German Car Forum

nope. they scrapped that rule a few years ago.

yes, and Hammi's pretty sloppy when he's behind or when he can't seem to find he's way around anyone. if he doesn't get teh jump on Vettel, could be game over for him. Vettel is one of the most difficult person to overtake on the grid.

Kimi earns Ferrari’s 200th pole position at Magny-Cours

Ferrari was back to form during qualifying for this weekend’s Magny-Cours with Kimi Raikkonen earning Ferrari’s 200th pole position and team mate Felipe Massa coming in just a hair length behind. Raikkonen put in a lap of 1m 16.449s compared to Massa’s 1m 16.490s. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton took third position but will start ten places back because of the Montreal crash penalty. Team mate Heikki Kovalainen has also been pushed back, forced to start at 10th position after being 6th fastest following the decision by stewards that he drove slowly on an out-lap and held up Mark Webber. Read on the full team-by-team summary.

Ferrari
On low fuel, Felipe Massa is the fastest man at Magny-Cours, but in Q3 race trim, Kimi Raikkonen snatched Ferrari’s 200th pole by the barest of margins. Massa, who hurt his neck earlier this weekend in what he describes as a “stupid” elevator incident, said he overdrove in Q3.
McLaren-Mercedes
McLaren is not quite on Ferrari’s pace at Magny-Cours, but Lewis Hamilton’s P3 becomes P13 after his ten-position Montreal crash penalty. “I have to apologize to the team for making a couple of errors on my final runs in Q3,” he said. Heikki Kovalainen has been consistently a few tenths further back here, and his P6 becomes P10, after stewards ruled that he drove slowly on an out-lap and held up Mark Webber. He called the events leading up to the Webber incident, also involving Kazuki Nakajima, a “mix-up”.
Renault
As at the recent Barcelona test, Nelson Piquet sampled life atop a F1 timesheet on Saturday morning at Magny-Cours. He has been closer to Fernando Alonso all weekend in France, but reality set in for qualifying and he just missed the Q3 cut. Alonso’s impressive P4 becomes P3 on the grid after Hamilton’s penalty. “The car has really improved and so for the first time this season we have the real chance to fight for the podium,” the Spaniard said.
Toyota
Both Toyotas in the exclusive top ten, with Jarno Trulli - despite a Q3 spin - the standout performer. His P5 becomes P4 on the grid after Hamilton’s penalty. “I didn’t expect to be this quick,” he said.
BMW-Sauber
The morning timesheet gave a hint: despite the Montreal one-two, BMW-Sauber is not looking as strong as usual this weekend. Nick Heidfeld struggled the most and couldn’t make it to Q3, but even championship leader Robert Kubica is just P7, albeit P5 after the McLaren drivers’ penalties.
Red Bull-Renault
The signs were not good on Friday, but Mark Webber was as high as P2 in the morning practice session, and P8 - becoming P6 after the McLaren drivers’ penalties - in qualifying. David Coulthard is the next man on the grid.
Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel’s sensational practice speed continued with his P3 in the morning, netting him 13th on the grid - which becomes 12th thanks to Hamilton’s penalty - and his teammate Sebastien Bourdais also broke through the Q2 barrier. “I can’t say I’m angry not to make Q3,” Vettel said, “but I am disappointed.”
Williams-Toyota
Nico Rosberg looked quick in the morning, but he went no further in qualifying after making it through Q1, and his P15 puts him dead last on the grid with his Montreal penalty factored in. “To be so far off the pace is surprising,” he said. Nakajima failed to make it through P1.
Honda
Another dreadful showing by the Japanese giant: similar pace from both drivers, but faster only than the Force India cars. ‘Character-building’ was how the team’s official post-qualifying document described it. “There is no more to come from the car,” Rubens Barrichello said.
Force India-Ferrari
The Silverstone built racers are the slowest at Magny-Cours: a full sixth tenths behind the next slowest cars - the woeful Hondas - in the decisive session, but shuffled up a place each due to Rosberg’s Montreal penalty. “It was a difficult qualifying session for us as the whole field is very close,” said Fisichella, marginally quicker than Adrian Sutil.
motorauthority

Wow... BMW just ****ed big time in the pits.

Kubica and Trulli pitted at the same time with the same fuel load for the first stop.

Why the hell did they bring Kubica in so early! Not only did he end up far from trullli (to whom he was stuck to prior to pitting) but also lost a spot to Kovalainen!

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The French Grand Prix
Magny Cours, France;
70 laps; 308.586km;
Weather: Cloudy, then light rain.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h31:50.245
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 17.984
3. Trulli Toyota (B) + 28.250
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 28.929
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 30.512
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 40.304
7. Piquet Renault (B) + 41.033
8. Alonso Renault (B) + 43.372
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 51.021
10. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 54.538
11. Glock Toyota (B) + 57.700
12. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 58.065
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:02.079
14. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:16.630

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Button Honda (B) 17

pretty boring grand prix
well done piquet and well done trulli

World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers:
1. Massa 48
2. Kubica 46
3. Raikkonen 43
4. Hamilton 38
5. Heidfeld 28
6. Kovalainen 20
7. Trulli 18
8. Webber 18
9. Alonso 10
10. Rosberg 8
11. Nakajima 7
12. Coulthard 6
13. Barrichello 5
14. Glock 5
15. Vettel 5
16. Button 3
17. Piquet 2
18. Bourdais 2

Constructors:
1. Ferrari 91
2. BMW Sauber 74
3. McLaren-Mercedes 58
4. Red Bull-Renault 24
5. Toyota 23
6. Williams-Toyota 15
7. Renault 12
8. Honda 8
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7

meeeh!!

