Pictures of the Thursday

This is the team's first double finish since Bahrain. In a tough 70 lap race from which only one car retired, Fisichella started from 17th on the grid and immediately gained one position on the first lap before finishing at 18th with a time of 1:32:37.032.

Keeping pace with the group in front on his first stint, the Italian pitted late on lap 32 to try to gain track position. He remained in touch with the field, getting back to 16th by the mid point of the race, before dropping back to 18th following his second stop on lap 54.

Sutil too had a good start and was on the tail of the Honda of Barrichello in 17th until his first stop on lap 20.

In the middle stint on medium tyres, Adrian drove some strong laps and closed the gap, but -- like his Italian teammate -- his second stop dropped him back to the rear of the field, to finish 19th with 1:32:57.001.

The team will now return to its UK base to regroup ahead of a three-day test at Silverstone next week where a new aero and mechanical package will be tested for the first time.

Fisichella was happy that he and Sutil at least finished the race after failing thrice earlier.

"Our target from today's race was to get to the end of the race and we did, so I am pleased from this respect as we have not finished the last three races," he said.

"We had more reliability from the car but the pace was not as good as we would have liked. We need a step forward to move on. I'm looking forward to Silverstone where we have some new parts that should deliver more improvements."

Sutil, however, rued that his pre-race plans did not worked out.

"We have had some better races this year. It was a bit frustrating. Both myself and Giancarlo had a very aggressive strategy to try to make up some more places in the race, but we also needed to have some luck. Unfortunately nothing happened in the race to other people," he said.

"I had lots of times when I had to move over to let cars on the lead lap go past and got out of the rhythm. This was disappointing, seeing the cars passing you when you are lapping well. In the middle stint the pace was OK, it was just the strategy didn't work out in the end," said the German.

Chairman and managing director Vijay Mallya said, "Our goal here was to improve reliability and we can take some confidence that we have achieved this aim, with no problems on either cars," he said.

"We had a strong strategy to try to make up places, which we needed to do when starting from the back, but sadly we could not capitalise on it with the extraordinary reliability of the field.

"However with this strong basis in the back of our minds we can now move onto Silverstone for the test next week, where we look forward to some new developments that should hopefully let us make up some time up to the field," said Mallya.

The team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said, "It's good to get two cars to the finish today. In a race where only one car retired it was obviously going to be difficult but both drivers did a good job in general. Adrian's strategy didn't really work out for him. Overall though, it's good to get a double finish and to get some reliability."

Courtesy :- NDTV

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En effet, quelques tours avant l'arrivée, Sutil se retrouvait en 4ème position, à bord d'une monoplace habituée à rester en queue de peloton. Le facteur pluie, mais aussi la qualité du pilotage du jeune pilote allemand, ainsi que l'intervention des safety cars, lui avait permis d'atteindre le top 8 du classement (ce qui permet de rentrer dans les points). Malheureusement, la Ferrari de Kimi Raikkonen, l'actuel champion du monde, l'a heurtée à la sortie du tunnel, suite à un freinage tardif.

Mais voilà, notre malheureux Adrian Sutil n'aurait cependant inscrit aucun point au classement des pilotes, car il aurait écopé d'une pénalité de 25 secondes, le reléguant au-delà de la 8ème place. Pourquoi ? La raison est simple : Sutil a dépassé 3 voitures au total malgré la présence des drapeaux jaunes. Cette erreur n'avait pas échappé aux commissaires de piste de l'épreuve monégasque.

Le prochain Grand-Prix de F1 aura lieu dans 5 jours à Montréal et j'aurai la chance d'assister aux séances de qualifications !  

Blog de Brèves

"I am sorry for Sutil, who I hit with just a few laps to go. I lost control of the car under braking coming out of the tunnel and I could do nothing to avoid him."

"I said I am sorry for him and his team because probably they are not going to be often in the position to score a fourth position. Plus it was in Monaco."

Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, ex-racer Niki Lauda stuck the boot into Raikkonen. The Austrian was working for German television during the race, and said:

"I can not understand how the highest paid driver can have a race as stupid as that."

The Finn lost control of his car, and did not crash on purpose, but Force India decided to protest to the FIA anyway.

Sutil himself said it was not Raikkonen's fault.

"The Stewards after hearing the explanation of both the Competitors representatives and the drivers decided that the incident requires no further action," The stewards at Monaco said.

Meanwhile Kimi apologises to Sutil for the crash, which he had no control over.

"Basically I just think my brakes were a bit too cold and I locked the rear," Raikkonen told reporters. "I nearly lost the car but unfortunately I hit him - and it is sad for them because they are not very often in the position to finish in the points.

"So, I feel a bit sorry for him - but I could not do anything. I tried to slow down but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to slow down – and I lost fifth place."

He added: "I said I am sorry for him and his team because probably they are not going to be often in the position to score a fourth position. Plus it was in Monaco. So it was harder for him than for me, but it was a racing incident and I could not go anywhere. There wasn't much space and I could not slow down.

