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German GP Qualy: Hamilton Did It Again

True to his practice forms this weekend, Lewis Hamilton looks like he is on the right track to win the German Grand Prix tomorrow by taking the pole position.

In Practice 3, his teammate Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in what seems like a weekend dominated by the strong performance of the McLaren-Mercedes team on the homeground of Mercedes. Qualifying session 1 saw the usual suspects of the Force India team Fisichella and Sutil dropping out. Rubens Barrichello, who scored a magnificent third placed finish in the last grand prix visibly struggled in his Honda, Nelson Piquet Jr was seen hitting his steering wheel in frustration after nearly making it to Q2 (but not quite close enough) and the Williams of Nakajima failing to make the first cut.

Fernando Alonso came close to missing the cut too, but a final lap in Q1 propelled him to the 10th position and he was safe - for now.

In session 2, Nick Heidfeld was the most significant dropout of the lot when he failed to do a convincing final lap which should have saw him getting into the 'safe' zone of top 10. Unfortunately, the German driver locked his tyres at the hairpin turn and decided to head for the pits instead, since he wasn't able to make that last lap into a good lap to put him into Q3. Be careful there Nick, BMW has yet to confirm their drivers' lineup.

As usual, Qualifying 3 was the most intense session, with the lap times rolling in even after the chequered flag fell and we see the drivers getting pushed down in their positions (Kimi Räikkönen is one such example). Kimi could be very possibly on heavy fuel strategy, when Ferrari knows that it doesn't seem quite likely for him to be able to beat the laptimes of Massa and Hamilton here for a pole position and as a result would start from the 6th spot on the grid tomorrow. Fernando Alonso, who should be on a light fuel strategy on the contrast, just managed a 5th fastest timing and was squeezed out of his fourth position by Toyota's Jarno Trulli. Trulli has been really good this season with his qualifying performance and a 4th starting position will definitely help him in the race tomorrow.

Massa looked set to take the pole position when Hamilton came at the last minute and knocked the Brazilian off the top of the timesheet. His teammate Heikki Kovalainen made two slightly off-track excursions coming up to the start/finish straight and was not fast enough for the front row of the grid.

BMW would be concerned with their recent form in qualifying, with Robert Kubica being the sole BMW representative and could only manage the 7th fastest time. The two Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard, as well as Coulthard's successor next season Sebastian Vettel, rounded up the top ten places on the grid.

The starting grid for tomorrow will be as follows:

1 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.666
	2. F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.859
3. H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:16.143
	4. J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.191
5. F. Alonso Renault 1:16.385
	6. K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.389
7. R. Kubica BMW 1:16.521
	8. M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.014
9. S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.244
	10. D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.503
11. T. Glock Toyota 1:15.508 *
	12. N. Heidfeld BMW 1:15.581
13. N. Rosberg Williams 1:15.633
	14. J. Button Honda 1:15.701
15. S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.858
	16. K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.083 **
17. N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:16.189
	18. R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.246
19. A. Sutil Force India F1 1:16.657
	20. G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:16.963

* Timing set during Qualifying 2 run
** Timing set during Qualifying 1 run
-- 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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