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RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com
RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com
07/05/2008 - 09:12 AM
Northamptonshire, UK
An unusual front row: Kovalainen will lead Webber and Raikkonen at the start on Sunday. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
Betting houses all over Britain may be going bankrupt as a most unexpected front row has emerged from this Saturday’s British Grand Prix qualifying session.
McLaren sophomore Heikki Kovalainen, who lies a distant sixth in the driver’s championship, took the maiden pole position of his Formula 1 career with a best lap of 1:21.049, a massive 0.5sec ahead of his nearest chaser – who was himself a surprise.
Mark Webber gave Red Bull Racing the best starting position of its four-year history in second, best mark of 1:21.554. The Australian beat the favored Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, who will share the second row. After a difficult French GP, BMW’s Nick Heidfeld bounced back from his qualifying woes to complete the top-five.
Other highlights included a career-best grid positions for Renault’s Nelson Piquet (seventh, one spot behind teammate Fernando Alonso) and a strong eighth spot for Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel. Championship points leader Felipe Massa could do no better than ninth, and Robert Kubica in the second BMW rounded out the group of Q3 qualifiers.
Kovalainen's target now couldn't be other than to get his first GP win: "It has been going really well all weekend," the Finn said. "We managed to put some more pace to the car last week and all week here we have been carrying on from that.
"Obviously I have been spending time around Silverstone for many years of my life, I have family and friends around here so it's great to have first pole here and tomorrow I'll try and carry on from where we are today. Our pace has been very good all week and I am confident our strategy will be a strong one as well and tomorrow the target is to win the grand prix."
Webber, who repeated his 2003 feat with Jaguar Racing at Silverstone (when he also started second) admitted to be surprised with the result: "A bit of a surprise actually. It is a credit to the team. They have worked so hard like all the teams have. It is a bit of a home grand prix for our Red Bull guys and it is a proud moment for them, so five percent of the job done. It could be wet tomorrow but we have done
Meanwhile Raikkonen revealed himself satisfied, hinting that he believes both Kovalainen and Webber are carrying lighter fuel loads: "We are not exactly where we want to be, but nobody knows how much fuel everyone is running. Tomorrow only will we know how fast we were today. P3 is still okay if you look where the other are in terms of who is ahead of me in the championship."
Local favorite Jenson Button had to settle for 17th, one spot behind teammate Rubens Barrichello, as Honda continued to struggle despite new updates to the RA108 machine.
British Grand Prix qualifying results:
1) Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:21.049
2) Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1:21.554
3) Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:21.706
4) Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:21.835
5) Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:21.873
6) Alonso, Renault, 1:22.029
7) Piquet, Renault, 1:22.491
8) Vettel, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1:23.251
9) Massa, Ferrari, 1:23.305
10) Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1:19.788
11) Coulthard, Red Bull-Renault, 1:20.174
12) Glock, Toyota, 1:20.274
13) Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1:20.531
14) Trulli, Toyota, 1:20.601
15) Nakajima, Williams-Toyota, 1:21.112
16) Barrichello, Honda, 1:21.512
17) Button, Honda, 1:21.631
18) Rosberg, Williams-Toyota, 1:21.668
19) Sutil, Force India-Ferrari, 1:21.786
20) Fisichella, Force India-Ferrari, 1:21.885
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