| Saturday, Qualifying – Hamilton Takes Pole From Massa, Kovalainen & Raikkonen
Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, resisting a strong challenge from his main title rival Felipe Massa.
Heikki Kovalainen put the second McLaren third on the grid, but three-time race winner Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) will start only fourth this time.
McLaren looked on course for a front row sweep after the first flying laps of Q3, with Hamilton and Kovalainen provisionally holding first and second.
Massa was back in fifth thanks to a scruffy first run, but he recovered well to set a 1:47.678 lap at the second attempt to usurp Hamilton.
The Briton was already responding, however, beating all three of Massa’s new benchmark sector times and producing a 1:47.338 to snatch pole back by over three tenths of a second.
Kovalainen, who had topped Q2, had to settle for third, just over a tenth quicker than Raikkonen…(read full qualifying report here)
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.887 1:46.088 1:47.338 12
2. Massa Ferrari 1:46.873 1:46.391 1:47.678 16
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.812 1:46.037 1:47.815 16
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.960 1:46.298 1:47.992 14
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:47.419 1:46.311 1:48.315 18
6. Alonso Renault 1:47.154 1:46.491 1:48.504 18
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:47.270 1:46.814 1:48.736 19
8. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:47.093 1:46.494 1:48.763 20
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:46.777 1:46.544 1:48.951 19
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.152 1:46.804 1:50.319 16
11. Trulli Toyota 1:47.400 1:46.949 13
12. Piquet Renault 1:47.052 1:46.965 15
13. Glock Toyota 1:47.359 1:46.995 13
14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:47.132 1:47.018 15
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:47.503 1:47.429 12
16. Barrichello Honda 1:48.153 9
17. Button Honda 1:48.211 9
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:48.226 9
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:48.268 9
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:48.447 9
That wasn’t so bad from Kimi today, he was quicker than Massa in the second session but it seems he was fuelled heavier again in the final qualifying attempt and as well as not having a great lap he was only 3 tenths off Massa’s time (we Raikkos all know how Kimi is immensely faster!) Unfortunately, Heikki did his ‘team’ job and split the two Ferraris’ and in the race tomorrow Kimi must make sure no one passes him off the start line. Because if that happens, he’ll just be stuck in traffic again. But the positive is that the pace in his Ferrari looks strong despite qualifying lower than Massa again. Massa said in the press conference that he felt his lap was almost as perfect, and was surprised it was nowhere near Hamilton’s time. Hamilton obviously is a lap or two lighter but if Massa felt that was the best he could do, then it shows Kimi can do a lot better than him in the race. The fact that Kimi continues to struggle considerably here, at Spa, his favourite circuit in both McLaren years and Ferrari last year, means there is still a fundamental problem he’s having with the car. He’s not 100% comfortable yet, and therefore the results won’t be 100% either. I just hope Kimi enjoys tomorrow and collects some points, that’s all Spa can give him during this tough time.
ITV spoke to Chris Dyer after qualifying, asking on Kimi’s lap, and Chris said Kimi was fine in the first and third sectors but had a problem in sector 2. He didn’t state what the problem was exactly, but I assume Kimi was pushing too hard and may have had a wiggle somewhere. However, he was very fast in the middle sector, let’s not forget he had the fastest apex speed in Pouhon, some 6/7 kilometres quicker than anyone else. So we can only gather than he pushed too hard somewhere. It cost him 3 and half tenths from Massa’s time. I can admit I was a tiny bit surprised and disappointed that Kimi didn’t manage to gain better grid position than Massa here at Spa (I was even praying for Kimi, it being the holy month of Ramadan for me) But like I predicted, it would be another hard weekend and there’s no midnight solution to Kimi’s situation. The main thing is Kimi looks stronger for the race than usual, that’s a start. So let’s not worry too much about it. Take each day as it comes. Tomorrow is another day, a longer one, and I have faith that Kimi can be quick enough to challenge for second place, if not the win. Read below for Kimi’s comments, he hasn’t given up so we shouldn’t either! This weekend the Red Bulletin found some humour with Kimi again, my favourite picture and caption has to be the one with Kimi’s eyes shut!
