Interlagos Qualifying

[mabs_nsx]

Interlagos Qualifying has started.

Fisichella will be first out.

[mabs_nsx]

Sato has a ten position penalty for crashing into Michael Schumacher at the Belgian Grand Prix.

[mabs_nsx]

Sato pits

[D.R.T.]

Keep em coming mabs

[beau1]

Montoya goes top with a 1:12.145

[beau1]

Doornbors spins

[shelsleyF2]

Whoa! Alonso put the Iceman under pressure and he blows at the first corner. Great stuff. Kimi knows all about flat spoted tyres, so what now? Can he change it or will he drive it flat out again until it explodes?

[TheNewBob]

Congrats to Christian Klien - great effort

[P.Cummins]

Damn! I thought qualifying started later on but anyway.

[P.Cummins]

How come Raikkonen is back in 5th? Good job by Fisichella, Button, Klien and Monteiro. Biggest dissapointment, and not suprisingly by recent unfortunate standards, are both Williams. Did they make mistakes or just have really bad runs?

[neilap]

1 F. Alonso Renault 1:11.988 3
2 J. Montoya McLaren 1:12.145 +0:00.157 3
3 G. Fisichella Renault 1:12.558 +0:00.570 3
4 J. Button BAR 1:12.696 +0:00.708 3
5 K. Raikkonen McLaren 1:12.781 +0:00.793 3
6 C. Klien Red Bull 1:12.889 +0:00.901 3
7 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:12.976 +0:00.988 3
8 J. Trulli Toyota 1:13.041 +0:01.053 3
9 F. Massa Sauber 1:13.151 +0:01.163 3
10 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:13.183 +0:01.195 3
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:13.285 +0:01.297 3
12 J. Villeneuve Sauber 1:13.372 +0:01.384 3
13 T. Monteiro Jordan 1:13.387 +0:01.399 3
14 M. Webber Williams 1:13.538 +0:01.550 3
15 A. Pizzonia Williams 1:13.581 +0:01.593 3
16 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:13.844 +0:01.856 3
17 N. Karthikeyan Jordan 1:14.520 +0:02.532 3
18 C. Albers Minardi 1:14.763 +0:02.775 3
19 T. Sato BAR no time + 1
20 R. Doornbos Minardi no time + 2


Kimmi locked up badly going into turn one...

I was hoping JB would help Maclaren get closer to Renault now it seems he may actually help Renault win the title... grrr. Well hopefully BARH get a podium.
I think the fat lady is warming up!

[Nado]

Kimi locked up in S1 and apparently flatspotted his tyres. Williams might be on a long first stint. You just never know who's on what fuel though.

[Sodemo]

Kimi locked up his right front badly, his tyre must be shot to bits, also this is the tyre which is under most stress in the race...

He didn't run off the track, he just did a wall of death around turn 1, but lost about 7 tenths.

I wonder if they will attempt / will be allowed to change it?

[P.Cummins]

Considering the lock up, 5th place isn't too bad but you just know something has gone wrong when you see him on the 3rd row.

You're right about the fuel though, Thanh Ha. I never thought about that.

[shelsleyF2]

Originally Posted by neilap

help Renault win the title... grrr.

Whaddya mean, grrr?

Lets get the title over then maybe they can go racing again.

Ron Dennis is quoted in Autosport as saying its the easiest thing in the world to make a slow reliable car, in a dig at Renault. Lets get the title over, then Renault can turn the wick up and then lets see if Kimi is still the quickest.

Who knows, maybe Renault can build an engine that's quick over three quarters of a GP. Then they can say "Hey Ron, we're quick and fragile now, and guess what? It was ever so easy to do! And your driver don't look so quick now, either!"

[SPARK Msport]

Jarno will also drop 10 places on the grid see here.

[Knowlesy]

Silly error from Raikkonen really, but not much damage done in terms of grid position.

Has his tyre been confirmed as flat spotted, I missed post session coverage.....? I thought he might have a slim chance of avoiding a flat spot from the onboard, but it's pretty unlikely.

If so, then things will be tricky tomorrow, unless you can change without penalty.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by The Monster

I wonder if they will attempt / will be allowed to change it?

Is the tyre dangerous!...or does it just have a flat spot.

[P.Cummins]

That's a shame about Jarno. And its a bloody stupid rule too! Ferrari didn't have a great session either, mind, so Toyota can still close in on third place. If Ferrari get no points and Toyota have good points finishes (say something along the lines of both cars between 5th and 7th) the gap will be down to about 5 points. But it will be a hard one to call because there are so many different things that may and may not happen.

[Hugh Jarce]

I don't think we should blame Kimi, the team pressure to get this race right and be on the front row to frustrate Renault must have been massive. I think that is demonstrated by the early error - he must have been pushing really hard.

If Alonso gets away it will be interesting to see how Fisi handles the pressure amongst the McLaren's - and my guts is that McLaren will end up with more points here than Renault.

It also looks like Toyota have lost 3rd place now. I can't see Trulli making up that much ground to get in the decent points.

[P.Cummins]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jarce

It also looks like Toyota have lost 3rd place now. I can't see Trulli making up that much ground to get in the decent points.

I actually think Trulli will go quite well here dispite being dropped down some placed on the grid. I'd tip him for a top 8 finish. GO TOYOTA!

[Pingguest]

Hopefully Raikkonen won't get any trouble because of the lock up.

[Hugh Jarce]

I agree - come on Toyota - I'd love to see them do it!

[Sodemo]

It was a big lock up at high speed, I fear it will give him problems, though I wish it wasn't the case...

[Knowlesy]

It looks doubtful now, but I'm willing them on!