Melbourne - Qualifying Result

On a day that Ferrari might prefer to forget, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton opened his 2008 world championship challenge by grabbing pole position for the Australian Grand Prix from a super-impressive Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber.

With Kimi Raikkonen already sidelined after fuel pump problems in Q2, team mate Felipe Massa had to uphold Ferrari honour alone in Q3, but after recording 1m 27.178s on his first run, he failed to improve on his second. Kubica, meanwhile, was on a blinder that resulted in 1m 26.869s even though he ran wide in Turn Nine. The Pole kept his foot in it and didn’t appear to lose an awful lot of time, and planted his BMW Sauber on the front row for the first time in his career.

Hamilton’s smoother 1m 26.714s, however, was good enough to settle the issue and to give the Briton his seventh career pole. It was a good day for McLaren, with Heikki Kovalainen taking third, ahead of Massa, with 1m 27.079s.

Full report: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/3/7485.html

Qualifying Result

Squence: Pos Driver Team Q1, Q2, Q3, Laps

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.572,1:25.187, 1:26.714, 14
2. Robert Kubica BMW 1:26.103, 1:25.315, 1:26.869, 15
3. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.664, 1:25.452, 1:27.079, 13
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.994, 1:25.691, 1:27.178, 12
5. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:25.960, 1:25.518, 1:27.236, 16
6. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:26.427, 1:26.101, 1:28.527, 17
7. Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:26.295, 1:26.059, 1:28.687, 21
8. David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:26.381, 1:26.063, 1:29.041, 18
9. Timo Glock Toyota 1:26.919, 1:26.164, 1:29.593, 17
   (will drop ten places, unschedule gear-box change)
10. Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:26.702, 1:25.842, No time, 18
11. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:26.369, 1:26.173, 13
12. Fernando Alonso Renault 1:26.907, 1:26.188, 10
13. Jenson Button Honda 1:26.712, 1:26.259, 13
14. Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:26.891, 1:26.413, 13
15. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:26.914, No time, 8
16. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26.140, 3
17. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.207, 9
18. Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:27.446, 10
19. Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:27.859, 9
20. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.208, 9
21. Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:28.330, 6
22. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.059, 9
    

Source: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/787/6482/