Australian GP 1st qualifying surprises everyone

[Cotterik]

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella was the big winner as dramatically changeable weather played havoc with the first qualifying session for Sunday’s Australian GP.

The Italian had the good fortune to take his flying lap while the track was at its driest – and just moments before a sudden cloudburst threw the session into chaos.

Fisichella’s fellow countryman Jarno Trulli emerged with the second fastest time, while Mark Webber took advantage of a clean and tidy lap in the damp early conditions to claim a provisional third on the grid.

World champion Michael Schumacher drew the short straw with the weather, having just taken to the track on intermediate tyres when the heavens opened, and finds himself mired in an unaccustomed 18th place – nearly 25s off the pole time…

BAR’s Jenson Button was the first of the likely front-runners to lay down a marker, tripping the timing beam in 1m41.512s after a somewhat cautious lap.

The sun began to burn through just in time for crowd favourite Webber, who promptly upped the ante to 1m36.717s, exactly three seconds quicker than Williams team-mate Nick Heidfeld.

By the midway point of the session there was a dry line around 90 percent of the circuit, and only isolated pockets of standing water at tricky spots such as the fast Turn 5 dissuaded the Michelin runners from fitting dry-weather tyres.

Qualifying ace Trulli went out on intermediates and moved the target to 1m35.270s with an excellent lap in his Toyota. By now it was clear that it was only a matter of time before ‘slicks’ would be the way to go.

Surprisingly – given that he is not a noted rain master and has also admitted to a lack of confidence in his Sauber – Jacques Villeneuve was the first man to bite the bullet. It didn’t take him long to discover how tricky the conditions still were.

With the shallow-treaded tyres still not up to working temperature, the 1997 world champion embarrassingly spun off on his out-lap on the damp patch at Turn 5. Undaunted, the French-Canadian got the Sauber pointed in the right direction again and posted a solid 1m36.984s – only to spin again on his in-lap!

Fisichella made no such mistakes, and took full advantage of a by now virtually bone-dry track to whistle round in 1m33.171s, a stunning third sector time propelling him to a 2.1s advantage over Trulli.

At the very moment that the Renault crossed the start/finish line, torrential rain lashed Albert Park and turned the circuit into a skating rink. For Fisichella the timing couldn’t have been more exquisite.

For the eight drivers who had yet to set a time, the cloudburst was less welcome. Felipe Massa had already left the Sauber garage on dry tyres when he encountered the monsoon.

It was all the Brazilian could do to keep his car from aquaplaning off as he tooled around using perhaps five percent throttle. So slowly was he going that he was overtaken by Schumacher’s Ferrari as the German completed his out-lap!

Schumacher had already committed to intermediate Bridgestones, which, although they are renowned for having a large operating window, were less than ideal given the volume of standing water that had now engulfed the circuit.

Taking normally flat-out curves at part-throttle and throwing up huge rooster tails of spray, Schumacher turned a 1m57.931s, which at the time put him behind only Massa (who failed to set a time).

The next man to venture out, Takuma Sato, lost control of his BAR accelerating through Turn 8 and plunged into the barrier, doing comprehensive damage to the car’s right-front corner.

With the track awash and Sato’s BAR stranded in a dangerous location, the officials had no option but to red-flag the session.

When it restarted a few minutes later, conditions were marginally more driveable but very definitely warranted full-wet tyres.

Fernando Alonso kept it on the island to clock a 1m47.708s in the second Renault, but all eyes focused on the McLaren duo, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, who would be going out last.

Raikkonen came off best, correcting wheelspin and power oversteer with contemptuous flicks of opposite lock to circulate in 1m44.997s, which was good enough for 10th place overall.

Montoya’s equally committed efforts weren’t quite as successful but he nonetheless edged out Rubens Barrichello, who had set his time a few minutes earlier, for 11th place.

The final order after one of the most topsy-turvy sessions in recent memory naturally reflects who got lucky with the weather (relatively speaking, at least) and who didn’t.

Behind Fisichella, Trulli and Webber, Villeneuve finds himself in a completely unexpected fourth spot, with Red Bull’s Christian Klien and David Coulthard gratefully slotting into fifth and sixth.

Heidfeld emerged with seventh, while Button was counting himself lucky to end up eighth after his less than stellar lap in the early stages.

Indian rookie Narain Karthikeyan, meanwhile, had probably the widest smile in the paddock after claiming ninth on his debut qualifying run for Jordan thanks to a plucky effort at the beginning of the session. That puts him ahead of the likes of Raikkonen, Montoya, Barrichello, Alonso and both Schumacher brothers!

Although today’s qualifying session was only the first of two, with the final grid to be determined by aggregating the times from both sessions, the wide margins between many of the drivers means that it probably represents a pretty good pointer for the eventual starting line-up.

Unless, of course, the weather gods have more surprises in store for tomorrow morning…

First qualifying times from Melbourne

1. FISICHELLA Renault 1m33.171s
2. TRULLI Toyota 1m35.270s
3. WEBBER Williams 1m36.717s
4. VILLENEUVE Sauber 1m36.984s
5. KLIEN Red Bull 1m37.488s
6. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m38.320s
7. HEIDFELD Williams 1m39.717s
8. BUTTON BAR 1m41.512s
9. KARTHIKEYAN Jordan 1m44.357s
10. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m44.997s
11. MONTOYA McLaren 1m45.325s
12. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m45.581s
13. MONTEIRO Jordan 1m46.846s
14. ALONSO Renault 1m47.708s
15. ALBERS Minardi 1m49.230s
16. FRIESACHER Minardi 1m50.684s
17. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m51.495s
18. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m57.931s
19. SATO BAR no time
20. MASSA Sauber no time

[d-quik]

i'm assuming schumacher is renown for getting good results in the qualifying rounds.