"It was just a racing incident. I just locked the rear brakes on the bump and you cannot really slow the car after that. There was nowhere to go, and not enough space to try and avoid him."

[A. Alonso]

     Como ocurre en todos los deportes, frente a la alegría de los vencedores estan las lágrimas de los derrotados. Evidentemente, en todas las carreras hay perdedores, pero quizá en Mónaco sean las derrotas más tristes.

     Es el caso de Adrian Sutil. El piloto alemán que milita en las filas de Force India hoy ha vivido posiblemente uno de los abandonos más tristes en su carrera. A falta de tan sólo 5 vueltas, Sutil marchaba cuarto. La escudería ya casi le felicitaba por radio.

     Pero entonces Kimi Raikkonen con un Ferrari muy superior intentaba pasarle en la bajada, a la salida del túnel. El finlandés se pasaba de frenada y como el firme aún estaba algo mojado perdía el control del F2008. Finalmente colisionaba con la parte trasera del Force India de Sutil, por lo que el alemán tenía que abandonar. El piloto de 25 años terminó llorando en su garaje mientras un mecánico de su equipo intentaba consolarle.

Esto es lo que ha dicho Adrian Sutil después de la carrera:

     "No me lo puedo creer, estaba tan cera. Siento un dolor tremendo en el corazón, es como cuando un sueño se convierte en pesadilla. Estás en el coche y todo es fantástico y de repente tienes que aceptar que no va a suceder. Teníamos una buena estrategia y parece que funcionaba, ya que estábamos cerca del podio y en los puntos. Kimi tuvo un problema en la frenada y chocó contra la parte trasera de mi coche.

     Se acabó la carrera y para mí ha sido todo un "shock". Se me cayeron algunas lágrimas por la adrenalina, no puedo explicarlo. De todas formas estoy contento de que por fin hayamos demostrado lo que podemos hacer como equipo."

     Otro que hoy se ha sentido derrotado ha sido Piquet Jr. El compañero de Alonso se mantuvo como pudo durante toda la carrera, hasta que desde el equipo Renault le aconsejaron montar neumáticos de seco. Ese fue el momento del declive. El joven piloto de Renault terminaba empotrado contra la valla de la primera curva. Los neumáticos de seco le jugaron una mala pasada.

Esto es lo que ha expresado Piquet Jr:

     "He tenido un fin de semana complicado y estoy muy decepcionado. Las condiciones de la pista han sido muy cambiantes, pero hemos arriesgado al montar neumáticos de seco cuando el asfalto aún estaba húmedo, lo que ha provocado mi accidente. Pero tampoco voy a darle muchas más vueltas a eso, ni me voy a compadecer de mí mismo. Ahora debo centrarme en el próximo Gran Premio de Canadá."

     Otro decepcionado será Nick Heidfeld. Si el piloto alemán se viene quejando desde hace unas semanas que su ritmo no es bueno y que se siente mal por verse superado por Kubica, creo que hoy ha sido su día más negro desde hace mucho tiempo. El primer piloto de BMW se ha visto doblado por su compañero de equipo hasta en cuatro ocasiones. Todo un palo para el alemán.

Así de disgustado se mostraba:

     "Después de una calificación horrible ayer, las primeras vueltas de la carrera me han ido bastante bien, a pesar de las condiciones. Llegué a rodar quinto, pero por desgracia Fernando Alonso cometió un error y chocó con el costado de mi coche, lo que causó muchos daños y me obligó a parar por un pinchazo. Desde entonces iba último y por los daños no tenía oportunidad de mejorar. Es un domingo para olvidar, pero no será fácil."

The Brit, winning his first event since Round 1 of this season, was followed across the line by Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa.

Race Review

Right from the start it was going to be one of those Monaco GP's.  The clouds were gathering over the harbour, and people were questioning what tyres to use.  Right down until the limit of 3 minutes no-one knew what was going to be the best to use, but in the end as rain began to fall more heavily all went for Bridgestone's Intermediate tyre.

The cars crawled away for the parade lap, along the un-raced wet street circuit.  Heikki Kovalainen stalled and had to start from the pitlane.

The lights went out, and Massa defended across Raikkonen but he didn't get away well, his tyres lighting up spin rather than traction.  Hamilton went down the pitlane road, trying to muscle into 1st, but failed and had to settle for 2nd.

Conditions were worsening as the race continued, cars were crawling along the lap.  Massa and Hamilton began racing each other, leaving Raikkonen behind who was backing the field up as he drove at slow rates aroudn the corners, with little confidence in his car.

Button broke a win trying to pass Heidfeld, Glock broke his rear wing but continued on lap 4 and Rosberg broke the first of his many wings and bits today.

On lap 5, the inevitable happened with the top 2 racing in these conditions and Hamilton caught his backend on the wall around Tabac corner.  He got a puncture and crawled into the pits with the tyre hanging off the rim.  In the pits he fueled heavily, and gambed on sticking with the intermediates.  A gamble which would ultimately pay off.

