Hamilton takes pole position for Chinese Grand Prix - McLaren and Ferrari do battle for the top spot in Shanghai
Published by Christine
It’s the 18th October 2008 and this is F1Minute.
Hamilton has taken pole position in China, with both Ferraris behind him, and Kovalainen back in fifth. Webber suffered from a grid penalty, after his engine blew up in Free Practice 3. He qualified sixth but starts down in 16th. That bumped Heidfeld up to sixth, but he’s also received a penalty. In the first Free Practice session, he impeded David Coulthard’s hot lap. The Red Bull team complained to the stewards and Heidfeld received a three place grid drop seeing him start in 9th.
With Hamilton first and Massa third, Kubica will be ruing his performance which sees him start in 11th. He appeared to struggle with the same tyre issues that Heidfeld had last week, and he concedes his title chances are now supremely slim.
Finally, Force India have confirmed they will be keeping both Sutil and Fisichella on for next year, whilst Toyota have announced the launch date for their 2009 car – January 16th. Seems such a long time away.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1Minute.
