Ferrari returns, half of the McLaren boys coughs up a hairball, and it's going to rain during the race... oh boy, have we got a live one.

As (kinda) predicted, Ferrari has flexed their muscle again (somehow), and Felipe Massa is on pole, his fourth of the season, despite his car jumping all over the place all day. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is second, only .070 seconds behind, and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari is third. Completing the first two rows is BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica, returning from his Montreal car demolition.

The two Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovelenaineineninnie make up the third row, with Grizzly Nick Heidfeld and Jarno (The Engineer) Trulli the fourth. Considering that Heidfeld's back is really killing him, that's a really good result for the Beemer-Sauber driver.

Nico Rosberg's Williams took 9th.

By now, you're probably wondering "hey, where's Fernando Alonso?" Well, he's here, in 10th. He was unable to complete a lap in Q3 due to what seemed to be an engine problem, but may well be gearbox-related. If it IS an engine, the smoke it belched out pretty much suggests that he'll have to change it, and therefore take a 10-spot grid penalty. Grim news for him, great news for Hamilton's Championship campaign. Heck, just being 10th is bad enough.

The only other bit of info of any worth is that David Coulthard's Chin suffered ANOTHER gearbox problem, and he'll be 16th. It seems, though, that the Red Bull/Toro Rosso cars should be pretty decent IF they get their 'seamless shift' gearbox worked out, but as of now, they just don't know if it'll get them through a race... expect them all to revert back to the 'manual' shifter.

...and then, there's the rain. While it didn't rain during quals, the Legendary Announce Team tells us that it's all but a sure thing for the race. Rain on race day is the great equalizer in F1; last year rain brought us the Hungarian GP, featuring Jenson Button's first win in a wild race. If it DOES rain, throw out everything you know about the cars. It'll all be up for grabs on Sunday.

If it DOESN'T rain, then history suggests that either Massa or Hamilton will win. *shrug* There's a reason why I hate the track at Mangy-Curs, and that's it: this race has never been won from behind the front row (at least, that's what the Legendary Announce Team said).

Wonder how rain'll drain off the new surface of the track?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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