He came out in 4th, behind Ferrari's, BMW and Alonso.

Then Alonso tagged the wall at Casino Square, sliding off on what appeared to be a huge puddle of standing water at the side of the road on top of the hill.  He smashed the rear right tyre in, and it looked like he had broken the rear suspension.  However, when he returned to the pits it was fine and he went on his way, putting Extreme wets on his Renault, a brave move.

Moments later, David Coulthard lost control, and couldn't hold a massive slide in his RBR putting it in the wall at Casino Square.  Seconds later Bourdais came flying in out of control and smashed into the back of a stationary Coulthard.  Both were fine, but were both retiring from the race.

This brought out the safety car, and allowed Hamilton to catch up to 4th.

As the safety car cruised around, we found out Raikkonen had a stop-go penalty for not getting his tyres on 3 mins before the start.  When it came in he stayed out 3 laps, then came in surrendering 2nd and 3rd places.

Later, taking a brave overtake Alonso's advantage was lost when he knocked his front wing off in an accident with Heidfeld.  He blindsided the German at Loews, causing a massive tailback and causing Rosberg to break his wing too.  Heidfeld later had a puncture and had to pit in.

During the latter end of this stint Ferrari looked very vulnerable, Felipe Massa and Raikkonen went off at Sainte Devote.  Raikko broke his wing, and Massa lost 1st to Kubica.

Massa was able to stay out 6 laps longer than the BMW Sauber driver which meant he was in the lead, but when he stopped Hamilton took charge.

The McLaren driver was comfortable, pulling away from the Ferrari who had a BMW all over its tail.

Fisichella in the Force India was having no luck in his 200th race, and half way through he gave up after losing 1st and 2nd gears for majority of the race.  It would have been okay any where other than Monaco.

When the next round of stops came, the conditions were decidedly better than before and Alonso made the move onto dry tyres.  He spun out over Swimming Pool II, but continued, as 1 lap later did Nelson Piquet who changed 1 lap after his team mate.  Alonso was quick on the tyres, but couldn't go on the wet line to overtake much.  Piquet stuffed his car into the wall and retired on lap 46.

Many people changed to dry tyres, Ferrari gambling on Super Softs.  Kubica pitted earlier than Massa and just squeezed past the Brazilian as he exited the pit lane.  Adrian Sutil was up to 4th place at this point, his best ever and looked good for points holding off Kimi Raikkonen and having dry tyres on his Force India.

On lap 60, Nico Rosberg had a huge smash at Swimming Pool.  His Williams caught a wet patch on the dry tyres, it speared straight into the wall, spun across the hit the harbour side wall sidewards before spinning across to rest along the wall by the stand.  There was debris all over the track, the car off the racing line, but all down the racing line were huge shardes of Carbon Fibre and a full scale front wing.  Cars approaching the wreckage were crawling through, and for a short time many reckoned the race would be red flagged.

However, the Safety Car emerged from the pitlane and escorted the car around the streets while they were cleared by a barrage of orange marshalls.

As the race restarted Sutil was being hassled by Raikkonen who was makign his intentions of a pass very clear.  He was hugging the wing of the Force India through the tunnel, but as they braked for the chicane Raikkonen lost control like Coulthard in qualifying.  The Finn wrestled with his Ferrari slamming the wheel left and right, shwoing amazing reactions and just keeping his car off the walls.  But in steering, he had not braked and like a run-away train he smashed straight into the back of Sutil.

Raikkonen lost another wing and crawled back to the pits.  Sutil pitted and had to turn off the engine and retire.  He put his head on the wheel and was completly despondent.  In the garage afterwards, he was very upset.  There was nothing Kimi Raikkonen could have done, he was out of control as 180mph.

From there on it was over, Raikkonen tried to catch Kovalainen to get 8th place but it failed.

The race reached the 2 hour limit after 76 of the 78 laps and Lewis Hamilton took the flag. 

We didn't see much of Vettel, but he managed to pull a great result out of the bag and got 5th for Toro Rosso, a brilliant start to their new cars life.  Barrichello was 6th, scoring his first points since 2006.

Classified Results

Fastest Lap: K. Raikkonen, Ferrari - 1.16.689

Retirements

Driver/Team Comments

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren: "This has got to be the highlight of my career and I am sure it will be the highlight for the rest of my life."

Felipe Massa, Ferrari: "I had a difficult race. I lost the radio with over 20 laps (left). I couldn't talk and just had to look at the boards, so it was not so easy to know what was going on.  We took too long to change tyres. We made a mistake on the strategy but it's good to be on the podium. We know the championship is long and I am happy with the result."

Adrian Sutil, Force India: "It's a really a shame, we were really close.  Then Kimi crashed into my rear and destroyed my whole race. It was the best race of my whole career and it is really a shame - I can't say any more about it. I am so really disappointed."