The weather will be the main issue as usual so there’s no point in predicting what can happen really. Massa doesn’t do so well in the wet on fast circuits, as we saw in Silverstone, so if it rains tomorrow there’ll be pressure on him to get his head as well. ITV kept going on about how Kimi will undoubtedly have to support Massa for the title if he doesn’t win here tomorrow, and that they don’t quite know why Kimi seems to wake up half way through the race. Well being ITV, we might aswell have babies presenting the show, sucking on Hamilton dummies. Kimi is only 7 points behind Massa. If it were like 15-20 then yeah, Kimi should be definately supporting his teammate like Heikki is doing a good job at with Hamilton. It’s just a pity that ITV and other generally dumb people think it’s because he’s not motivated or a bit slow all of a sudden, like he’s forgotten how to drive. He’s not 100% comfortable, and therefore the results won’t be 100% as expected either. He seems more comfortable since yesterday though. Anyway, let’s look forward to seeing what Hamilton and Massa get up too off the grid tomorrow and whether Kimi can spring an attack. He’s on the disadvantaged side of the grid in fourth, being on the outside line for turn 1 and Eau Rouge whereas Heikki will be on the inside but I know that Kimi prefers to go around the outside as it can jump a few places easier. Go and get ’em! Keep Flying Kimi ~
| Qualifying Ferrari Quotes – Kimi: Theres’s still hope
"On my second run in Q3 I made a small mistake, running wide at Turn 7. A shame, as it cost me valuable time which would have seen me move slightly higher up the order on the starting grid," said Raikkonen.
"All the same, I am reasonably happy with my car, which seems to be behaving the way I like.
"Of course, I’m a bit disappointed, as I would have liked to have done better: fourth place is far from ideal to go looking for the win, but it doesn’t mean I’ve given up hope.
"We know we have a good potential, especially in race trim. The weather will however be a key factor and we will have to try and assess it as well as possible."
| Videos, Onboard Kimi in Q2, Post QLF Interview (Italian)
http://www.viddler.com/simple/62c3e237/ http://www.viddler.com/simple/c9a59663/
FUCK ISRAEL 
i’m excited for tomorrow! Hope he can pass kovalaien as soon as possible, ideally at the start! so he can hunt immediately for the win. I’m guessing he’s heavier than Massa but I think he probably wants it that way, I can’t come up with another explaination. I asked this before but nobody answerred yet but what do you guys think bout Vettel? just curiousAnyway he does seem to have fun even if things aren’t going perfectly. Hope for a great race tomorrowKeep flying Kimi 🙂 Greetz
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Hey Lena! Good to hear your enthusiasm :)Sorry about missing your question! I think Vettel is a pretty quick lad, one of the few, along with Kubica, that will be in top positions that Kimi/Alonso/Lewis/Massa have been in, soon in the future. He’s young, which explains his willingness to try new things and not afraid to learn them whereas the elders are like "been there, done that".
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ooh thanks for your answer; Can’t wait to see Vettel in a Ferrari 🙂 ideally with Kimi as his teammate of course, how much fun would that be? Can’t wait for tomorrow, hope he gets things working immediately as I like to see him win Spa. I always say there are Mclaren tracks, Ferrari tracks and than you have the Kimi track which is Spa :-). So I’m gonna try to keep myself busy in the mean time. Thanks for always updating the site, this is really the best kimi fansiteGreetz
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Hiya! Things we´ll be ok for tomorrow, I don´t want to get into it by talking about all the things we already know: that qualy is the problem, weather not helping tyre heating issue, Kimi IS motivated, etc. If things don´t go as planned we´ll take about them later, one day at a time as you said.So I just wanted to say that I laughed soooo hard at the red bulletin scan!!! The captions are priceless; it´s going to my Kimi files archive ;).Keep flying Kimi – Keep flying Evenstar!!!
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Hola!!!!! lol yeah that red bulletin page is a keeper. I was just discussing the situation on another forum, about Ferrari favouring Massa because they’re worried about Kimi’s distance from Hamilton, whereas Massa’s is less. Yeah, Ferrari will be concerned about that as
they would have been last year. Thing is Kimi, and Massa in particular
obviously, are in better positions than they were last year, equally.
They both have a chance to take on Lewis to the end. The reason why
Massa had to favour Kimi last year was because he was mathematically
out of question. I seriously expect Ferrari to treat Kimi the same.
Infact, despite Kimi implying that he would help Massa if he needed, he
would rather the situation never come to that which also implies he
won’t be put down so easily:
FerrariWorld.com wrote: With
the Finn having slipped behind team-mate Massa, Kimi was also asked if
he would have to help the Brazilian win the Drivers title.
"It could happen. It all depends on how the next races go and where
we are at the end of the year, but the key thing is we race as a team.
Hopefully we don’t end up in this situation, hopefully I will be in the
championship up to the last race."Kimi knows his issues since months ago. He’s
been trying to fix it, along with his race engineer. For the first time
in a long time yesterday, I actually could see, via onboard footage,
that Kimi looked more comfortable than usual. So he’s working at it and
it’s finally improving, visibly too. It would be cruel if Ferrari
didn’t allow Kimi to do this, to get over his rather complicated
problem, one that’s taken months to sort out. How can he support Massa
when he’s struggling to support himself? It’s not logical for the team
or people to assume he must definately back Massa after this weekend.
