Hamilton snatches Shanghai pole

Eurosport - Sun, 19 Oct 09:29:00 2008

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton gave his Formula One title hopes a huge boost when he took pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai with his main rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari qualifying third.

2008 Chinese GP McLaren Hamilton - 0

The 23-year-old Briton - who would become the sport's youngest world champion if he wins Sunday's penultimate race of the season and Massa finishes fifth or worse - will line up alongside reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen on the front row.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, the third driver still in the title race - albeit 12 points behind Hamilton - scraped into the second qualifying session but failed to reach the final shoot-out and will start 12th on the grid.

The Pole, who has been complaining about a lack of balance in his car all weekend, had a good morning practice with the third-best time behind team-mate Nick Heidfeld and Hamilton but his troubles returned when it mattered.

The first two rows of the grid will be exactly the same as last season in Shanghai with Renault's Fernando Alonso qualifying fourth.

Last year, Hamilton just needed to beat his championship rivals to win the title but failed to finish the race after skidding off at the pit-lane entry.

The front row in Shanghai will also be a repeat of last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji, where Hamilton failed to score any points after a wild start that earned him a drive-through penalty.

The pole position in China is Hamilton's seventh of the season and 13th in 34 races.

His team-mate Heikki Kovalainen could not improve from fifth with his final flying lap of the session, denying McLaren the opportunity to protect Hamilton going into the opening corners.

Red Bull's Mark Webber pulled off the track with his car on fire during the morning's final practice and suffered a 10-place penalty for replacing the engine. That relegated the Australian from sixth to 16th.

Reuters

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  1. So i wonder if Kimi was to take Lewis out of the race­ at some point accidentally of coarse what would happen.­ Based on the decisions we have seen this season to date­ i expect Lewis would be banned from the final race for­ not avoiding the shunt from behind, sorry but some of­ the Ferrari howlers seem to have been punished very­ lightly in comparison to others. Go on Lewis deliver­ the knockout punch cleanly and don't whatever you­ do get behind a Ferrari at any time cos for sure if you­ try and pass it you will be deemed to have cheated,­ you know been unfair and raced better than them.
    Good­ Luck and All The Best.

    From paul, on Sun 19 Oct 3:38AM

  2. Guys Guys plzz can't you leave­ Lewis,Mclaren,Massa,Ferrari, and the conspiracy­ feelings and let us enjoy the race whoever win so plz­ shut up and enjoooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy:@:@:@:@

    From Brayan, on Sun 19 Oct 3:30AM

  3. The Question is! If we get a clean start tomorrow and­ Hamilton leads Kimi second massa 3rd will kimi do what­ his team say to let massa through to minimize the­ damage of points? Kimi isnt excatly happy to give up­ places for massa as we know an too right because places­ should be earned. Looking back to some of the grand­ prix schmacher won when barrachello let him past on the­ last lap to me was was disgraceful.

    From JD, on Sun 19 Oct 3:28AM

  4. baldyman074,Gavin F, and all the other posters who have­ had a look at the t-shirt stuff. THANKS. Some have even­ bought them. Very surprised. Another 57,000 sales and I­ can get a ticket to Sao Paulo.... rofl.
    same link, just­ google redbubble 0004, look for the italian job. NOW­ THEN, what can I cook up next. I see Hamilton, Laurels,­ Champagne, lol. OOH, a CROWN........

    Whatever, I just­ hope we all enjoy a great RACE with RACING. Massa and­ Hamilton are quite good friends off track apparently.­ ........Be a shame to spoil that wouldnt it !!!

    From sian_piglet_harris, on Sun 19 Oct 3:23AM

  5. RESPONSE to [touronroute] ...........Good Nature, AND­ Good Sense, are usually Good Companions! - Qualities­ that seem to have escaped you!!!

    From falconine99, on Sun 19 Oct 3:04AM

  6. Hamilton deserves to win the championship, he has been­ one of the most exciting and fresh drives for years,­ The red's don't like the fact that lewis, a­ young british driver is going win. The FIA who are made­ up of mainly Italian's don't like the fact that­ he will win either. If Hamilton wins tomorrow and in­ brazil the FIA will strip him anyway. just look at last­ week has any other driver ever had a penalty for a­ first corner insident,NO! so why HAMILTON?! he is not­ dangerous he's just got BALLS!!!!!!!!

    COME ON­ LEWIS !!!!

    From michaeldjfallon, on Sun 19 Oct 3:02AM

  7. I guess that kind of proves the point then Ginge, Massa­ is a quick driver but can't race.
    Anyway it's­ gone midnight here so thanks for some entertaining chit­ chat no doubt there'll be more tomorrow.
    Bye.

