Brazilian GP: Bridgestone Saturday qualifying notes
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) used Bridgestone's super soft compound Potenza Formula One tyre to set a time of 1min 11.931secs for pole position at Interlagos for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa beat Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) to first ...
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) used Bridgestone's super soft compound Potenza Formula One tyre to set a time of 1min 11.931secs for pole position at Interlagos for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Massa beat Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) to first place on the grid for tomorrow's race by just 15 hundredths of a second. Hamilton is therefore first of the three championship title contenders on the grid for tomorrow's race. All drivers on the grid used the super soft compound for their fastest lap.
The second row tomorrow consists of further title rivals Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes), with Raikkonen the faster of the two. The day's fastest lap, a 1min 11.810secs, was set in the morning practice session by Massa.
In contrast to the first day of running in Brazil, temperatures soared today with blue skies and no threat of rain. Track temperatures were amongst the highest experienced this season, with high ambient temperatures and the dark new track surface attracting the heat.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development:
"Congratulations to Felipe Massa for achieving his second consecutive pole position on home ground. Today the ambient and track temperatures were higher as we had expected and the new track surface is still rubbering in. In FP3 some competitors experienced difficulties with the super soft compound because of these factors, and as a result suffered from oversteer after a limited number of laps."
"In qualifying this situation had improved and Massa was very quick on his pole lap. Between the two compounds there was an average difference of 0.4 seconds, with the super soft quicker. We saw heavy graining and degradation on the super soft today. However, the circuit should improve very quickly in the race tomorrow, but tyre management will remain crucial."
Stats of the Day
Total amount of laps completed by all drivers: 749 laps
Average number of laps per car: 34 laps
Most laps by a driver: 49 laps - Nick Heidfeld
Fastest lap: 1m 11.810s - Massa in FP3
Compounds: Soft and super soft
-credit: bridgestone
Share Or Save This Story
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong" for Ferrari in Fuji WEC
Charles Leclerc: “McLaren and Red Bull did a step forward that we didn’t do”
How the chase to catch Mercedes is unfolding
George Russell after rejuvenating Baku win: "It would have been very easy for me to lose the faith"
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong" for Ferrari in Fuji WEC
Wins v. big picture dominate Truck Series Chase discourse after Kansas
Jorge Martin “made us feel wanted” amid current MotoGP struggles, says Yamaha boss
Why Mercedes is still quicker than McLaren
Baku late-race chaos almost costs George Russell victory over Max Verstappen
How George Russell claimed his career-best pole margin in F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying
How the chase to catch Mercedes is unfolding
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments