August 27, 2007

Talk Turkish

Sunday's Turkish GP, it could be argued, was won by Felipe Massa on Saturday during qualifying and today many pundits are slamming Kimi for making too many mistakes. But what does a mistake in F1 qualifying look like? Not Sutil-Yamamoto mistake but a slip that will cost you pole by hundreths of a second?

Here are the last two corners of Kimi's quali lap...don't blink. That's all it takes.




In any case, I don't think Kimi had enough for Massa or Hamilton even if he had nailed that last complex. He was only .082 ahead of his own best after the second sector, he probably did not do the turn 9-10 complex optimally and compromised the following long run down to the section shown in the clip. However, on the second to last lap of the race, Raikkonen turned the fast lap of the race with a 1:27.2, faster than Massa's pole lap...timing Kimi, timing.

Now speaking of Hamilton, it takes some luck to go with the skill and on Sunday he showed both those boxes are checked on his resume. Of all the possible outcomes, to have a fully blown and flailing front tire and come out of it with only minor damage to the front wing and still in the points is amazing. The skill part was in his adapting to the now damaged car well enough to control Heikki Kovaleinen and bring home a fifth place. Renault aero engineers might need some extra aspirin today.




On the opposite end of the luck plane is Jarno Trulli who must listen to the complete works of Albert King all day long. If Jarno "did not have bad luck, he would have no luck at all", hosed by Fisichella in the first corner, Jarno nonetheless had the best passes of the race. Here he skewers Rubens Barrichello in turn 1.




Rubens and Honda did provide some comic relief:

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