth out of Ralf’s time to be the first into the 1:26's. Clearly, with no Ferraris having run yet, their was more to come. And there was. Michael Schumacher, with a stunning lap, lowered the bar by a considerable amount with a 1:25.850, over a second up on anyone else. And still there were five minutes to go. Meanwhile the danger zone looked hard fought, with Christijan Albers, who had done splendidly to get the Midland through to this session, looking like the only obvious faller. In there also were Jarno Trulli, Fisichella and Massa, with just three minutes to go. Massa, of course, put in a lap that easily moved him into the top three, leaving Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg among the strugglers. With a minute left Fisichella put himself firmly in the top ten, leaving Pedro de la Rosa in a very dangerous position. With team mate Kimi Raikkonen safe and sound the Spaniard needed to perform, but found himself short of Kubica by a few thousandths. Robert also looked like dropping as Christian Klien put in a flyer for tenth, but the Pole duly delivered, raising himself to ninth in the dying seconds. At the death, then, a number of 'star' names found themselves out of the knock out. In descending order we lost the following: Klien, de la Rosa, Trulli, Barrichello, Rosberg and Albers. In, against expectation, was qualifying expert Mark Webber who hauled the Williams around in spectacular style. So we moved to the third session, featuring the ridiculous obligatory 'fuel burn' routine that at least gives the photographers a chance to line up some shots, and waited to see who would be the first to make a move. Tradition has seen the BMW team opt for a single run as opposed to the usual two, but how would it pan out today? Surely it was a foregone conclusion as to who would be on pole. First in to the pits for new tyres, with almost nine minutes left, was the World Champion, quickly followed by Raikkonen and Fisichella. These three would be first to go quickly. A lap later and both Ferrari's, plus the Honda of Jenson Button pitted too. The fight was on. Alonso's first flyer looked good but not Ferrari threatening, his 1;28.0 immediately eclipsed by team mate Fisichella by two tenths. Massa took up the challenge, the Ferrari powering around in 1:27.3. Michael, meanwhile, encountered traffic that forced him into an error at turn one, ruining his first effort. With three minutes remaining Raikkonen, who had looked ordinary so far, came in for more tyres and a final assault on pole. Massa followed him, as did Heidfeld. Michael, with a last gasp effort, made a mess of sector one, yet his second and third were good enough to pip Massa for first. As Raikkonen jumped into third Alonso suddenly set the fastest opening sector, and Massa too was flying. Felipe, with a stunning 1:26.907, took a long coveted pole in the very dying seconds of the session. So, a Ferrari front row as expected, but not the way around we had expected with young Felipe Massa eclipsing the old master Schumacher for his first pole position. Row two is an all-Renault affair, Alonso ahead of Fisichella, with row three featuring Nick Heidfeld and Jenson Button. Fifth placed man Ralf Schumacher will drop to fifteenth following his engine change. Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica will start on row four, and the top ten grid positions will be completed by Mark Webber in the Williams alongside the man he replaces next year at Red Bull, Christian Klien. |
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