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After seeing
their drivers finish in third and eighth in the final practice session the
AT&T Williams team would be hopeful of a good result in qualifying for the
Hungarian Grand Prix. With strong breeze blowing across the circuit the
opening twenty minute period would get underway with Fisichella first out
followed by Alguersuari and Buemi. Alguersuari was on the super soft tyres
as Nico sat patiently in his car. Other drivers would take to the track
including Raikkonen, Trulli, Glock, Piquet. Nico was also out of the
pitlane.
The
first times were set with Buemi fastest with a 1m:22.380 followed by
Alguersuari and Fisichella. Kazuki and both Brawn's were out on the track.
Fisichella was now second but Alguersuari would move ahead with a 1m:22.759.
Fifteen minutes remaining and Raikkonen was now fourth. Piquet would move up
to third followed by Glock. Buemi was fastest with a 1m:21.21.813 as Nico
moved into second with a 1m:22.112. Alguersuari was third followed by Kazuki
as Massa moved in to third. Raikkonen was now second, 1m:22.039, with
Alguersuari now fifth. Nico was third and Kazuki down in seventh. Vettel was
now fourth, 1m:22.288, while Kazuki had improved to be fifth with a
1m:22.461. Raikkonen was now fastest with a 1m:21.602 with Buemi still
second.
Alonso was now fifth while Vettel moved to the top of the times with a
1m:21.590. Webber was now second, 1m:21.590, seeing Nico drop to fourth.
Raikkonen's next alp would see him again fastest with a 1m:21.500.Kazuki was
now in tenth, 1m:22.284, as Nico pitted. Vettel would also come in as
Hamilton was now in sixth. Massa was seventh followed by Barrichello and
Button. Neither of the BMW's had yet to set a time as Kazuki dropped to
twelfth with Alonso
and Fisichella tenth and eleventh. Nico was running on the soft tyre so his
time was quite encouraging. Nico would have a moment running wide at one of
the chicanes but was able to continue.
After
setting times Kubica and Heidfeld were eighteenth and nineteenth. Heidfeld
would improve to be in sixth, 1m:21.738. Kubica would also improve to be in
ninth with six minutes remaining. Kazuki was now in fourteenth followed by
Kovalainen. Nico was back out this time on the super soft tyres. Only Sutil
after his accident had not taken to the track. The drivers were now coming
back out on the track looking to make sure they would make it through to the
next period. With three minutes left it would be a mad rush of drivers
setting times.
Kovalainen would be the first to improve moving up to seventh, 1m:21.750.
Kazuki was struggling but had improved to be tenth, 1m:21.809. Hamilton was
now fourth, 1m:21.603, but Massa would move into second, 1m:21.497, as Nico
went fastest with a 1m:20.793. Vettel was second from Massa, Raikkonen,
Webber, Hamilton, Buemi, Heidfeld, and Kovalainen. Alguersuari would stop at
the penultimate corner and pulled off the track. With the end of the period
Nico would pit while Webber moved up to second with a 1m:20.964. Kazuki had
put in another quick alp moving up to fourth, 1m:21.407 but would be pushed
down the order as Hamilton moved into second. Piquet was now fifth followed
by Alonso. Kazuki was now seventh while Nico had remained fastest.
Those not making the cut were Heidfeld, Fisichella, Sutil, Kubica, and
Alguersuari. The order was Nico from Hamilton, Webber, Vettel, Piquet,
Alonso, Kazuki, Trulli, Massa, Button, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Buemi, Glock,
and in fifteenth Kovalainen. A great start to qualifying for the Williams
team. |
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The next period would commence with Raikkonen first out followed by Trulli,
Glock, Kovalainen, and Webber. Both Nico and Kazuki were also out on the
track in what should be a real scramble to make the top ten. With eleven
minutes remaining only the Renault's were still in their pits. The super
soft tyre was the favoured tyre for the opening runs as Raikkonen went
fastest with a 1m:24.552 but he was passed by Webber who was now fastest
with a 1m:21.067. Glock was second from Kovalainen with Nico in fourth,
1m:22.792. Vettel was now fastest with a 1m:20.964 from Webber and
Barrichello.
