It was a treat to watch McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton drive with perfection when other drivers were fumbling and finding it hard to grip on the slippery surface, thanks to the rain during the race. A brilliant British Grand Prix victory has lifted him right back into contention for the world championship, on a day when Kimi Raikkonen failed to shine and Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica were the ones who came home pointless. Hamilton lapped all but two of the field and finished more than a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber. Hiedfeld who started from 5t
h did well to finish second ahead of Rubens Barrichello who finished third. Barrichello’s podium finish has brought some cheer to the Honda camp after their other driver Jenson Button failed to finish. Really disappointing day for Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen finishing fourth and Massa, who spun at least five times in the race, came last of the 13 finishers and failed to pick up a point. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen finished 5th behind Kimi after he started from Pole. He could not capitalise his maiden Pole position to get to Maiden Victory, something for which he will be cursing himself 🙁 Alonso has stuck to his 6-7-8 positions and he finished 6th ahead of Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima who was the last one to finish among the points.
British Grand Prix-2008
Kovalainen grabs his maiden pole position @ Silverstone
Heikki Kovalainen grabbed his first ever Formula One pole position on Saturday with a near perfect qualifying display at the British Grand Prix. The Finnish McLaren driver was half a second faster than Red Bull’s Mark Webber who will start second behind Kovalainen. This is Red Bull’s first ever front row grid position. The front runners will have the Ferrari of world champion Kimi Raikkonen and also McLaren Lewis Hamilton breathing down their neck from third and fourth on the grid respectivley. Webber’s second place grid position has taken every one by surprise, even the Australian himself. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Renault’s Fernando Alonso will start from 5th and 6th positions
respectively followed by fellow Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. Pretty good qualifying for Renault in the changing track conditions. They will be looking for a strong finish. Heidfeld seems to be back in his old self running for a string 5th place grid position. Good to see Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel starting along side Nelson in the 4th row. He will be starting 8th ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Massa looked good during the practice but in the qualifying suffered a problem with the right rear wheel nut on his Ferrari during his final tyre change, and never made it out for his second run. BMW’s Kubica will be starting alongside Massa in the 10th position. Disappointing qualifying for Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, after his podium finish in the last race. As usual Force India’s drivers Adrain Sutil and Fisichella will be starting at the end of the grid. They were atleast somewhat close to Honda’s, thats something to cheer about for Mallya 😉