Kazuki Nakajima, Williams: "It was really a difficult race, especially at the beginning when the track was very wet. I couldn't see anything in front of me, or at the rear, so I just tried to keep the car on track.  I think we had some luck with the weather and the track conditions as I was on a one-stop strategy and it really worked well for me. I finished in the points so I am quite happy!"

Flavio Briatore, Renault Principal: "This was a missed opportunity, which is frustrating because we were competitive today.  Fernando drove an aggressive race, but after his off it was clear that he was too far behind to finish in the points. Nelson's race was disappointing, but Monaco remains a difficult challenge for a test driver."

Rubens Barrichello, Honda: "It feels great to be back in the points today and I'm really happy for myself and for the team.  We had a good race, however it was unfortunate that I was held up by Trulli for so long early on, otherwise it could have been even better.  I'm glad to get the monkey off my back in terms of scoring points as it has been quite a wait, but I never lost the faith. We are capable of good points results and I hope this is the start of a stronger period for us. We just need to keep our heads down and keep pushing forward."

Photos

Videos

We expected a dramatic wet race, and that was exactly what we got. There was drama even before the race began as Heikki Kovalainen stalled on the parade lap, and had to start from the back of the grid. His race was badly compromised as a result of this, and he was never much of a factor in the action.

The opening laps saw several drivers lose or damage their front wings in incidents. Jenson Button (Honda) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) were involved in a clash that caused Button to lose a front wing, while Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Renault) also appeared to touch wheels. Timo Glock (Toyota) spun into the barriers and almost collected a few other cars as he got his car facing in the right direction again.

Hamilton had overtaken Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) at the first corner to move into second place and began to pull away from his championship rival. At the same time, Felipe Massa (Ferrari) was increasing his lead at the front. Hamilton hit the barriers shortly afterwards and picked up a puncture in the process. As he limped back to the pits, McLaren opted to change his strategy to a one-stop to maximise his chances of picking up big points.

At this point, it was starting to rain heavily, and many of the teams were thinking about switching to wet tyres. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) crashed into the bainto the back of David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing), who had collided into the barriers in front of him. Both drivers retired from the race.

This incident was swiftly followed by one involving Alonso and Heidfeld. Alonso tagged the BMW whilst making a half-hearted attempt to overtake him. Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) was almost caught up in the tangle, but managed to slow down in time to avoid it.

Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) found himself in a good position in second place. The rain had stopped, but further rain was predicted later in the race. Race leader Massa made a crucial mistake, gifting the Pole the lead. Webber moved into 5th and Adrian Sutil (Force India) into 6th, both as a result of overtaking. Raikkonen damaged his front wing, which required a trip to the pits for a replacement.

After gaining the lead after Kubica and Massa both pitted, Hamilton pushed hard and generated a gap of over thirty seconds advantage. This was enough to get in and out of the pits ahead of them. Webber's pitstop promoted Sutil into 4th place. Hamilton's lead over his rivals was very comfortable, but it was to be wiped out after Rosberg's collision with the barriers (and subsequent debris all over the track) meant that the safety car was deployed. Although he appeared fine, the German was checked over by the medical team as a precaution.

After the restart, Raikkonen hit the wall after seemingly losing grip under braking and crashed into the back of an unlucky Sutil. Both drivers immediately pitted, but Sutil didn't make it out of the pits again. Raikkonen rejoined the race, but failed to score any points. Sutil was understandably distraught to have missed out on what would have been the best result of his career.

Here are the full list of results:

Click here to see ITV's highlights from the race.  You can also video highlights of the Alonso-Heidfeld and Raikkonen-Sutil incidents on that link.

My driver of the day: Adrian Sutil. Honourable mentions to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel for staying incident-free (as far as I could tell, anyway!).

Massa blamed his team's strategy for failing to finish above third. From what I can tell, Ferrari were banking on there being more rain. While it's true that the second rain spell didn't materialise, it was only a prediction!

After today's race, Raikkonen loses his control of the championship. Hamilton climbs above him in the standings, and both Massa and Kubica close in on his points total. The next race is Montreal could swing either way. Hamilton won it last year to take his maiden GP victory, but it is a track that could Ferrari do well at too.

Click here for the latest championship standings.

 [A. Alonso]

     Finalmente llovió sobre Mónaco, y pese a que no lo hizo durante mucho rato provocó que la carrera se volviera una lotería. Muchos fueron los pilotos que se dieron al menos un susto. Entre ellos Lewis Hamilton -que ganó la carrera- o Fernando Alonso, ambos reventaron una rueda.

     Al contrario de lo que venía sucediendo los últimos años no ganó el

 piloto que salía desde la pole. Esta vez lo hizo el que lo hacía desde el tercer puesto, Lewis Hamilton se impuso en Mónaco. Felipe Massa sin embargo, llegó en tercera posición por detrás de Kubica después de sufrir mucho al final de la carrera.

