Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

Lewis Hamilton took the pole position today in the McLaren ahead of tomorrows Hungarian Grand Prix followed by his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in second.

Felipe Massa came in third, but had to work hard in the Ferrari while Kimi Raikkonen finished down in sixth after struggling with his F2008.

Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber will start in fourth on the grid after being knocked down the time-sheets in the final moments of qualifying.

Timo Glock had been fast all weekend in the Toyota and today was no exception as he took fifth place ahead of Raikkonen and Renault driver Fernando Alonso in seventh.

Mark Webber was an impressive eighth in the Red bull followed by Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota and Nelson Piquet in the second Renault to complete the top ten.

Despite the problems with the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel, he did well today to achieve eleventh place on the grid, while his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais is down in fourteenth.

Jenson Button in the updated Honda, with it’s new rear suspension setup and aero package, got the car into twelfth position ahead of the second Red Bull driver, David Coulthard.

Rubens Barrichello, couldn’t seem to get it together today in his Honda and will start down in eighteenth place on the grid.

An incident is being investigated between Nick Heidfeld and Sebastien Bourdais, after Heidfeld felt he was blocked by Bourdais.  To be fair, Bourdais didn’t really have anywhere else to go, but we’ll see.

The Williams team suffered problems today after Nico Rosberg qualified for the second round and then could not take part due to a mechanical issue.  His team-mate, Kazuki Nakajima, starts from seventeenth on the grid, so not looking good for the Williams Toyota this weekend.

Unbelievably, the news just in is that Bourdais is to be penalised for the block by losing five places on the grid, he will now start in nineteenth place.

Here are the results;

1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1 min 20.899 secs

2. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.140

3. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:21.191

4. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:21.281

5. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.326

6. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:21.516

7. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:21.698

8. Mark Webber (Aus) RedBull - Renault 1:21.732

9. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.767

10. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 1:22.371

11. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:20.144

12. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:20.332

13. David Coulthard (GB) RedBull - Renault 1:20.502

14. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams - Toyota

15. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:21.045

16. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams - Toyota 1:21.085

17. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:21.332

18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India - Ferrari 1:21.670

19. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:20.963 *

20. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India - Ferrari 1:22.113

* demoted five grid places for impeding

Lewis Hamilton topped the time-sheets in the McLaren today in the second free practice session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The World Championship leader, went faster on the harder prime tyre in the second session than the softer option that was used in the morning.

Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso, spent a miserable morning after developing a hydraulics problem.  When he did get out on track it once again ground to a halt.

Nelson Piquet finished second fastest in the Renault before spinning out of control in the closing minutes of the practice session.

The second McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen was in third place ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second Renault.

The two Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were in fifth and sixth places respectively followed by the two BMW Sauber drivers, Nick Heidfeld in seventh and Robert Kubica in eighth.

Jarno Trulli took the ninth position for Toyota ahead of Nico Rosberg in the Williams to complete the top ten fastest drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

digg_title = ‘Practice 2 Results’;digg_media = ‘news’;digg_topic = ‘motorsport’;

All ten team have agreed to create the ‘Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) in a meeting at the Ferrari headquarter’s on Tuesday.

In the statement issued, it said,

“All the Formula One teams met today in Maranello and held an extremely constructive meeting, in the presence of Bernie Ecclestone and Donald McKenzie.  The teams have subsequently agreed unanimously that they will establish the new Formula One Teams Association to work with the FIA and FOM to agree upon regulations and commercial conditions which will provide a framework for a strong and dynamic sport.”

The new Valencia street circuit has been given the final FIA approval for it’s first Formula One race next month.

The track was host to GT and Spanish F3 at the weekend and Charlie Whiting was at the Spanish circuit to present the official approval.

Jenson Button believes that the Valencia Grand Prix could bring new fans to the sport.  He said that the circuit is quite fast but has a lot of run-off areas making it an exciting track to race on and to watch.

The circuit has been designed by Hermann Tilke and charts it’s course around the city’s America’s Cup port.

Nick Heidfeld, the BMW Sauber driver, has said he is intrigued by the new circuit which will host it’s first race on August 22-24.  Tickets for the event were said to have sold out within a fortnight of going on sale, with 110,000 fans set to attend the venue.

The race will be known as the Formula 1 Telefonica Grand Prix of Europe, a 57 lap race with a circuit length of 5.440 km.

The Formula One teams wrapped-up the four day testing session at Jerez on Friday, where several of the drivers have been testing the slick Bridgestone Potenza tyres, ready for the 2009 season.

Heikki Kovalainen took over from Pedro de la Rosa on Friday for the McLaren team, and set the best time of the week in a car sporting a new type of aero device fitted to the nose-cone.

Felipe Massa was on track on Friday in the Ferrari, which was featuring the ‘Shark Fin’ engine cover, similar to the one originally seen on the Red Bull car.

Tonio Liuzzi, the Force India test driver, was on track on Wednesday running with a new seamless-shift gearbox.

Timo Glock was back in the Toyota cockpit on Thursday, suffering no ill-effects of his accident last week at the German Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil took over for the last day of testing for the Force India team after it was announced that  Giancarlo Fisichella was suffering from a virus.

The teams and drivers will now be preparing for the Hungary Grand Prix next Sunday.