[Matra et Alpine]

What a pathetic effort at a "qualifying session" that is supposed to allow a driver to use his skill to gain advantage for the race.

It was a lottery, they needed to have suspended it or delayed it or something !!
Except according to ITV the weather for Saturday isn't expected to be any different.

[blackcat77]

Matra: It sure beat the farce they had last year where the first qualifying meant nothing beyond the order they'd run in the second. Weather happens, and now it will matter.

[Wolf03]

I don't like the new qualifying rules. What's the point of the first qualifying? Just to determine the order of the second qualifying? That's pointless. It was better a few years ago when a driver had a certain number of laps and improve if he messes on a lap. Now, if you mess up on the second qualifying, the driver is doomed.
I was expecting M Schumacher to be on pole but somehow, it started raining heavily right when he started doing his laps. I have a feeling Ferrari will win the Constructor's Champ this year too and Schumi will be champ again but hopefully the season will be really exciting.

[Coventrysucks]

You could argue that the aggregate timing should be more fair if there is bad weather during either session as time lost in one could be made up in the other.

This has been instantly proven wrong by the events of yesterday.

Massa looked as if he were having fun though.

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by blackcat77

Matra: It sure beat the farce they had last year where the first qualifying meant nothing beyond the order they'd run in the second. Weather happens, and now it will matter.

BUT it's mattering for ALL THE WERONG REASONS.

The "purpose" of qualifying is supposed to be to arrange a starting grid order for the race with th fsatest car at the front.

by letting weather DRASTICALLY altaer the conditiosn for each driver then they have made it a lottery and they'd be as well to just draw nubered balls.

As for saying it "will make for good racing" as ITV bod di, NO, it will make for good "spectacle".

A big loss to racing As is line astern cars

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Wolf03

I don't like the new qualifying rules. What's the point of the first qualifying? Just to determine the order of the second qualifying?

In addition to that the first time is aggregated with the second to get their actual time for grid position.

[blackcat77]

Racing *is* spectacle. The processions of the past few years have bored me to tears and come close to driving me away from F1 completely. I think the tire rule will make for better racing because now nobody will be able to just hammer the whole race. And if some of the faster cars are at the back, gee, they'll actually have to pass people.

I really hope Renault/Williams/McLaren/BAR can make things interesting this season. I've had it with Schumi winning everything -- except where he condescends to let Rubins to have one to soothe his ego for being Schumi's toadie for the rest of the year.

I know that most people on here look down their noses at NASCAR, but the reason it's so popular is that every week, there are 20 drivers who could win, and the racing is close from start to finish. I'm not saying that enforced mediocrity is what's needed in F1, but certainly competition is.

[Homem de Gelo]

It's terribly frustrating.

I was expecting a hard fought battle for the win and the podium between 5 or 6 pilots. Now I'm stuck with one pilot having the race to lose while the other 5 pilots will hope for nothing more than a lucky podium because of the results of a race that happened 5 months ago.

Oh well, at least we'll see overtaking, one way or the other.

1 - Villeneuve is lucky as shit, Massa was dominating him the entire weekend;
2 - Massa, Schuamcher and Ralf were screwed up big time;
3 - Sato is by far the most exciting pilot to watch, but for the wrong reasons. LOL

[whiteballz]

i rekon good on webber!

im proud. even if he came from queenbian...

[Matra et Alpine]

DC beign true to standard.

The bint from ITV suggested he'd gone quite well and be pleased with his time and position .....

"My car had quite a lot of oversteer throughout the lap so I wasn't able to attack fully," he said. "If conditions had been like that during a test session I would have come straight back in, but obviously you don't have that luxury in qualifying - you just have to deal with it.

oh no, the excuses start early this year

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by blackcat77

Racing *is* spectacle. The processions of the past few years have bored me to tears and come close to driving me away from F1 completely.

100% agreed on the last point.,

BUT if you want "spectacle" then oval hot rod or Nascar or something of that ilk is fine.

BUT if you want racing - which is best driver in best car making it go fastest then you do NOT want qualifying rules or crazy start in reverse order BS. All those take AWAY from racing. I'd rather see Schumacher take a corner with precision and power on the limit than enjoy the spectacle of a leader draughting and overtaking for the 17th time some bunch of lame guys circling

I accept that as a driver I have a different perspective which biases my preference for what I want to WATCH. Racing for me is seeing the absolute pinnacle of skill of man and machine. The skills in the likes of Nascar are as much about the OTHER guys as it is about the driver - not for me

BUT, they had to do something to make F1 cars more able to be overtaken and hopefully this years rules will have helped some.

I think the tire rule will make for better racing because now nobody will be able to just hammer the whole race. And if some of the faster cars are at the back, gee, they'll actually have to pass people.

If the rules are right then we'll have a few people having to overtake.

I really hope Renault/Williams/McLaren/BAR can make things interesting this season. I've had it with Schumi winning everything

I will never tire of watching Schumacher drive a car.
It was the same with Senna and Stewart etc, you could see the skill and the different lines - minor changes in attack - and there level of control. I'd prefer to see more drivers with those skills racing than someone who can barge better through packs

I know that most people on here look down their noses at NASCAR, but the reason it's so popular is that every week, there are 20 drivers who could win, and the racing is close from start to finish. I'm not saying that enforced mediocrity is what's needed in F1, but certainly competition is.

Agreed, as long as it isn't' destroying the ability of the best driver in the best car to WIN. Otherwise it's only a 3 hour advert for all the sponsors