     El piloto británico consigue así su primera victoria como piloto de Fórmula 1 en el Gran Premio de Mónaco. Eso si, se llevó algún susto, el más grave en la vuelta 5 cuando se le iba el coche de atrás e impactaba contra la valla. Resultado: la rueda trasera derecha reventada. Entró en boxes y salió quinto. A partir de ahí todo fue un carrerón del piloto de McLaren.

     Y seguro que también está muy contento Robert Kubica. El piloto polaco, que lideró durante varias vueltas la carrera, consiguió pasar a Massa cuando este cometía un error en la primera curva al pasarse de frenada. Aunque frente a la alegría de Kubica contrastará la tristeza de Nick Heidfeld. Una pésima carrera para un hombre que entró hasta cuatro veces en boxes y  quedó a cuatro vueltas del líder. Lo de Heidfeld cada vez está peor.

     Muy probablemente, hoy hubiera sido el día de Fernando Alonso. Era su gran oportunidad y el español no la supo aprovechar. En la salida consiguió quitarse a Kovalainen de en medio porque al finlandés se le caló el coche en la vuelta de calentamiento y tuvo que salir desde boxes. Además adelantó a Rosberg, por lo que se colocaba quinto. Pero entonces llegaba su primer problema al hacer aquaplaning en la vuelta 7. El ovetense destrozó su neumático trasero al colisionar contra la barrera, por lo que tuvo que entrar a boxes. Montó neumáticos de lluvia extrema y comenzó a ir muy rápido.

     Si quería hacer algo tenía que arriesgar y así lo declaró después de la carrera: "Intenté arriesgar en todos los momentos de la carrera, pero todo salió mal". Este riesgo se pudo comprobar en un adelantamiento increíble a Mark Webber en Mirabeau, la cuarta curva. Más tarde volvió a demostrar el peligro que asumía y en Loewe intentó adelantar a Heidfeld, pero no había hueco. El español embistió al alemán y perdió todo su empaque. Fue el momento en el que Alonso arruinó su carrera. Con el alerón delantero tocado tuvo que entrar en boxes otra vez, y eso que tenía una estrategia de una parada. Al final terminó décimo por detrás de Raikkonen.

      Y es que el finlandés también arruinó su carrera. Kimi Raikkonen tuvo que entrar cuatro veces en boxes, rompió su alerón y además al final de la carrera no sólo arruinaba la suya si no que arruinaba la de Adrian Sutil. Cuando el piloto alemán de Force India marchaba cuarto a muy poco para terminar, Raikkonen se pasaba de frenada a la salida del túnel, perdía el control de su monoplaza y embestía por detrás a Sutil, que terminó llorando en su garaje. Un duro golpe para el piloto de la escudería india que iba a firmar una carrera deslumbrante.

     Por otro lado, por primera vez en el año podemos hablar bien de Vettel, que terminó en la quinta posición. El piloto de Toro Rosso fue a una estrategia de una parada y las cosas le salieron bien.

      Al igual que Vettel, Webber, Barrichello y Nakajima también fueron a una sola parada. Algo que a todos les salió bien pues quedaron cuarto sexto y séptimo respectivamente. En principio esta era la estrategia de Alonso, pero a él no le salió.

     Nico Rosberg, que fue uno de los mejores durante todo el fin de semana, se dio un fuerte golpe a 17 vueltas para el final y su monoplaza quedó destrozado. Esto hizo que el coche de seguridad saliera a la pista porque esa zona del trazado quedó llena de aceite y piezas del monoplaza.

      Y viendo la carrera como espectador, además de Rosberg y Sutil también estuvieron Piquet Jr., Fisichella, Coulthard y Bourdais. El compañero de Fernando Alonso se quedaba fuera después de salir de boxes con neumáticos de seco. El segundo Renault se pasaba de frenada en la primera curva y se quedaba empotrado contra la valla. Una maniobra arriesgada de Renault que finalmente sirvió de poco.

Tabla de resultados del GP de Mónaco

The other great story of the day, but somewhat with a devastating ending, was that of Force India's Adrian Sutil. After managing to come from 8th and pushed for a top four spot he was collided into by Raikkonen and was forced to retire. Personally I hope that the world champion apologises to him, as Sutil was not to blame and he arguably put out the best performance of his career today at Monaco.

In other news, Hamilton had invited Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls as his guest today after many reports of them being an item have surfaced. Well done to him, thats all I can say, well done...

Edit: Just realised how very late I was with the news about Hamilton and Scherzinger, I knew it wasn't exactly breaking stuff but I didn't realise that this was a story that had surfaced in November! lol

Being on pole is even more important than normal in Monaco, as it is notoriously difficult to overtake. Barring any problems during the race, the drivers who score the top three grid slots in qualifying usually end up on the podium. That's one reason why I'm not as keen on Monaco as other people seem to be - I find it too predictable and a bit boring most years!

