Massa grabs another pole at Turkey

F1 Grand Prix, GP Turkey, Istanbul Park

Felipe Massa is again on pole after dominating the qualifying session. He will be joined by Kovalainen on the front row, while Hamilton and Raikkonen are 3rd and 4th respectively. The BMW Saubers were suffering slightly, as only Kubica peformed well in 5th place. Webber and Alonso are the first Renault powered cars in 6th and 7th place.

This qualifying session is marked by a change in the system as there are now only 10 teams competing after the collapse of Super Aguri F1. The first 2 sessions will therefore only eliminate 5 cars instead of the usual 6. The duration of the sessions remains unchanged.

Q1 was going to be a difficult task for Force India and Toro Rosso, two teams that are now most likely relegated as the back markers of the grid. At least for Toro Rosso that is until their introduce their STR3 after its introduction has been delayed. Has it not been for Bourdais' crash during testing, it would have debuted here at Turkey.

In the last minute attempts, Piquet goes off in turn 10, marking the inevitable knock out despite continuing his lap and slightly improving on his previous time. Along with him, Nakajima, Bourdais, Sutil and Fisichella are out and will not compete in Q2.

Q2 is engaged by Alonso, followed by Coulthard and Vettel. Initial attempts prove that Honda will have to speed up. The same at the time goes for Rosberg, Glock and Vettel. While Rosberg was able to improve, it was not enough. The troubled drivers are still the same at the end of the session. They will not compete in Q1.

Nick Heidfeld quickly kicks off Q3, only to return to the pitlane after his out-lap. Upon entering, his BMW Sauber F1.08 is fitted with new option tyres and he relaunches, this time in the midst of the other drivers.

Moments later, Massa takees the lead, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso is a second away while Hamilton suffered oversteering in turn 8 and also lost some time. In his second attempt, Hamilton chooses for the harder tyre compound and steered coutiously into turn 8, limiting the balance problems his McLaren obviously has in the long left hander. Kovalainen is on the option tyres and improves on Massa's initial time, only to be topped again by the Brazilian.

Massa is therefore again on pole, ahead of two McLarens and followed by Raikkonen only in 4th place. Kubica is 5th while Webber just snatched away 6th place from Alonso.

* As Giancarlo Fisichella received a three-place grid penalty for ignoring a red light at the pit lane exit, Fisichella will start from 20th position on the grid.