Why didn't Bernie eliminated this race from this year ?!

Average race, well done to Trulli, Piquet, and Vettle who finished in an impressive 12th place, ahead of Heidfeld.

The pressure is getting into Lewis, his poor qualifying performance, and his rather hasty overtaking move on Vettle which resulted in a drive-through penalty, are signs that Lewis isn't as mentally calm as he used to be. He was also lucky to get away with the wheel banging move on Alonso.

400,000 pounds on a license plate tells a lot about mental toughness.

Felipe Massa is leading the championship and that is all I care about.

Lately Massa has been quietly driving very well, I am starting to believe he is world championship material.

Lewis had deny his purchase of that number plate.

Not stupid enough to spend money on bloody number plate - Hamilton - F1technical.net

Well he was starting 13th on the grid and obviously had nothing to lose. So it was all about scoring some serious points or nothing at all. It's a difficult circuit to overtake on and starting back on the grid you've got no choice but go at it a 100%.

But still the race for the championship is still on. Like expected it was a boring race with the reds drifting off into the horizon. That's really how it is. Hamilton is pretty much the only one challenging the Ferraris. Heikki isn't a top driver and Bimmer lacks the pace necessary to make the Ferrari and Mclaren sweet.

Either way the pressure is definitely on for Lewis and in Silverstone he needs to put on a spectacular performance preferably finishing first or second.

Good to see that all the money invested by Toyota is finally paying off.

The Mclaren drivers were pretty much the only drivers putting moves on people today, they actually saved some face on what would have otherwise been a mindnumbingly boring race. So effectively you are saying Hamilton should have just sat there not taken any chances to pass people and let the Choo-choo train commence...Exciting!

I hope that is the case.

Hamilton had to do what he had to do- I don't fault him one bit on the overtaking move.

The Mclaren drivers can overtake because they started way back behind all the slower cars, I don't have any problems with them overtaking, however Lewis doesn't appear to be as calm and his overtaking moves aren't all that cinical. Remember that unsuccessful overtaking move on Alonso in last year's Brazilian GP?

Well, overtaking moves are rarely calm, especially on tracks where possibilities are limited. More so, if you want to get anywhere in the race you have to be aggressive, overtaking is never a walk in the park.

Either way the accident in Canada has to be Hamilton's biggest mistake since Japan. It has cost him a heck a lot of points, in fact close to 15 points. He could have finished 2nd or 3rd in both Canada in France. He needs to make sure that he never gets into similar trouble again. Getting stuck in the far end of the midfield tend to result in an unsuccessful race just like with Kimi in Australia. You're desperate for points and are forced to make bold moves in order to catch points for staying in the championship fight.

Meanwhile, Hamilton blames the media: Formula One news: Hamilton hits out at British press - GPUpdate.net Formula One.

Really? How long did he expect the honeymoon to continue?

I have to say, it was very disappointing to see Kubica not being able to put much pressure on Trulli towards the end of the race...and then seeing Kovi getting past him in the final round of pitstops... and Heidfield... well... BMW's performance was a complete 180 compared to Canada.

Ah well, at least Toyota/JGR/Kyle Busch won today's race at Sonoma, that made my day a lot better.

Yeah, it is almost like BMW went, "yippee, we are done for the year after Canada, let us party for the rest of the season".

^^
The only reason why BMW won Canada was because Kimi and and Hamilton was out of the race. They have quite a long path left before they can beat Mclaren and Ferrari in a clear cut race not involving SC coming out and causing trouble. So they have yet to become a top real comfortably capable of winning races, but they have made major advancements this season.

Yupp, no he's getting to feel the backside on F1. Massa and Kimi get slammed every time they have a poor race, especially Massa. It's all about ignoring what's in the papers and keep on racing hoping to prove them wrong.

Hamilton has a bright future ahead of him and I think that this season has so far been a very good experience for him, now he's experiencing REAL F1, proper hardship, rather than a flawless and perfect opening season he had in 2007.

Räikkönen still got a bad spell on him. The WC table would be a bit tighter right now without that trouble added, though it's not too bad now either. Other than that, a walk in the park for Ferrari.

With a bit of nerve Hamilton could had made a few points out of the race but he just can't seem to drive when there's someone ahead of him. The comments here have been a bit harsh on Kovalainen, afterall he did come up from 10th to 4th whereas the magic man Hamilton got from 13th all the way to 10th. For Kovalainen's bad season's defense it's a bit obvious which is McLaren's priority driver. Trulli also really played on the edge when Kovalainen tried to overtake him by almost crashing on to the McLaren. Good going Trulli with that precious podium finish!