Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

In an exciting qualifying session for the first Grand Prix of 2008 in Australia, Lewis Hamilton takes pole position.

The BMW Sauber driver, Robert Kubica was the man to watch however, as he pushed Hamilton to the limits and if not for a small mistake would have taken the top spot. Kubica ran wide and slid across the grass on his final hot lap but was still only marginally behind Hamilton by 0.155 seconds.

In the  Mercedes McLaren, and on his debut, Heikki Kovalainen claimed the third spot with Felipe Massa coming in fourth in the troubled Ferrari car. However, Kimi Raikkonen will be starting to the rear of the grid due to a fuel regulator failure towards the end of the first part of qualifying.

The second BMW Sauber driver, Nick Heidfeld starts in fifth with Jarno Trulli in the Toyota in sixth and team mate Timo Glock in ninth place.

The Williams Toyota driver, Nico Rosberg was in seventh and second Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima in fourteenth in only his second Grand Prix.

David Coulthard, in the Red Bull was and impressive eighth place but unfortunately his team mate Mark Webber his front brake disk failed and he went off into the gravel leaving him in fifteenth on the grid.

Another impressive driver was the Toro Rosso man, Sebastian Vettel who made it into the final qualifying shoot-out but was unable to record a time due to a ‘technical problem’ and so starts tenth on the grid while his team mate Sebatien Bourdais starts back in eighteenth spot.

The veteran Honda driver, Rubens Barrichello starts in eleventh with Jenson Button in thirteenth separated by Fernando Alonso in the Renault after revealing he is unhappy with the handling of the car and his team mate came in with a disappointing twenty-first place out of the twenty-two runners.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India starts the race in seventeenth place with Adrian Sutil in nineteenth. Sutil had a couple of offs which left him unable to improve on his time.

Takuma Sato was in twentieth in the Super Aguri Honda just ahead of Nelson Piquet in the Renault followed in the last spot by Anthony Davidson in the second Super Aguri.

*Although Timo Glock qualified in ninth place but he has had to drop to fourteenth spot due to a penalty as the team needed to change the gear box.