Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

Felipe Massa

Qualifying has taken place on the new street circuit in Valencia ahead of tomorrow’s European Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa in the Ferrari, stole the pole position from Mercedes McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton in his final run of the session.

Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber was an impressive third fastest, only four tenths slower than the leading man.

Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, will start from fourth on the grid and its believed he is running with the harder prime tyres, unlike Massa who is on the softer option.

In fifth place is the second McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, and a sensational sixth place for the Toro Rosso team set by Sebastian Vettel, who has been outstanding all weekend.

Jarno Trulli didn’t even make the morning practice session after suffering a suspected gearbox problem but still went out in qualifying to claim seventh place in the Toyota.

The second BMW Sauber driver, Nick Heidfeld, was in eighth place followed by Williams driver NIco Rosberg in ninth place and Sebastien Bourdais rounding up the top ten drivers.

The second Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima finished in eleventh, missing out on a top ten place by one hundredth of a second.

Fernando Alonso in the Renault, could only manage twelfth place in front of his home crowd, while his team-mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, was even further back in fifteenth place.

Second Toyota driver, Timo Glock, finished in thirteenth place ahead of the Red Bull of Mark Webber, who is struggling with a lack of grip this weekend.

Not a good qualifying session for the Honda team, with Jenson Button lining up in sixteenth place and team-mate Rubens Barrichello, in a dismal nineteenth, a whole second slower than Button.

David Coulthard took seventeenth position in the second Red Bull followed by Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella in eighteenth.  Fisichella’s team-mate, Adrian Sutil finished in last place.

It should be an exciting race, especially if weather predictions are anything to go by.  A safety car situation looks more than likely within the first lap, and the bridge still concerns me, but I am really looking forward to the first street race of Valencia.