Canada 2008: What Happened In Qualifying?

Canada 2008: What Happened In Qualifying?

If you are reading this post, it means the hotel I’m staying at doesn’t have free/cheap internet access. As such, there is no qualifying result post or report post. I know, that’s almost as bad as Mosley getting a vote of confidence, but sometimes life deals you a lemon, or something. But all is not lost! Instead of reading my thoughts on qualifying and asking the inevitable questions, I thought you guys could write it instead. So in the comments below feel free to add your favourite bits from each session, and if it’s already mentioned, go ahead and add something else not yet discussed. Ask questions, answer others – have some fun in my absence.

I will add though that I’ve noticed a lot of comments going to moderation recently for no apparent reason. If your comment does head its way to the moderation bin please do not fear, and please don’t re-submit. It will take me until Sunday afternoon before I can sort it out, but I will add them in, I promise.

I should be around for the race though, and normal service will resume (unless this has been a resounding success and worth repeating). So until tomorrow afternoon, have fun…

Image by magicfab and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License.

5 comments

  • the story of the day really isn’t about any of the sessions. it’s about the track falling to pieces… again.

    autosport say organisers are resurfacing the hairpin. i guess we’ll wait and see if there’s a race to be run. alonso suggested they run the entire 2hrs behind the safety car… that’ll be fun to watch.

  • If they’re going to run the entire 2 hours behind the safety car, there’s no point to the exercise. They might as well do 2 laps, give everyone half-points and send everyone to the (allegedly excellent) party venues early…

  • As for the round-up:

    Pre-Q1: Sebastian Vettel discovers that his Toro Rosso mechanics can’t fix his and Sebastien Bourdais’ cars in two hours flat. As the more severely damaged car, Vettel sits out qualifying and takes the spare car. He will start in the pit lane.

    Q1: Everyone goes out early. Track starts breaking up almost immediately. It’s fairly quiet for most of the session, though Button’s gearbox has gremlins three minutes before the end. He gets no penalty except the one where he has to sit out the rest of the session and be eliminated, due to his gearbox having “evident damage”. The Force Indias are the slowest to set a representative lap, with Sutil shading Fisichella (who took in some quick lawn-mowing at the end of the session). Bourdais is the other driver to be eliminated, though his gearbox penalty for a Saturday practise gearbox change means he’ll start last of those on the grid. Trulli spun near the end of the session but got through regardless.

    Q2: The track is swept. This was very much a temporary solution. Trulli spins twice more and is unsurprisingly 14th. Piquet Jr can’t seem to find any pace and ends up 15th. The other drivers to be knocked out were Webber, Glock, Nakajima and Coulthard (in 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th). Webber would have made it through, but his car was unsettled by the crumbling track and he damaged the right-front corner of his car at the very end of the session.

    Q3: Track swept again. Really quiet, apart from Kovalainen doing some lawn-mowing at the first corner early on. Hamilton took pole by six-tenths of a second at the very last moment. Before then, it had looked like Kubica would get pole, but he had to settle for 2nd. Raikkonen was 3rd and complained liberally about the state of the circuit. Hamilton just looked confident – but with the circuit breaking up at the rate it did with only a few laps run on it, he might be wise to worry a little…

  • […] Judging by the comments and from watching the qualifying in my hotel room, the griddeciding for the Canadian Grand Prix was certainly exciting. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t take part following an accident which rendered his Scuderia Toro Rosso undriveable for the afternoon, and then his team mate suffered a problem with his gear box in this morning’s warm-up. Although Sebastien Bourdais has been given a five grid-slot penalty, news sites on the internet are undecided if he will start in 19th or 20th. […]

  • […] Judging by the comments and from watching the qualifying in my hotel room, the griddeciding for the Canadian Grand Prix was certainly exciting. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t take part following an accident which rendered his Scuderia Toro Rosso undriveable for the afternoon, and then his team mate suffered a problem with his gear box in this morning’s warm-up. Although Sebastien Bourdais has been given a five grid-slot penalty, news sites on the internet are undecided if he will start in 19th or 20th. […]

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