Further down the grid, Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) ended his day in fifth after narrowly missing out on fourth. Nico Rosberg (Williams) scored his best-ever qualifying position in sixth. The rest of the top ten was rounded out by Fernando Alonso (Renault), Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and David Coulthard (Red Bull).

Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) failed to get into the top ten shoot-out for the first time this season, adding more pressure on the German as he attempts to keep pace with team-mate Kubica.

It just wouldn't be Monaco without the odd crash into the barriers, and this was provided by David Coulthard, who had a very strange sideways crash into the barriers. On his exit from the tunnel, his car veered sharply into the barriers. He lost a wheel and front wing in the incident. The Brit had qualified for the top-ten shoot-out but was unable to take part in it.

Click here to see ITV's highlights from Q3.

The full list of qualifying times were:

1.  MASSA          Ferrari
2.  RAIKKONEN      Ferrari

3.  HAMILTON       McLaren

4.  KOVALAINEN     McLaren

5.  KUBICA         BMW

6.  ROSBERG        Williams

7.  ALONSO         Renault

8.  TRULLI         Toyota

9.  WEBBER         Red Bull

10. COULTHARD      Red Bull

11. GLOCK          Toyota

12. BUTTON         Honda

13. HEIDFELD       BMW

14. NAKAJIMA       Williams

15. BARRICHELLO    Honda

16. BOURDAIS       Toro Rosso

17. PIQUET         Renault

18. SUTIL          Force India

19. FISICHELLA     Force India

20. VETTEL         Toro Rosso* - given a five-place grid demotion for a gearbox change

The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen slotted in behind them in third, with the sister Ferrari of Felipe Massa in sixth. The two were separated by Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber).

Adrian Sutil sprung a surprise by setting the eighth fastest time in his Force India, over a second quicker than team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who languished down in 19th on the timesheet.

It was a torrid practice session for Fernando Alonso (Renault), David Coulthard (Red Bull) and Nick Heidfeld. All three posted times that were towards the bottom of the timesheet, and look to have some work to do ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session.

The full list of times were:

1.  KOVALAINEN     McLaren       1m16.567s

2.  HAMILTON       McLaren       1m17.084s

3.  RAIKKONEN      Ferrari       1m17.177s

4.  ROSBERG        Williams      1m17.503s

5.  KUBICA         BMW           1m17.687s

6.  MASSA          Ferrari       1m17.691s

7.  WEBBER         Red Bull      1m17.856s

8.  SUTIL          Force India   1m17.883s

9.  NAKAJIMA       Williams      1m18.147s

10. BUTTON         Honda         1m18.225s

11. BOURDAIS       Toro Rosso    1m18.367s

12. GLOCK          Toyota        1m18.424s

13. BARRICHELLO    Honda         1m18.455s

14. PIQUET         Renault       1m18.615s

15. VETTEL         Toro Rosso    1m18.651s

16. ALONSO         Renault       1m18.795s

17. TRULLI         Toyota        1m18.858s

18. HEIDFELD       BMW           1m19.024s

19. FISICHELLA     Force India   1m19.131s

20. COULTHARD      Red Bull      1m20.805s

The session was red-flagged after Fernando Alonso's Renault hit the wall, losing his front wing in the process. He was seventh overall.

The full list of times were:

1.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m15.140s

2.  ROSBERG       Williams      1m15.533s

3.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m15.572s

4.  MASSA         Ferrari       1m15.869s

5.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m15.881s

6.  KUBICA        BMW           1m16.296s

7.  ALONSO        Renault       1m16.310s

8.  BUTTON        Honda         1m16.351s

9.  NAKAJIMA      Williams      1m16.372s

10. BARRICHELLO   Honda         1m16.418s

11. HEIDFELD      BMW           1m16.426s

12. GLOCK         Toyota        1m16.688s

13. WEBBER        Red Bull      1m17.094s

14. COULTHARD     Red Bull      1m17.131s

15. PIQUET        Renault       1m17.246s

16. FISICHELLA    Force India   1m17.251s

17. TRULLI        Toyota        1m17.379s

18. BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso    1m17.581s

19. SUTIL         Force India   1m18.176s

The session was red-flagged after a loose drain cover disrupted events on the track. Yellow flags later came out after Jarno Trulli (Toyota) crashed into the barriers. He damaged his left-rear suspension in the incident.

David Coulthard (Red Bull) was the only driver to not set a time after a throttle problem ended his session.

The full list of times were:

1.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari       1m15.948s

2.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m16.216s

3.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren       1m16.248s

4.  MASSA         Ferrari       1m16.292s

5.  ROSBERG       Williams      1m16.653s

6.  KUBICA        BMW           1m16.834s

7.  ALONSO        Renault       1m17.498s

8.  BARRICHELLO   Honda         1m17.511s

9.  WEBBER        Red Bull      1m17.798s

10. FISICHELLA    Force India   1m17.835s

11. GLOCK         Toyota        1m17.942s

12. BUTTON        Honda         1m18.153s

13. BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso    1m18.245s

14. HEIDFELD      BMW           1m18.263s

15. NAKAJIMA      Williams      1m18.274s

16. TRULLI        Toyota        1m18.360s

17. SUTIL         Force India   1m18.360s

18. PIQUET        Renault       1m18.955s

19. VETTEL        Toro Rosso    1m19.176s

20. COULTHARD     Red Bull      no time

Click here to see ITV's highlights from the first practice session.

