Raikkonen heads an all-Ferrari front row in Belgium 15 Sep 2007
Ferrari have their first all-front-row start of the season here at Spa, after a dramatic end to Saturday afternoon's Q3 qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen took pole position away from team mate Felipe Massa during the final runs on Bridgestone’s soft rubber, the Finn’s 1m 45.994s lap beating the Brazilian’s 1m 46.011s. Massa locked up slightly in the final chicane, and felt that made the crucial difference.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso seemed to have blown his chances with a spin on his penultimate run, losing control at Rivage, but he recovered quickly and got a final chance on another set of tyres. He made the most of it for a lap of 1m 46.091s to push team mate Lewis Hamilton down a place on the grid. The Englishman lapped in 1m 46.406s.
Robert Kubica was in fine form for BMW Sauber, lapping his F1.07 in 1m 46.996s to take fifth place, but after his engine change this morning he will start 15th.
Nico Rosberg continued his fine recent form with sixth place for Williams in 1m 47.334s, to head BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld (1m 47.409s), Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1m 47.524s), Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 47.798s) and Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen (1m 48.505s).
Kovalainen's team mate, Giancarlo Fisichella, was eliminated in Q2, and was 11th fastest in 1m 46.603s. Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher was very close to him on 1m 46.618s, Red Bull’s David Coulthard was 13th on 1m 46.800s, Jenson Button 14th on 1m 46.955s for Honda, and Tonio Liuzzi’s 1m 47.115s for Toro Rosso put him ahead of Williams’ Alex Wurz on 1m 47.394s.
Taking Kubica’s penalty into account, the top 16 on the grid will be: Raikkonen, Massa; Alonso, Hamilton; Rosberg, Heidfeld; Webber, Trulli; Kovalainen, Fisichella; Schumacher, Coulthard; Button, Liuzzi; Kubica, Wurz.
Sebastian Vettel improved right at the end of Q1 to 1m 47.581s to Toro Rosso partner Liuzzi’s 1m 47.576s, but just missed getting through. He thus starts 17th ahead of Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 47.954s), Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato (1m 47.980s), Spyker’s Adrian Sutil (1m 48.044s), Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson (1m 48.199s), and Spyker’s Sakon Yamamoto (1m 49.577s).
