2008 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
Lewis Hamilton MP4-23 02
Heikki Kovalainen MP4-23 03
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki
Kovalainen will start Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix from
third and fifth positions respectively. In Saturday’s
qualifying, Lewis set a time of 1m33.292, less than two tenths
of a second behind pole position. Heikki’s time was
1m33.488.
Qualifying Session One: Qualifying Session Two: Qualifying
Session Three:
Lewis: 4 laps, 1:32.750 (4th) 3 laps, 1:31.922(5th) 6 laps,
1:33.292 (3rd)
Heikki: 3 laps, 1:33.057 (12th) 3 laps, 1:31.718 (2nd) 6 laps
1:33.488 (5th)
LEWIS HAMILTON
“My fastest lap in qualifying was OK, but not perfect.
The balance of the car was good, and I think a better time
and a position on the front row would have been possible,
but the times were very close. Yesterday’s accident
was no problem for me, at Turn Five where it happened, I was
faster today than Friday. It was just a matter of going for
it. I know the guys worked until early this morning preparing
the car after yesterday’s accident, so a big thank you
to them. I will now analyse the data together with my engineers
and look forward to an interesting race tomorrow. We have
a good strategy, and I am confident.”
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
“The car felt good, especially on the softer tyre, but
the lap time was not quick enough to get higher up the grid.
There was little more wind than yesterday, but I don’t
think that had any influence. All the times are extremely
close. I am positive for tomorrow’s race and believe
we can improve some positions. We are close to the top guys
and anything can happen tomorrow. I am confident that we have
a good strategy, and the most important thing is to keep scoring
the points as we have been doing in the first two races.”
RON DENNIS
“A troublefree qualifying session for Lewis and Heikki
who both did an excellent job. Also the team did a great job
overnight in making the necessary repairs to Lewis’
car. The times at the top were extremely close which bodes
well for an exciting race. We will now see how the race unfolds
and if our strategy will work out as we have planned.”
NORBERT HAUG
“We have achieved a good basis for the race with third
and fifth positions on the better side of the track for the
start. The mechanics did a super job last night to virtually
build up a new chassis for Lewis which he drove to third place
on the grid – less than two tenths from pole position.
Heikki did a great job and has good chances for a podium position
tomorrow with his fifth place. Congratulations to BMW and
Robert Kubica for their first pole as BMW-Sauber, well done.
We expect an exciting race.”
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