He was followed by Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault), Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) and Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso). Felipe Massa (Ferrari) ended the day in fifth, ahead of Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), Sebastien Buemi (Red Bull), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), Jenson Button (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Nico Hulkenberg (Williams).

The full list of testing times were:

1. TRULLI           Toyota                      1:31.360               

2. PIQUET JR.      Renault                     1:31.634  

            
3. DE LA ROSA    McLaren-Mercedes   1:32.143
4. VETTEL           Toro Rosso                1:32.480
5. MASSA             Ferrari                       1:33.246

6. HEIDFELD         BMW Sauber-BMW     1:33.371

7. BUEMI                Red Bull-Renault      1:34.064
8. FISICHELLA        Force India-Ferrari   1:34.071
9. BUTTON             Honda                      1:36.501
10. SUTIL               Force India-Ferrari   1:43.877
11. HULKENBERG   Williams-Toyota       1:44.741

Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) set the second best time, ahead of Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Jenson Button (Honda), Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India).

Tomorrow, the teams will revert to a longer run, so the test doubles as a partial preparation for the Canadian GP.

The full list of testing times were:

1.  RAIKKONEN    Ferrari       1m05.381s

2.  KOVALAINEN   McLaren       1m05.471s

3.  KUBICA       BMW           1m05.905s

4.  COULTHARD    Red Bull      1m06.001s

5.  BUTTON       Honda         1m06.091s

6.  BOURDAIS     Toro Rosso    1m06.125s

7.  TRULLI       Toyota        1m06.205s

8.  PIQUET       Renault       1m06.355s

9.  NAKAJIMA     Williams      1m07.080s

10. SUTIL        Force India   1m07.104s

11. FISICHELLA   Force India   1m07.123s

Massa is level on points with Hamilton, but takes the second spot on countback (he has two wins to Hamilton's one). Team-mate and defending champion, Kimi Raikkonen, is seven points clear at the top of the table after finishing in third.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was fourth, ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso (Renault), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Nico Rosberg (Williams).

The safety car was deployed after the opening lap following an incident between Giancarlo Fisichella and Kazuki Nakajima. The first lap also saw Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel come to blows. Sutil needed a new front wing, while Vettel picked up a puncture. Fisichella has since denied that he was to blame for the accident, instead choosing to blame the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais. In a separate incident, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) was forced to pit for a puncture after making contact with Kimi Raikkonen.

For the new championship standings, click here.

The full race results were:

1.  MASSA        Ferrari       
2.  HAMILTON     McLaren       +3.7s
3.  RAIKKONEN    Ferrari       +4.2s
4.  KUBICA       BMW           +21.6s
5.  HEIDFELD     BMW           +38.7s
6.  ALONSO       Renault       +53.7s
7.  WEBBER       Red Bull      +64.2s
8.  ROSBERG      Williams      +71.4s
9.  COULTHARD    Red Bull      +75.2s
10. TRULLI       Toyota        +76.3s
11. BUTTON       Honda         +1 lap
12. KOVALAINEN   McLaren       +1 lap
13. GLOCK        Toyota        +1 lap
14. BARRICHELLO  Honda         +1 lap
15. PIQUET       Renault       +1 lap
16. SUTIL        Force India   +1 lap
17. VETTEL       Toro Rosso    +1 lap

World Champion Raikkonen had to settle for fourth place, behind the McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) slotted into fifth. Mark Webber (Red Bull) was an impressive sixth, while team-mate David Coulthard also made it into the top ten shoot-out in tenth. The rest of the top ten was rounded out by Fernando Alonso (Renault), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber).

The full list of qualifying times were:

1.  MASSA         Ferrari     

2.  KOVALAINEN    McLaren        

3.  HAMILTON      McLaren        

4.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari    

5.  KUBICA        BMW

6.  WEBBER        Red Bull

7.  ALONSO        Renault

8.  TRULLI        Toyota

9.  HEIDFELD      BMW

10. COULTHARD     Red Bull       

11. ROSBERG       Williams     

12. BARRICHELLO   Honda        

13. BUTTON        Honda        

14. VETTEL        Toro Rosso    

15. GLOCK         Toyota       

16. NAKAJIMA      Williams      
17. PIQUET        Renault      
18. BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso    
19. SUTIL         Force India

20. FISICHELLA    Force India* (three place grid penalty)

[A. Alonso]

Q3

     Al final Felipe Massa conseguía la pole en el GP de Turquía con un tiempo de 1:27.617. Kovalainen, que marcaba la segunda mejor crono, terminaba a dos décimas del piloto brasileño. Daba la impresión de que Massa iba un poco descargado, pues nada más salir marcaba un tiempo muy bueno. El otro McLaren, el de Hamilton, saldrá desde la zona limpia de la segunda línea. El piloto británico parecía tener problemas con su monoplaza, que se mostraba muy inestable en la salida de las curvas.