Button
was sixth and Kazuki seventh. Nico was now in ninth as Hamilton moved into
third, 1m:21.064. But Nico's next lap would see him fastest with a 1m:20.895
while Kazuki was now tenth. Vettel would pit joined by Webber. Button was
now fifth followed by Barrichello with Kazuki now seventh. Massa was eighth
while Nico would pit as Alonso went fastest with a 1m:20.885. Most drivers
were back in their pits getting ready for their final runs. Kovalainen was
in tenth as Piquet moved up to eleventh. With five minutes remaining the
drivers would start to return to the circuit as Alonso improved his time
with a 1m:20.826.
Nico was second and Kazuki eighth. Nico would leave the pit lane along with
Vettel and Webber. Kazuki would also come out with three and a half minutes
left in the period. Alonso was the only driver in the pits. Trulli would
improve to be sixth, 1m:21.082. Raikkonen was slowest in fifteenth but would
improve to be sixth pushing Kovalainen out of the top ten. Kazuki was tenth
as Vettel went fastest with a 1m:20.604. Massa would move up from twelfth to
eighth. Webber was now fastest with a 1m:20.358.
Nico was now fifth and Kazuki eleventh. Hamilton would move into second,
1m:20.465, as Massa improved to be fifth. So Webber was fastest from
Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen, Kovalainen. Kazuki would improve to be third,
1m:20.570, seeing Vettel now fourth followed by Raikkonen, Button,
Kovalainen, Massa, Alonso, and Nico in tenth. So with the end of the period
we would have both Williams drivers making it into Q3. Those not making the
cut were
Buemi, Trulli, Barrichello, Glock, and Piquet. Massa had gone off at Turn
four hitting the tyre barriers with the front of his car buried deep in the
tyres. To have Nico drop down to tenth was a bit of a surprise as he was
always near the front of the times. |
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The final period of qualifying would be delayed as they craned Massa's car
away. The Ferrari had damage to the front. Massa had left the track at speed
leaving two big black tyre marks across the run-off area as Massa tried to
slow down the car. The top ten drivers were Hamilton, Kovalainen, Massa,
Raikkonen, Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Nico, Kazuki, and Button. Marshals were
seen walking the track looking for debris after reports came back saying
that Massa's helmet was struck by debris as he approached Turn Four. There
were also reports that
Barrichello's car had lost parts at the rear of the car possibly explaining
why the track is been checked.
The
final period got underway with Nico out on the super soft tyre. Only Button
had yet to come out. Massa would not be taking part in the period making it
a top nine shootout. Nico would set a time of 1m:23.620. But he would be
passed by Alonso and Kovalainen who were now first and second. Nico was
third as Kazuki moved into fourth. Nico's next lap would see him again
fastest with a 1m:22.386. Alonso was now second followed by Kovalainen and
Raikkonen. But again other drivers would go faster with Webber, 1m:220.021,
now fastest from Hamilton and Alonso. Vettel was now fourth seeing Nico
fifth.
Nico would pit while Kazuki was in eighth. Button had yet to set a time as
Nico retuned to the track. Webber would pit joined by Vettel. Button would
take to the track for one run with two a half minutes remaining. Everyone
was on the circuit as Hamilton pitted. Kazuki was on an improved lap as was
Nico. Raikkonen would have a moment coming out of Turn seven costing him a
lot of time.
Nico was again fastest with a 1m:21.890 but again Alonso went faster with a
1m:21.569. As the period ended there would be a problem with the timing
screens as the laps continued. Alonso was still fastest from Vettel, Nico,
and Webber. There was a lot of confusion as the drivers got out of their
cars not knowing who was on pole. Alonso was asking who was on pole as he
spoke to the other drivers. Reports also came back saying that Massa was
taking as he went to hospital for the checks.
The results were
finally shown with Alonso fastest from Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Nico,
Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Button, Kazuki, and Massa in tenth despite not having
run. An encouraging result for the AT&T Williams team with Nico in fifth
after what was turning out to be a competitive weekend for the Williams
driver. Kazuki was down in ninth but it would come down to what strategy the
Williams drivers were running on Sunday. |