Pole Takes First Pole

Felipe Massa only had eyes on the pole – but didn’t take into consideration the other Pole.

BMW’s Polish driver Robert Kubica took the top grid spot in Sakhir by less than three hundredths of a second, to secure his, and BMW’s first ever pole position.

Lewis Hamilton managed to outqualify his teammate Heikki Kovalainen and they picked up third and fourth. Jarno Trulli once again impressed in the Toyota, grabbing seventh place behind Nick Heidfeld. Jenson Button is in a great position to pick up his first points of the season, qualifying in ninth place.

1. R Kubica – 1:33.096
2. F Massa – 1:33.123
3. L Hamilton – 1:33.292
4. K Raikkonen – 1:33.418
5. H Kovalainen – 1:33.488
6. N Heidfeld – 1:33.737
7. J Trulli – 1:33.994
8. N Rosberg – 1:34.015
9. J Button – 1:35.057
10. F Alonso – 1:35.115
——–
11. M Webber – 1:32.371
12. R Barrichello – 1:32.508
13. T Glock – 1:32.5281
14. N Piquet – 1:32.790
15. S Bourdais – 1:32.915
16. K Nakajima – 1:32.943
——–
17. D Coulthard – 1:33.433
18. G Fisichella – 1:33.501
19. S Vettel – 1:33.562
20. A Sutil – 1:33.845
21. A Davidson – 1:34.140
22. T Sato 1:35.725

Kimi Raikkonen Takes Sepang Win

Photos courtesy of Formula One Administation

Well, it wasn’t quite as eventful as Melbourne, but Sepang threw up a couple of surprises which ended up seeing Kimi Raikkonen on the top step of the podium.Polesitter Felipe Massa was sitting in second place before he span it out half way through the race (Picture, top left). Robert Kubica gained, to take second place, and BMW’s second successive podium finish (Picture, bottom right). Heikki Kovalainen took the final place on the podium, which was a good finish considering he started eighth.

Result of the day, though, goes to Jarno Trulli. Many people had written Toyota off at the start of this year, but he qualified fifth fastest (being promoted to third after McLaren’s penalty) and finished just outside the podium places. Team mate Timo Glock, however, got spun round by Rosberg on the opening lap, (picture, bottom left) and the team didn’t want him to stay out. As for Rosberg, following last week’s superb podium finish, his tangle with Glock meant that he needed a new nose cone, and came in a lowly 17th.

No points either for Toro Rosso or Force India. Sutil limped off after a couple of laps with a mechanical fault, and Fisichella could manage only twelfth. Neither Toro Rosso managed to finish the race, with Vettel’s Ferrari engine giving up (picture, top right) and Bourdais was unable to follow-up his two points in Melbourne.

Hamilton came fifth, meaning that McLaren still managed to get both drivers into point scoring positions. Lewis did have a problem in the pits, when the mechanics were unable to get the front-right wheel off the car. For now, McLaren still have the edge over Ferrari, but after Kimi’s torrid weekend in Australia, he’s turned it around and lies three points behind Lewis Hamilton. The normally-scolding heat of Bahrain is coming up in two weeks time – who will have the edge in Sakhir?

Classification
1. K RAIKKONEN 1:31:18.555
2. R Kubica +19.5
3. H Kovalainen +38.4
4. J Trulli +45.8
5. L Hamilton +46.5
6. N Heidfeld +49.8
7. M Webber +1:08.1
8. F Alonso +1:10.0
9. D Coulthard +1:16.2
10. J Button +1:26.2
11. N Piquet +1:32.2
12. G Fisichella +1 Lap
13. R Barrichello +1 Lap
14. N Rosberg +1 Lap
15. A Davidson +1 Lap
16. T Sato +2 Laps
17. K Nakajima +2 Laps

Not Classified
S Vettel
F Massa
A Sutil
T Glock
S Bourdais

2008 Drivers – Part 2/11: BMW

Nick Heidfeld

Nationality: German

DOB: 10/05/77

Races: 134

Wins: 0

Podums: 7

Pole Positions: 1

Total Career Points: 140

 

Robert Kubica

Nationality: Polish

DOB : 7/12/84

Races: 22

Wins: 0

Podiums: 1

Pole Positions: 0

Total Career Points: 45

 

Nick made his name in the German Formula Ford series in 1994, winning 8 out of 9 races to take the trophy. Various victories with Formula 3 led Heidfeld to his first race seat at the Prost F1 team. (Remember them?) Heidfeld failed to score, but spent three years at Sauber, collecting 25 points in the process.

In 2004, he had a disappointing season at Jordan (Remember them?), but scored 28 points for Williams in 2005. It was at Williams where Nick got his first, and to date, only pole position, at the European Grand Prix, just a few races after Malaysia, where he got his first podium finish. After Williams, he returned to Sauber, who by this time were now BMW Sauber and were a much stronger package. He scored 23 points in 2006, before hitting a personal best 61 points, and an impressive fifth-place finish in 2007. Competition this year will be harder, and BMW may have difficulty holding on to that second place finish.

PREDICTION: 7^th

Robert is a fairly new name on the Formula One atlas. Robert was test driver for BMW Sauber in 2006, but got an unexpected call-up to the second driver seat when Jacques Villeneuve complained of illness. In just his third race, at Monza, Kubica cemented his first podium finish with third place – a feat he has yet to repeat.

But Robert managed to impress in 2007, and finished a very respectable sixth, consistently finishing in the points positions. Now Robert has the knowledge of the tracks, there’s nothing to stop him getting his second podium, and perhaps even a race win in just his second full season.

PREDICTION: 6^th