     Fernando Alonso ha finalizado séptimo, por detrás de Webber a tan sólo cinco milésimas y a 32 milésimas de Kubica, que ha finalizado quinto.

Q2

     En la segunda ronda de la clasificación del GP de Turquía era un Ferrari el que volvía a quedar en lo más alto, esta vez el de Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso, que al final se salvaba por los pelos, ha marcado el octavo mejor tiempo. Y digo por los pelos porque otros pilotos que se supone tendrían que estar por delante de él, han finalizado por detrás (Heidfeld o Trulli).

     Robert Kubica, que ha rodado lento durante el Gran Premio, ha finalizado en la segunda posición, a menos de una décima del primer Ferrari. Parece que los BMW tenían un as bajo la manga. Eso si, Heidfeld si lo tiene no lo ha mostrado.  

     Los cinco monoplazas eliminados han sido los dos Honda, el Williams de Rosberg, el Toyota de Glock y el Toro Rosso de Vettel. Un Vettel que saldrá desde la séptima línea, esperemos que no tenga ningún incidente en la primera vuelta.

Q1

     En la primera ronda de la clasificación Felipe Massa marcaba el mejor tiempo seguido de Hamilton. Fernando Alonso marcaba el noveno mejor tiempo, pero en Renault no todo eran alegrías porque su compañero de equipo, Piquet Jr., se quedaba fuera. Además Nakajima, Bourdais, Fisichella -que tiene una penalización de tres posiciones por saltarse un semáforo en rojo- y Sutil también quedaban eliminados.

     BMW, que no he hecho mucho ruido durante el fin de semana, no ha rodado como en anteriores GP´s a la altura de McLaren.

     Con la marcha de Super Aguri del mundial, ha cambiado de nuevo la sesión de clasificación. Ahora en vez de eliminar seis coches en la Q1 y seis en la Q2, se eliminan cinco monoplazas en ambas rondas.  

Tiempos de la clasificación del GP de Turquía:

Pos	Piloto	Escudería	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:25.994	1:26.192	1:27.617
2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.736	1:26.290	1:27.808
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.192	1:26.477	1:27.923
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:26.457	1:26.050	1:27.936
5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:26.761	1:26.129	1:28.390
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.773	1:26.466	1:28.417
7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:26.836	1:26.522	1:28.422
8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:26.695	1:26.822	1:28.836
9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:27.107	1:26.607	1:28.882
10	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.939	1:26.520	1:29.959
11	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:27.367	1:27.012
12	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:27.355	1:27.219
13	Jenson Button	Honda	1:27.428	1:27.298
14	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:27.442	1:27.412
15	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:26.614	1:27.806
16	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:27.547
17	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:27.568
18	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:27.621
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:27.807
20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:28.325

The 25 year old from Bavaria in Germany, who is yet to be named, bought Sutil's old computer and hacked the hard-drive gaining access to personal details including bank transactions, photos and emails.

The person then demaned 10,000 Euros from the Force India driver.

There was a meet-up for the money exchange to take place, but with Sutil working in conjunction with the German Polizei, who operated a "sting" style grab and arrested the man before he could get-away.

"I am glad that it is all over now," Sutil told Bild-Zeitung.

Piquet segundo y Alonso tercero

The full list of times is as follows:

1.  ALONSO        Renault       1m18.483s
2.  SCHUMACHER    Ferrari       1m19.323s
3.  SUTIL         Force India   1m19.424s
4.  KUBICA        BMW           1m19.785s
5.  ROSBERG       Williams      1m19.841s
6.  BARRICHELLO   Honda         1m19.920s
7.  HAMILTON      McLaren       1m20.591s
8.  BOURDAIS      Toro Rosso    1m20.715s
9.  WEBBER        Red Bull      1m20.849s
10. TRULLI        Toyota        1m20.867s

But considering how hard Fisichella made Hamilton work for 4 laps to overtake him yesterday in Bahrain, it made everyone sit up and take notice of the engine in that Force India car. Not to mention that Giancarlo is a very experienced driver who squeezed out every last drop of energy from that engine.

Though both Sutil and Fisichella were bumped out in Australia in a very eventful race, Fisichella has shown all his experience at finishing 12th consecutively and beating the likes of Barrichello (Honda), Rosberg (Williams) and Hamilton (Mclaren) in Malaysia and Bahrain.

Sutil, for no apparent fault of his own, has been unlucky enough with all the engine troubles in the world. It was good to see him finally finish a race so that Force India got both their cars in across the finish line.

The main target of Force India is to finish in mid-field this season, but the way in which Fisichella is showing good form, we may be in for some surprises.