2008 European GP, Qualifying: Felipe Massa gets first pole position in Valencia
Following the big disappointment in Hungary, Felipe Massa took today the first pole position for Sunday’s European Grand Prix at the new Valencia street circuit in Spain. The Brazilian clocked a best time of 1:38.989, 0.21 seconds faster than second placed and temporary Championship leader Lewis Hamilton (1:39.199) and 0.4 seconds than third placed Robert Kubica (1:39.392). Massa claimed his fourth seasonal pole position, the thirteenth of his career in Formula 1, but apart from the statistics, he will have a great chance on Sunday to recover the lost victory after the engine failure during the last Hungarian Grand Prix, in a new street circuit where overtaking spots are very limited.
Massa’s teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, was able to come up only on P4 (1:39.488) followed by Heikki Kovalainen (1:39.937), Sebastian Vettel (1:40.142), Jarno Trulli (1:40.309), Nick Heidfeld (1:40.631), Nico Rosberg (1:40.721) and Sebastien Bourdais (1:40.750).
The big disappoinment in today’s qualifying session came from Fernando Alonso who, following a mistake on his final lap in Q2, was knocked out from Q3 and qualified on P12 for tomorrow’s race.
2008 European Grand Prix (Valencia), Qualifying Session results:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:38.176 | 1:37.859 | 1:38.989 | 19 |
| 2 | 22 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.464 | 1:37.954 | 1:39.199 | 15 |
| 3 | 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:38.347 | 1:38.050 | 1:39.392 | 18 |
| 4 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:38.703 | 1:38.229 | 1:39.488 | 21 |
| 5 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.656 | 1:38.120 | 1:39.937 | 18 |
| 6 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | STR-Ferrari | 1:38.141 | 1:37.842 | 1:40.142 | 19 |
| 7 | 11 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:37.948 | 1:37.928 | 1:40.309 | 21 |
| 8 | 3 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:38.738 | 1:37.859 | 1:40.631 | 19 |
| 9 | 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:38.595 | 1:38.336 | 1:40.721 | 18 |
| 10 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 1:38.622 | 1:38.417 | 1:40.750 | 18 |
| 11 | 8 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:38.667 | 1:38.428 | 15 | |
| 12 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:38.268 | 1:38.435 | 12 | |
| 13 | 12 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:38.532 | 1:38.499 | 14 | |
| 14 | 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:38.559 | 1:38.515 | 15 | |
| 15 | 6 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 1:38.787 | 1:38.744 | 15 | |
| 16 | 16 | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:38.880 | 6 | ||
| 17 | 9 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Renault | 1:39.235 | 9 | ||
| 18 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Ferrari | 1:39.268 | 10 | ||
| 19 | 17 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:39.811 | 10 | ||
| 20 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Ferrari | 1:39.943 | 9 |
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