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Excellent session, very intense. Trulli put up a truly magnificent show today (as did Glock), while Alonso and Piquet certainly stepped it up a notch.
Too bad about Williams, or the absolute Ferrari dominance so far.
No, I'm not surprised either - because they were the most problematic drivers. The two - Kovalainen and Hamilton - were on the racing-line during Heidfeld's and Alonso's laps, causing them to swerve sharply back and forth in order to approach the corner from the right direction. The rest were also nearby, but on the other side of the track, far from the line, and hence only a minor disturbance.
This qualifying showed us a problem with the current format. Without drivers getting their fuel back, this has led to everyone slowly limping around the circuit at the end of their final hotlap, which has resulted in the punishment of the McLaren duo today.
I suppose there's no solution for it, though, apart from bringing back refueling between the sessions (aka, true hotlaps in Q3). Unless drivers had to complete their return in a set time - say, a time equal to 120% the time of their hotlap.
But its still a lose-lose for Massa. If it rains, his strategy may be best but he is simply a poor driver in the wet. If it doesnt rain, he may be fast enough to win, but his strategy screws him before a single lap as a 3-stop wont win you the race (or even a 2-stop strategy with a very short first stint). His pole was a waste, as even with 5 more laps of fuel in the car, he would have still had pole. Massa wont win the race, and Raikkonen looks like the heavy favorite.
No, the knock-out one we are using now is by far the best. Three exciting rounds at the end of each of the sessions, as well as the elimination of slower cars in later rounds makes it much better. With the current engine penalties, most of the (better) cars would be in the garage for most of a 1-hour session.
I'll be taping it because I've got stupid ghey TEN with delayed telecast. But obviously some kids playing with their dog is more more important than the F1's. So much for "home of Sport", worse enough that they let shows run overtime and because I programed the Qualifying I missed the last few minutes.. not happy.
As for the incident. It was the team's fault for not informing LH and HK that there was 2 drivers on their hotlaps. The stewards probably looked at it like this:
If everyone else managed to get off the racing line, why couldn't they? But the rules are rules and McLaren only have themselfs to blame (yes I am a Merc fan btw).
I guess I'll be watching the race Monday morning (thank god it's a public holiday so I can sleep in a bit). Anyone lives in Melbourne area? Wanna throw rocks at the Channel 10 studio..
