Kimi Raikkonen will start the French GP from pole position, his second of the season and 200th for Ferrari in F1. Felipe Massa will line up alongside him after being only few hundreds slower. There will be unusual second row - Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli. Alonso will sure fancy his podium chances now …

With Hamilton dropping 10 places from his P3 McLaren will have to do with Kovalainen’s P5 and Kovalainen’s 5 place penalty for impeding Webber, McLaren are in for some tough time. This was not the best of qualifying sessions for BMW Sauber - Kubica will be on P6, Heidfeld did not even make the cut to Q3 … Timo Glock and both Red Bulls make up the rest of the top ten. Well, almost, Nelson Piquet will take up P10 P9 after Hamilton’s and Kovalainen’s penalties …

Toro Rosso did well for most of the weekend but not when it mattered the most and both cars got elimitaned in Q2. They still did better than the Hondas though … Nico Rosberg just about made it to Q2 but P15 combined with his 10 place grid penalty will see him starting from the very back of the grid …

French GP Qualifying Results:

1. K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 1:16.449
2. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:16.490
3. L. Hamilton - McLaren - 1:16.693 (will be demoted 10 places)
4. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:16.840
5. J. Trulli - Toyota - 1:16.840
6. H. Kovalainen - McLaren - 1:16.944 (will be demoted 5 places)
7. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:17.037
8. M. Webber - Red Bull - 1:17.233
9. D. Coulthard - Red Bull - 1:17.426
10. T. Glock - Toyota - 1:17.596

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Time for the final part of this miniseries - look at title chances of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s season has begun well. Although not going to Australia as a favourite he took full advantage of Ferrari technical issues and driver errors. First race, first win in a bag. He however had to wait till Monaco for his next win. If the races in Australia and Monaco reminded us about Hamilton’s qualities, the Bahrain and Candian GPs brough back memories of Shanghai and Brazil 2007 … Last year this time Hamilton was yet to finish outside top 3, this year he already has 2 pointless races to his name … But still, he is second in the driver’s standings and only 4 points behind. Not too bad position to be after 7 races knowing that the guy ahead may not have faster car.

Current position: shared 2nd
Points: 38 (4 behind the leader)
Results so far this season: 1 - 5 - 13 - 3 - 2 - 1 - DNF

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All we need is 2 weeks break between races and the rumour floodgates open. Let’s have a look what’s new since the second edition.

Robert Kubica has been doing well and so it comes as no surprise his future has been talked about quite a bit. Few innocent remarks to Italian paper La Stampa created two contradictory rumours. First linking Rosberg with BMW Sauber (as Kubica’s team mate) and then linking Kubica with a move to Ferrari. Sounds interesting but whom would Kubica replace ? Massa is under contract till 2010 and doing well right now (after shaky start to the season). There has been lots of talking about Raikkonen’s retirement but if I am not wrong that is part of the post 2009 future. All I can say about Kubica and Ferrari is that Kubica’s helmet matches the Ferrari colour scheme quite well as the picture above shows .

Fernando Alonso has dismissed the rumours about him signing for Ferrari, so now it is time to link him to BMW Sauber, now also a race winning car. It may help that Robert Kubica does not seem to mind having Alonso as a team mate. The question for me however is if Alonso would be OK with Kubica in the other car. At the moment all that is sure about Alonso’s future is that he has not made any decision on it, at least that is what he says.

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Time for part 3 of this miniseries - Kimi Raikkonen. It would be fair to say that before the start of 2008 season Kimi Raikkonen was probably the hottest candidate for 2008 title. The Ferrari car looked strong during the winter testing, the 2007 title took lots of pressure from his shoulders and all the woes of being in the new team were things of the past. His start to the season was a bit shaky with quite a lot of mistakes in Australia. Two race wins and two podiums from next 4 races put him to the top of the championship standings and well back into the contest. Two races later however he finds himself out of top three …

Current position: 4th
Points: 35 (7 behind the leader)
Results so far this season: 8 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 3 - 9 - DNF

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About 2 weeks ago I asked a question if Robert Kubica has become a serious title contender. It looks like the Montreal race gave us the answer. Kubica’s maiden F1 win has not only broken the 24 race McLaren/Ferrari Formula 1 race wins monopoly but also propelled him to the top of the championship standings after 7 races. Whoever can achieve that amongst the competition from Ferrari and McLaren drivers simply has to be taken seriously …

