Unwell Fisichella To Start 16th In Season Opener

Sunday, March 16, 2008

The dice has rolled. The start order for the opening race of 2008 Formula 1 season has been decided. Who will win the opening race will be determined in a few hours' time.
Lewis Hamilton who appeared as a breath of freshness on the motorsports firmament a year back seemed to be starting off from where he left off the last season. He did miss out the championship in his rookie year by a solitary point, but wiht a little bit of luck he would have re-written the history book.

For the ING Australian GP the 23-year British driver pulled out his best towards the end of the third qualifying segment to pip Robert Kubica of BMW Petronas by one tenth of a second to slot himself ahead of the German on the front row of the grid. For Force India it was a case of so near; yet so far. Right through the practice sessions Giancarlo Fisichella, despite running a temperature for the last two days, impressed one and all. In the Saturday morning session, he once again retained his Friday's ninth position.

But in the post-lunch qualifying session, the Force India's tale queered a bit after Adrain Sutil spun and stalled his car on the flying in the first qualifying segment. Fishi who came charging out of the first two sectors had yellow waved at his face.