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. invalid comment my @#$%, this @#$% pisses me off after writing for 10 mins.

    From Tempoe, on Sat 18 Oct 6:48PM

  2. With all the vast amounts of money available to McL wouldn't it be sensible to employ a sports psychologist to work with the drivers? Lots of other sports employ them. LH's chief engineer and RD can't be expected to be experts in this crucial role.

    From Biggles, on Sat 18 Oct 6:48PM

  3. I dont follow any team ,its the racing that matters ,if its hard racing its better,its only when some drivers deliberately force others off the track eg Senna and Schumacer that some stewards intervention is necessary,This year it is so blatently obvious that the decisions are so much in ferraris favour that the event is not worth watching,I have always doubted Hamiltons ability to win the Championship,so many drivers and motor cycle riders have in the past been very quick in individual events but have never won a championship.My advice to Ron is paint your cars red and wear red overalls,it might fool the stewards .Its about time max and bernie retired ,greed for cash ,and keeping the championship alive until Brazil may be behind some of these bizarre decisions. The proposal to use common engines in the future may herald the end of formula 1 as we know it NM

    From N M, on Sat 18 Oct 6:45PM

  4. I just hope that if LH has a bad start tomorrow he'll let Kimi go. I assume Ron Dennis will have been drumming that into him all week. In some ways it would be better to let him go anyway, as then he'd be out of the equation. Similarly Alonso.

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:32PM

  5. Ginge, it's pointless trying to have a sensible debate with Mouron he only has one argument "Hate Hamilton"

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:27PM

  6. It is evident that the Hamilton-haters are getting quite edgy, and with good reason.

    From Poison pill, on Sat 18 Oct 6:26PM

  7. Touronroute, you don't have to be so rude calling someone a 'dumbass'. you have no manners at all.

    From Biggles, on Sat 18 Oct 6:23PM

  8. What ??????????

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:20PM

  9. touronroute. If you look closly at your keyboard. On the far left hand side and third button from the bottom which has the words "Caps Lock". It would be nice for all of us ifyou would do us the honour of pressing this button (just the once) and STOP shouting.

    From Edward F, on Sat 18 Oct 6:20PM

  10. MOURONroute: Not to question your unwavering knowledge of F1, but I could have sworn that all season people have been saying that Ferrari have benefitted most from the circumventing of the engine freeze rules and have added more power to their engines than anyone else? Anyone out there who isn't bias (I'm thinking MikeQ, Forza Ferrari and their ilk) know if I'm right on this one?

    From ginger_gitt, on Sat 18 Oct 6:19PM

  11. MIKEQ. your words dumbass,( kimi wont take hamilton out).quote, hamilton snatches pole, with 3 laps less fuel, idiot, hamilton , 30 per cent horsepower than anybody else, (quote) not very clever,used all his soft tyres, not very clever.

    From touronroute, on Sat 18 Oct 6:15PM

  12. Didn't answer the question Mouron!

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:12PM

  13. MikeQ: I'm with you, any suggestion that Kimi will be anything but the consumate professional in this race, or the next, is to tarnish the reputation of a very talented driver purely because he sits in a red car. Too many years of watching Schumi, Massa and believeing the Stewards are gospel could ruin the reputation of a fine racer.

    From ginger_gitt, on Sat 18 Oct 6:06PM

  14. As if to prove your point Martin, up pops Mouronroute, all we need now is Stivsf1.

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:05PM

  15. TO ALL ON HERE WHO THINKS LEWIS ISN,T DIRTY, PLEASE GO AND GET YOUR EYES CHECKED.LOOKED AFTER BETTER THAN ANY OF HIS TEAM MATES, AND ALL THE MEDIA STIRS IT UP. CLASSIC EXAMPLE, HAMILTON SNATCHES POLE, HE SHOULD WITH 3 LESS LAPS OF FUEL LESS, AND A 30 HORSEPOWER ENGINE , BIGGER THAN ANYBODY ELSE, LEWIS WILL NEVER BE A WORTHY CHAMPION, FACT. 90,000 SPECTATORS AT SILVERSTONE , 71,453 FERRARI FLAGS FACT.

    From touronroute, on Sat 18 Oct 6:03PM

  16. Which words Mouron, "That Kimi has integrity" I thought were a Ferrari fan?

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 6:02PM

  17. Gavin F: I'm sorry to have shattered your dreams of such a noble and well meaning fruit, but I am indeed telling the truth and pineapples I'm afraid are not people and do not keep pet monkeys. I hope you can forgive me for shattering your illusions so callously. At least I didn't try and claim Massa is better than Hamilton though, eh?

    From ginger_gitt, on Sat 18 Oct 6:01PM

  18. I'm honoured Martin thank you very much. I try to be objective. You're right a lot of the comments are infantile. I can't believe how much people can hate someone they've never met.

    From Mike, on Sat 18 Oct 5:57PM

  19. Quite agree. Kimi won't compromise his reputation by hitting LH on purpose. The only way KR will help Massa will .be if he can beat LH fair and square. I don't think he cares who wins the Title now he is out of running. Alonso is a different matter, shades of Senna not braking at end of straight and deliberately running into back of Prost.

    From Biggles, on Sat 18 Oct 5:54PM

  20. MIKEQ,YOU WILL HAVE TO EAT YOUR WORDS TOMORROW

    From touronroute, on Sat 18 Oct 5:54PM
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