Chinese GP Qualy: Hamilton Takes Crucial Pole

Lewis Hamilton has taken the pole to the Chinese Grand Prix ahead of title contender Felipe Massa.

In the penultimate race of the 2008 season, Hamilton took a critical pole position. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen was the 2nd fastest and knows what part he has to play in tomorrow's race. Felipe Massa was 3rd alongside Renault's Fernando Alonso. Massa has an ally in Fernando Alonso, but he has to get himself competitive enough to chase Hamilton, who will be looking to pull away from those 3 in hot pursuit behind him.

Hamilton would not be alone though, but his teammate Heikki Kovalainen is only at a distant 5th. The Finn is crucial in McLaren's Constructors' Championship hopes and has to do more to get the maximum points for the team as well as to aid his teammate. Mark Webber from Red Bull set the 6th fastest timing, but having blown his engine in the final practice, the Australian would have to incur a ten-place penalty which means he will now be at 16th place.

Another man penalised was BMW's Nick Heidfeld, who had qualified 7th fastest. However, he was found guilty of impeding Red Bull's David Coulthard in Q1 and will thus start from the 9th position after incurring a 3-grid penalty. His BMW teammate and potential title challenger Robert Kubica was unfortunately down in 11th place after struggling with his BMW. It would take some wonderful strategy from BMW to keep the Polish's Championship hope alive.

Jarno Trulli from Toyota and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso rounded up the top 8. Rubens Barrichello was able to bring his Honda into Q2 and will start from 13th place, a rather impressive feat given Honda's performance this season. His teammate Jenson Button is down in 18th place.

David Coulthard, who will be racing his 2nd last F1 race tomrrow, starts from the 15th place and will be left to rue what could have been if Nick Heidfeld had not impeded him in Q1.

The McLaren team will be holding their breaths and hope that Hamilton has learnt from his mistakes of last week and not to be overly aggressive in his racing. Felipe Massa may have many willing allies, but it will ultimately bore down to the Brazilian himself to get in front and race with Hamilton if he wants to win the Drivers' Championship.

The starting grid will be as follows:

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:36.303
	02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:36.645
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:36.889
	04 F. Alonso Renault 1:36.927
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:36.930
	06 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.685
07 J. Trulli Toyota 1:37.934
	08 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:38.885
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:37.201 ^
	10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:35.722 *
11 R. Kubica BMW 1:35.814
	12 T. Glock Toyota 1:35.937
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:36.079
	14 N. Rosberg Williams 1:36.210
15 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:36.731 **
	16 M. Webber Red Bull 1:37.083 ^#
17 K. Nakajima Williams 1:36.863
	18 J. Button Honda 1:37.053
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:37.730
	20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:37.739

* Timing set during Qualifying 2 run
** Timing set during Qualifying 1 run
^ Nick Heidfeld was found guilty of impeding David Coulthard in Q1 and incurred 3-grid penalty.
^#Mark Webber incurred 10-grid penalty after having to change his engine which was blown in 3rd practice.
-- Starting grid if there are no further changes or penalties incurred by any of the drivers.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.

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