It’s utter nonsense.
People also think Kimi was lighter today, in qualy. It may be true that Kimi is lighter than Felipe
and looking at the France where Massa was quicker in the first two
sessions and Kimi took pole being one lap lighter, it’s a possibility.
And according to an Italian friend, Domenicali seemed a bit annoyed
with Kimi today. Hmmm. Well, Domenicali did say they’d make qualifying
priority with Kimi, dunno how, perhaps by making him lighter than usual
now but if this is the case then I’ not surprised it didn’t work.
Still, I don’t believe Kimi is lighter than Felipe. I might be wrong,
we’ll see. But reason I think he isn’t lighter is because of what Kimi
said himself:
Kimi said: "On my second run in Q3 I made a small mistake, running wide at Turn 7. A shame, as it cost me valuable time which would have seen me move slightly higher up the order on the starting grid," said Raikkonen.
"All the same, I am reasonably happy with my car, which seems to be behaving the way I like.
So this small mistake, which was running wide, presumably cost Kimi one position. Ferrari mentioned at least one position and Kimi here has said ‘slightely higher’, not ‘a few places higher’. I’m guessing he meant 3rd position infront of Heikki. That would still be behind Massa. So I think he
still chose to go heavier in Q3 and therefore qualify behind Massa as
usual. (I’d like to see the footage of this mistake so we can gather
how small mistake it was lol, but I haven’t) For Kimi though, I fear that Massa will block him, again He has a habit of doing that this year especially when Kimi likes to gain places from the outside. If Massa does this and also let’s Heikki pass, I’ll be a mad woman
On the race start, is the most crucial as Kimi’s past races have shown. His starts have been bad, in that he loses
position like he did in Valencia to Heikki, but he’ll have much better
chances to put it right in Spa as you can overtake in some places. If
Heikki jumps Kimi off the grid, maybe Kimi can get him back like he did
in 2004 to Schumi into Eau Rouge.
That was a while ago and I admit I miss seeing him like that (except
for Australia this year, that was the old Kimi going all out) but Kimi
is so fair and decent I think sometimes he should just do what he
really feels like, he needs to be much more aggressive not just for his
title hopes but just for fun now, he needs to go all out and bust a cap
up everyones asses LOL come on Kimi!!!!! Just do it! 😦 plleeeeeaseee…just go and have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well said sweetie, well said! Yeah, the nonsense about Kimi having at all costs to back Felipe now is just plain rubbish, as you said; IF it was mathematically impossible for Kimi to win WDC, well, come Brazil, ok, Kimi should support him(I don´t agree with this, but…), but the chances are still there, 60 points up for grabs, so everyone is talking bs. And Felipe´s assumption that Kimi has to support him annoys me so much! For all we know, and as changing as the races have been, any of the top three can win WDC, so why not wait until it´s mathematically impossible for one or the other to win, to talk about supporting eachother? For example, if tomorrow rains, Felipe will be spinning his head around the track, and then what? is he still going to be considered the super Brazilian as he has been so far, or then will they start prasing Kimi for a good race and slamming Massa? Really, facts come first, and ´til tomorrow´s chequered flag, and ´til Brazil´s chequered flag, nothing is certain. So let´s stop with the nonsense and enjoy some racing!!! ;pKeep flying Kimi – Keep flying Evenstar!!!
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I’m always looking forward to some racing but F1’s let us down on numerous occassions! Grrrr! Look at Heidfeld, he’s finally outqualified Kubica! I hope he has a good race too…Alonso is right behind Kimi so please GOD, make Kimi have a good start! lolby the way, it’s funny you call me sweetie, that’s actually my real life nickname in my family! not kidding! they haven’t ever called me Saima…Saima is my professional name only used in letters, school/uni, work and here of course lol
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LOL! I honestly didn´t know your family called you "sweetie"! It´s just something that came to my mind, I was going to call you "darling", but thought it was a bit, don´t know, like me sounding old and too formal, and sweetie is, well, sweeter.; )
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Woohoo! The Red Bulletin article was frigging hilarious! Laughed out loud at the bit where Kimi was thinking of pulling on his nose hair to keep himself from laughing at Vettel :D"…He needs to go all out and bust a cap up everyones asses LOL come on Kimi!!! Just do it! 😦 plleeeeeaseee…just go and have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!" <— I love this, Saima! Contrary to what other people think, The Kimster is doing this first and foremost for himself and we’re just here to enjoy the ride and support him. So, yeah!!! Have fun with it, Kimi!(Steering clear of the official forum… I’m sure everyone’s all pessimistic and gloomy there at the moment…)
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