Current position: 1st
Points: 42 (4 ahead of 2nd and 3rd)
Results so far this season: DNF - 2 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 2 - 1

Although his season has began with DNF Kubica made his intentions quite clear right at the start. After a strong qualifying run in Melbourne he barely missed out on pole position at the Australian GP. The maiden pole position came in Bahrain, the maiden win in Canada. Seven races, six top four finishes, 4 podiums, one win, one pole position. This all in a car that at least for now still is only the 3rd best on the grid … The comparison with Alonso and Renault in their 2005 and 2006 title winning seasons comes to mind …

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Although we are yet to reach half the season mark I think it is safe to say that the result of Canadian GP reduced the number of 2008 F1 title contenders to four - Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. I do take the liberty to count Kovalainen and Heidfeld out of title fight and it will probably not take too long before their teams do the same… Let’s have a quick look at these four and begin with Felipe Massa.

Current position: shared 2nd
Points: 38 (4 behind the leader)
Results so far this season: DNF - DNF - 1 - 2 - 1 - 3 - 5

Massa’s start to 2008 season was a nightmare. His DNF in Melbourne may have been result of a mechanical trouble but it was the spin on lap 2 followed by similar spin a week later in Malaysia (throwing away 2nd place) that prompted media talks about his immiment departure from Ferrari. He however handled the media pressure well and came back with vengeance in Bahrain. Still the Bahrain win did not help him to silence the critics, it was just another win from pole position without having to overtake anybody … The win in Turkey, although thrid in a row for Massa in Istanbul, did not help him much either. After all, it was just a win on his favourite track …

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It is Monaco Grand Prix and the Paddock is buzzing with rumours. This brings out the second edition of this series of posts. (See the first here.)

I am not really surprised to hear that “Fernando Alonso has just inked a deal to drive for Ferrari in 2010″. I do not expect anything bigger than this to come out this weekend. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. It may be, remember how Kimi Raikkonen signed for Ferrari. It may also be just a purposely started rumour to unsettle the drivers market. Let’s see what happens next, but I do not expect to find out the truth anytime soon.

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Felipe Massa made full advantage of his pole position and strange 3 pit stop strategy of Lewis Hamilton and won his 3rd Turkish Grand Prix in a row. Lewis Hamilton split 2 Ferraris and finished second ahead of championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. Solid race for Kubica and Heidfeld, points again for Webber, Alonso and Rosber. Sebastian Vettel finished a race finally …

2008 Turkish GP Race Result:

1. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:26:49.451
2. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren + 3.779
3. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari + 4.271
4. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 21.945
5. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber + 38.741
6. Fernando Alonso - Renault + 53.724
7. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 1:04.229
8. Nico Rosberg - Williams + 1:11.406

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Felipe Massa will start the Turkish GP from pole position, as predicted by many people on this site . His neighbour on front row will be Heikki Kovalainen. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen will line up on second row. There are suggestions that Kimi might have been slowed down by Alonso… I haven’t seen that, will have to wait for more on that. Both Red Bulls made it to Q3 for the first time this season.

This was another disapointing day for Nelson Piquet … Getting out after Q1 is not what Flavio Briatore signed him for …

2008 Turkish GP Qualifying Results:

1. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:27.617
2. H. Kovalainen - McLaren - 1:27.808
3. L. Hamilton - McLaren - 1:27.923
4. K. Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:27.936
5. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:28.390
6. M. Webber - Red Bull - 1:28.417
7. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:28.422
8. J. Trulli - Toyota - 1:28.836
9. N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber - 1:28.882
10. D. Coulthard - Red Bull - 1:29.959

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I managed to see bits and pieces of the first practice. It started with wet track between turns 3 and 9 due to late cleaning . It continued with cars sliding all over the place (and not because of the late cleaning). Felipe Massa was the fastest driver of the session but he also managed to get off the track more than once (I saw twice). He needs to make friends with Turn 8 . Not sure what happened to Kimi, he did one timed lap and ended up at the tail of the order. But if the weekend continues the way it has begun, we may see some interesting action on th track. Not the best show from the Red Bull family …

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from the gearbox problems and recorded the fastest time in second practice just ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Rain affected early stages of the session only but the track seemed quite damp till the end. Cars however spent the whole session on dry tyres, at least as far as I could tell. There was not much grip and the off-track trips continued in second session too. Mark Webber crashed his car, few drivers lost the rears of their cars. How I wish there is about this much for qualifying and the race .

To follow the practice, qualifying and race live, check this link for info.

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