Disappointing Chinese qualifying for Williams

The opening period of qualifying would see the drivers take to the track with both Nico and Kazuki coming out early. Piquet would set the first time of the period with a 1m:37.511. Glock would go fastest with a 1m:37.369. Barrichello was in third followed by Nico, Button, Kazuki, Fisichella, and Sutil. Piquet would pit while both Ferrari's were out on the track long with Vettel and both McLaren's. Vettel was on the softer tyre. Nico would pit with a time of 1m:37.657. Kazuki would also come in, along with Fisichella and Sutil. Only Alonso and Coulthard were yet to come out. On his softer tyres Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:36.318. Coulthard was now out on the track, joined by Alonso.

Massa was now fastest with a 1m:36.089 and Bourdais second, 1m:36.239. But Vettel would improve to take second from his team-mate while Kovalainen moved into third, 1m:36.181. But it would be Hamilton who would move to the top of the times with a 1m:35.566. Only Glock was in the pits as Nico dropped to twelfth. Heidfeld was now fifth, 1m:36.224. Glock was back out as Vettel pitted. With nine minutes remaining the order was Hamilton from Massa, Vettel, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Bourdais, Webber, Raikkonen, Coulthard, and Trulli. Alonso would move into seventh, 1m:36.285. On his next lap team-mate Piquet would move into third, 1m:36.029.

Nico would also improve to now be in ninth, 1m:36.434. Kazuki was slowest but would improve to be fifteenth, 1m:36.908. The top six were all in their pits with six minutes left in the period. Nico and Kazuki were down in tenth and sixteenth. Kubica was in seventeenth. Kazuki and Nico would both pit as Glock improved to now be in seventh, 1m:36.225. Massa was back out with five minutes remaining. Raikkonen was also out on the track. Kubica would pit. Raikkonen was out on the harder tyre. Vettel was next out, along with most of the field. Only Hamilton and Piquet remained in their pits. The first to improve was Kovalainen who moved into second with a 1m:35.623.

Raikkonen was now fourth, 1m:35.983, behind Massa. Nico was down in eleventh and Kazuki sixteenth. As the session came to a close Kazuki was not going to make the cut. Nico was on a quicker lap as Vettel moved into third with a 1m:35.752. Nico would not improve and had dropped to thirteenth as other drivers went faster. With the end of the period those not making the cut were Coulthard, Kazuki, Button, Sutil, and Fisichella. The order was Hamilton from Kovalainen, Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen, Piquet, Trulli, Glock, Heidfeld, Webber, Bourdais, Nico, Kubica, and in fifteenth Barrichello.

Not the best of starts for the Williams team with one driver out in Q1 and based on the current performance it would be unlikely to see the other make it past Q2.

The fifteen minute Q2 would start with Raikkonen out first followed by Glock. Kimi was on the softer tyre. Trulli was also out followed by several other drivers., including both Renault's, Vettel, and Kovalainen. Hamilton was also out of the pit lane running on the harder tyre. Now only the two BMW's had yet to come out. Raikkonen would set a time of 1m:35.355 on his first lap. But several other drivers weer on quick laps. Glock was now second with a 1m:35.937. Kovalainen would move ahead of Raikkonen with a 1m:35.216. Vettel was in third followed by Alonso, Trulli, Webber, Glock, and Piquet. Raikkonen would pit.

Massa was now fastest with a 1m:35.135 while Hamilton was down in fifth, 1m:35.402. Nico was thirteenth with a 1m:36.297. Both BMW's were on the track with eight minutes remaining. Nico's time was on the softer tyre. Bourdais was now eighth, 1m:35.731. Nico would pit while Kubica was on a quick lap on the softer tyre. He would move into tenth as team-mate Heidfeld also improved setting the sixth fastest time with a 1m:35.403. Nico was now fifteenth and slowest. Only the BMW's were on the track with four and a half minutes left in the period. Kubica had dropped to eleventh and would pit. Hamilton was now on the softer tyre as Trulli and Bourdais returned to the track. Several other drivers also came back out including Hamilton and Nico.

Only the top four were still in their pits with two minutes left. Nico was again on the softer tyre for his final run. The final minute counted down as everyone was on their final lap. Trulli was on an improved lap. Hamilton would fail to improve in sector one but was fastest in sector two. With an improved final sector Hamilton was able to move ahead of Massa with a 1m:34.947. Bourdais was now eighth as Trulli dropped to tenth when Webber moved into ninth. With the end of the period those not making the cut were Piquet, Kubica, Glock, Barrichello, and Nico. Sunday's race would again be another difficult race for the Williams team with both drivers starting from the rear of the grid.

The final ten minute period Q3 would see the ten drivers take to the track with Vettel out first. Raikkonen and Hamilton were on the softer tyre. Massa would also run on the softer tyre. Vettel was on the harder tyre for his first lap. With the first times Vettel was fastest, 1m:38.053, from Trulli. Raikkonen would move ahead of Vettel with a 1m:36.989. Hamilton was second with a 1m:37.514 but both Webber and Massa would move ahead with Webber second and Massa third. Alonso was fifth followed by Heidfeld, Vettel, Trulli, and Bourdais. But Kovalainen would move in front of Raikkonen with a time of 1m:36.978.

With four minute remaining Raikkonen would pit along with Webber, Hamilton, Trulli, and Bourdais. Alonso and Heidfeld had also come in. Kovalainen would also pit with just over two minutes remaining. He would return seeing all ten cars back out for this final runs. Vettel and Raikkonen would improve in sector one. Webber was also able to improve in sector one. Hamilton was fastest in sector two. Raikkonen was now fastest with a 1m:36.645 but Hamilton would move ahead of him with a 1m:36.303. Kovalainen was in third followed by Webber but Massa would improve to be in third and Alonso fourth. Kovalainen was now fifth and Webber sixth.

With the end of the period it would be Hamilton who would take pole but his Ferrari rivals Raikkonen and Massa were in second and third. Alonso was in fourth followed by Kovalainen, Webber, Heidfeld, Vettel, Trulli, and Bourdais. Webber will drop to sixteenth due to his engine change. This will see Nico start Sunday's race from fourteenth but Kazuki will remain in seventeenth. Sunday's race is going to be a repeat of Fuji where both Nico and Kazuki started from the rear of the grid and we all know now that race finished for the Williams team.