2008 Malaysian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Felipe Massa takes his tenth pole position with an absolutely stunning lap that was more than a half second clear of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.  Heikki Kovalainen takes P3, another half second adrift beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton who was almost one second off the pace of Massa.  If the Ferrari's can stay reliable, they will definitely have the upper hand at tomorrows grand prix.

Top Times
Felipe Massa	1:35.748
Kimi Raikkonen	1:36.230
Heikki Kovalainen	1:36.613
Lewis Hamilton	1:36.709
Jarno Trulli	1:36.711
Robert Kubica	1:36.727

Qualifying Details

Is the BMW the ugliest car ever?

When they show a head-on shot of the F1.08 I don't know whether to laugh, or cringe and avert my eyes. It looks like somebody attacked it with Post-It® Notes. I've been wondering if it's the result of a bizarre hazing of a new aerodynamicist gone wrong, if Nick or Robert pissed off an aero guy--I couldn't decide. I like the team and want to like the car. One of my road cars is a Bimmer, after all. But it's hard to fall in love with something that ugly.

Oh, the team will tell you that it's all about performance. But something that ghastly has to have a good story behind it. A theory just hit me this morning. I think this is why BMW-Sauber put all those Post-It® flaps on:

Imagine with me...

The cars have just finished their final pitstops. McLaren or Ferrari have pipped the BMW at the first corner and they're fighting for position. The Macca or Ferrari driver takes a look in the mirrors to assess the competition and starts laughing. Distracted, they miss an apex and the BMW sails home to its maiden win. Hey, it's as plausible as anything. Discuss.

2008 Malaysian Grand Prix - Friday Practice

Friday Practice 1

Friday Practice 2

Ferrari look like the team to beat so far setting the pace throughout the bulk of both sessions.  Lewis Hamilton went out on fumes to set his fastest lap in session two and had to slow down so much on his cool down lap that he balked Massa a lot completely destroying his flyer.  Peter Windsor continued his bid to be Lewis Hamilton's lover boy.  In smoothing over the fact that Lewis tends to put more wear on his rear tires than his teammates, Peter claims that they are "beautifully worn" while the others are more inconsistently worn.  The fact is, Lewis drives more with his feet and less with his hands,  hence he has more rear tire wear...can't hide that one.  Good try though Peter.

2008 Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton wins the chaotic 2008 Australian Grand Prix. 

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton - P1
Heikki Kavalainen - P5
Keeping his head above the roaring waves of catastrophe, Lewis stayed in front and brought the car home.  Heikki did pretty well except for one little blunder down the main straight where he hit the speed limiter while pulling a tear off away.

Ferrari
Felipe Massa - Retired (Engine Failure)
Kimi Raikkonnen - P8 - Retired (Engine Failure)
The Ferraris had a miserable day without either driver making it to the end.  Presumably they had some form of valve failure on both cars.  Reliability issues aside, neither driver was really putting in a descent drive.  They both made ridiculous mistakes and showed an overall lack of concentration.

BMW
Nick Heidfeld - P2
Robert Kubica - Retired (Accident)
After putting in a great qualifying performance, Robert Kubica had a horrible race.  Not entirely through any fault of his own, he was hit in the back behind the pace car by Kazuki Nakajima.  After that he was pretty well off the pace for the rest of the race.  Nick Heidfeld on the other hand quietly did his job as he always does and brought in a great second place finish.  All in all, BMW Sauber should be proud of their new found pace and what looks like a very bright future for this season.

Williams-Toyota
Nico Rosberg - P3
Kazuki Nakajima - P6
Leading what many hope to be a resurgence of Williams, Nico Rosberg drove an excellent race bringing his Williams-Toyota home in third.  His rookie teammate, which we will call "Spaz" Nakajima showed that he was ready for F1 by slamming into the back of Robert Kubica behind the safety car and then actually finishing the race in sixth.  Did he find one of Schumi's lucky charms in the paddock somewhere?

Renault
Fernando Alonso - P4
Nelsinho Piquet - Retired (Accident)
Getting one over on McLaren, Fernando Alonso finished ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in fourth place.  He squeezed everything possible out of the current Renault F1 offering.  Nelsinho Piquet didn't come close finishing only thirty of the fifty eight laps.

STR-Ferrari
Sebastien Bourdais - P7
Sebastian Vettel - Retired (Accident)
After the other Sebastian retired early, this Sebastien went on to have a great first grand prix finishing seventh.  For a while he was even holding off some of the bigger players until they got the better of him.  Good showing for our old Minardi team which we just learned is currently up for sale.  Where's my wallet?

Toyota
Timo Glock - Retired (Accident)
Jarno Trulli - Retired (Electrical Failure)

Super Aguri
Takuma Sato - Retired (Transmission Failure)
Anthony Davidson - Retired (Accident)

Red Bull-Renault
David Coulthard - Retired (Accident)
Mark Webber - Retired (Accident)

Force India-Ferrari
Adrian Sutil - Retired (Hydraulic Failure)
Giancarlo Fisichella - Retired (Accident)

Honda
Jenson Button - Retired (Accident)
Rubens Barrichello - DSQ (Exited pits under red light)

Complete Finishing Order

Excellent 2008 Season Video Preview

Lewis Hamilton takes Pole at Australia

Ferrari drop the ball and McLaren take the advantage in Australia with Lewis Hamilton on Pole.  The most impressive drive however came from Robert Kubica putting the BMW Sauber in P2 with a stunning lap that quite possibly could have taken pole if not for a minor off.  Raikkonen is mysteriously absent from the top as well after he had a fuel pressure problem at the close of Q1.

Top Times
Lewis Hamilton	1:26.714
Robert Kubica	1:26.869
Heikki Kovalainen	1:27.079
Felipe Massa	1:27.178
Nick Heidfeld	1:27.236
Jarno Trulli	1:28.527

 Qualifying Details

2008 Australian Grand Prix - Friday Practice

Friday Practice 1

Friday Practice 2

It's great to see and hear the machines of Formula One on track again.  Both practice sessions were fairly uneventful and the times were as different as the testing strategies were.  If you take away the qualifying simulations by Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, you can see quite clearly that the top four are practically on top of each other.  This is going to be a great race!

Top Times Combined
Raikkonen	1:26.461
Hamilton	1:26.559
Massa	1:26.958
Kovalainen	1:27.114