Massa beats Hamilton to claim Valencia pole
Saturday, 23 Aug 2008 21:14
Massa has been in excellent form recently
Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start the inaugural Valencia grand prix in pole position after he edged out McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in qualifying.
Massa clocked a time of one minute 38.989 seconds around the newly-created street circuit, 0.210secs faster than Hamilton.
Massa snatched pole at the last possible moment. Hamilton had just set the fastest time on his last run only for the Ferrari to emerge even quicker as the chequered flag fell at the end of qualifying.
The Brazilian could have won the Hungarian grand prix last time out but an engine failure robbed him three laps from the finish. His pole position in Valencia shows he remains on the pace, however.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica confirmed his return to form by finishing qualifying in third spot. The Pole had been fast throughout free practice and managed to get himself ahead of Kimi Raikkonen for tomorrow's race.
The Finn was half a second slower than his team-mate but will have been pleased to qualify ahead of compatriot Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren who came fifth.
The Spanish crowd was clearly disappointed with the form of Fernando Alonso. He qualified his Renault in 12th place meaning he missed the final round of qualifying.
Sebastian Vettel showed why Red Bull are promoting him to David Coulthard's seat next year by qualifying his Toro Rosso in sixth place.
The Red Bull's of Coulthard and Mark Webber suffered a poor outing, qualifying in 17th and 14th respectively.
Honda's woes continued towards the back of the grid as Jenson Button qualified in 16th position while team-mate Rubens Barrichello will be on the last row of the grid in 19th position.