    From Mike, on Sun 19 Oct 2:51AM

  8. Yesterday's headline said 'Hamilton on fire in­ China' . Surely they meant Webber. lol

    From Biggles, on Sun 19 Oct 2:51AM

  9. fu.cking @#$%

    From pinco p, on Sun 19 Oct 2:49AM

  10. fu.cking @#$%

    From pinco p, on Sun 19 Oct 2:48AM

  11. There is something rather rascist about ALL that is­ being written about LH. F1 is not a sport for dry­ headed wimps. It is a fast and dangerous sport. LH­ values his life as much as anyone and I have watched­ albiet on tv, ALL his races since he came unto the grid­ and the kid is STUPENDOUS. Period. The poli[tricks]­ that was used last season and still being used this­ season to deny him that title will not hold. He is­ probably the best driver on the circuit after AS.­ Period.

    From linkuplindsay, on Sun 19 Oct 2:41AM

  12. markharry45, have you seen anything more dangerous this­ year than massa using the pit lane exit to overtake­ webber last wknd, i know i havn't,there's no­ way he could see if there was anyone coming out. and he­ kinda missed to notice SB leaving the pits a few laps­ later

    come on lewis dont do anything stupid on the­ first corner, everyone know you're really 13 points­ ahead, but sadly its whats on the fia's score­ card(tip-ex & i love ferrari)that counts

    From matthewschris55, on Sun 19 Oct 2:35AM

  13. MikeQ: Massa has won 10 races so far. 2 from pole in­ 2006. 3 from pole in 2007. 2 from pole in 2008. He was­ 2nd on the grid to Kubica in Valencia and 2nd to Kimi­ in Magny Cours. Then there is the gifted win when he­ was 2nd to Lewis in Belgium. And the only other race­ he came close to winning was Hungary when he was 2nd on­ the grid to Lewis again. Kind of proves he can't­ win if he's not at the front from the start really.­ If he wins in Shanghai it'll be a new record for­ him.

    From ginger_gitt, on Sun 19 Oct 2:33AM

  14. markharry43,
    How many people did LH drive into at Fuji,­ How many did FM hit, one of the most potentially­ dangerous things Ive seen for a long while was FM­ cutting across the pit lane exit hatchings at about­ 180mph, if anyone had been coming out they could both­ have been killed. Hamilton braked too late for the­ first corner, so what? it happens all the time, cold­ tyres ,cold brakes, hot blood, It's called racing.­ I don't want to see crashes but I do want to see­ close exciting racing.

    From Mike, on Sun 19 Oct 2:28AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    hamilton is not just dangerous,he's reckless,and­ one of these days he will cause a serious accident if­ not a fatal one.for people wanting this sort of­ racing,is it because your one of hundreds of people who­ watch f1 just to see the accidents.we dont need this­ sort of raceing.drive strong but remember there are­ real people in the cars who have real families at home.

    From Mark, on Sun 19 Oct 2:15AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    anyone but hamilton to win

    From terryevans001, on Sun 19 Oct 2:15AM

  17. Has FM ever won a race when he's not been on the­ front row of the grid? Serious question, I know he has­ the reputation of being good front runner but no good­ at racing, is that the case.

    From Mike, on Sun 19 Oct 2:08AM

  18. Hey guys, why don't U get a bit more serious. Lets­ get back to the comments. Each one of you has the right­ to give a comment, but behave grown and do not provoke­ the other one. However, I do agree with some of you­ that KR will not do anything stupid, after all he will­ try to proove that he is as good as it gets and he has­ nothing to lose. Lewis on the other hand has the whole­ lot to spoil by the end of the race, especially having­ all that fame around him that he can play dirty. I hope­ LH has learnt all the lessons by now (last year same­ race, last race this year), otherwise what good of him­ if he makes the same miss again? Don't write off­ Felipe, as he is trying to get his so much wanted­ championship and proove to his nation that he is the­ true successor of Senna. I bet he is gogga fire all the­ guns tommorow, and last but not least: REMEMBER ALONSO?­ If any of these guys fail, he will be the one showing­ off as the double champion witha new hattrick! Would be­ a nice achievement, wouldnt it?

    From , on Sun 19 Oct 1:52AM

  19. MikeQ: I understand what you are saying, but minds like­ that are too small to be allowed to wander on their own­ and need to be supervised. Plus I believe you've­ already heard my description of what people like that­ have to say. I'm surprised there isn't more­ bile on here though, however that could be because all­ the kiddies are crying in their bedrooms?

    And I doubt­ Lewis will make the same mistakes he made in Fuji in­ the first 30 seconds of the race. He should get away­ cleaner and not go diving into corners unneccesarily. ­ The question is will the two guys behind him have a­ similar restraint? Has Massa learnt its wrong to cut­ chicanes and ram the guy you are racing against for the­ championship?

    From ginger_gitt, on Sun 19 Oct 1:51AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I just hope the reds will put Hamilton back on his­ place as they did last season. C'mon Kimmi and­ Massa dont let me start hating F1, just dont want that­ arrogant Hamilton to win.
    FORZA FERRARI
    AGURI MASSA

    From victorunouk, on Sun 19 Oct 1:50AM
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