With just one race left in the F1 Grand Prix Championship, Saturday's qualifying was all important. Interlagos is a relatively short lap circuit, meaning all qualifying times would be very close together with any mistakes being very costly. In terms of the F1 2008 World Champion, it is Lewis Hamiltion verses Phillipe Massa.
Massa set the early pace in the first qualifying session although it was clear that both Ferraris was suffering from slight under steer. Shockingly, both Williams cars were eliminated at this stage. Williams driver, Nico Rosberg said,
"We were suffering from tyre graining, but I didn't think it would go that bad."
David Coulthard, competing in his last Grand Prix sneaked through in 15th place to go the the second session. Unfortunately he could progress no further. The Red Bull car was suffering from tyre graining and was struggling for grip in the second sector.
The second session saw the Toyotas looking unusually fast. It was possible one of them could get in the way of the Hamilton/Massa Championship battle. Both Toro Rossos also looked fast and qualified for the final session in which Kovalainen went quickest.
In the final session, Phillipe Massa grabbed pole position for the third year in succession with an amazing lap of 1:12.368. This was a staggering four tenths quicker than the second place man.
Who was second place man?
Toyota's Jarno Trulli !!!
Although far from disastrous for the Championship, this is not what Lewis needed. One suspects that the Mclaren is a little heavier on fuel than the Toyotas. Kimi Raikonnen made it to third spot with 1:12.825 with Lewis in fourth in a virtually identical time.
Lewis has both Ferraris in front of him, but most worryingly of all, he has Fernando Alonso positioned immediately behind him on the grid. Fernando has publicly said he doesn't want Mclaren to win and would like to see Massa take the Championship. Alonso has nothing to lose and it is likely he will be fairly aggressive going into the first turn. Lewis also threatens breaking Alonso's record of youngest ever F1 Champion... unless some one bumps into him of course.
Trulli has a history of being quick in qualifying and slower in the race. He could well provide a bit of an obstacle with a dangerous unpredictable train of cars behind him.
Pole Position for Massa, 4th for Hamilton. If Lewis can survive the first lap chaos he stands an excellent chance of becoming the youngest driver ever and first black driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship. It is probably that this race will be with incident as rain is also predicted.
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