Felipe Massa continued Ferrari’s dominant run of pole positions in 2007 by snatching top spot for the Bahrain GP.
On a hot Saturday at Sakhir, championship leader Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was good enough only for fourth; the Spaniard outqualified not only by his rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton but also Kimi Raikkonen, in the other Ferrari.
A question mark, meanwhile, hangs over Giancarlo Fisichella’s seventh place for Renault, as he apparently blocked a flying Raikkonen about four minutes from the end of the definitive Q3.
Red Bull’s David Coulthard failed to even make it through the first fifteen minutes with a gearbox problem.
“We thought the car was more reliable,” said the visibly frustrated Scot, who broke down in the pre-qualifying practice session today with a broken fuel pump.
Bahrain GP, qualification
01. F. Massa – Ferrari – 1:32.652
02. L. Hamilton – McLaren – 1:32.935
03. K. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1:33.131
04. F. Alonso – McLaren – 1:33.192
05. N. Heidfeld – BMW – 1:33.404
06. R. Kubica – BMW – 1:33.710
07. G. Fisichella – Renault – 1:34.056
08. M. Webber – Red Bull – 1:34.106
09. J. Trulli – Toyota – 1:34.154
10. N. Rosberg – Williams – 1:34.399
11. A. Wurz – Williams – 1:32.915
12. H. Kovalainen – Renault – 1:32.935
13. A. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1:33.082
14. R. Schumacher – Toyota – 1:33.294
15. R. Barrichello – Honda – 1:33.624
16. J. Button – Honda – 1:33.731
17. T. Sato – Super Aguri – 1:33.984
18. V. Liuzzi – Scuderia Toro Rosso – 1:34.024
19. S. Speed – Scuderia Toro Rosso – 1:34.333
20. A. Sutil – Spyker F1 – 1:35.280
21. D. Coulthard – Red Bull – 1:35.341
22. C. Albers – Spyker F1 – 1:35.533
