2008 German Grand prix

Difficult weather conditions - principally changeable wind direction - made qualifying tricky for everyone at Hockenheim, but it was at least run on a dry track after a very quick rain shower 15 minutes before the start of Q1 had threatened to disrupt things. As on Friday, ultimately no one could better Lewis Hamilton, but the McLaren driver will have one of his fellow championship leaders alongside him on the grid - Ferrari’s Felipe Massa - and the fast-qualifying Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso could also play key roles in Sunday’s German Grand Prix. We take a team-by-team look at the pre-race form book…

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 15.666s, P1
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 16.143s, P3
Hamilton was extremely happy with the handling and balance of his MP4-23, and with his own effort on his second run in Q3 after he had been obliged to back off in Turn 12 on his first when team mate Kovalainen went off. The Finn thought that minor excursion might have damaged his car slightly, and rally-crossed at the end of his second run but was nevertheless fast enough to take third.

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 15.859s, P2
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 16.389s, P6
Massa has been happier all weekend with his Ferrari’s set-up than was Raikkonen, who admitted to struggling all the way through to match his team mate. The Brazilian said he was pretty content with the way things went, and was looking forward to finding out who had what fuel load come the race.

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 16.191s, P4
Timo Glock, 1m 15.508s, P11
Trulli sprung something if a surprise with fourth place in Q3. He praised small but significant changes made all the way through qualifying that left him with a perfectly balanced car. Glock thought he was on a similar track until the last run in Q2, when figuratively speaking he hit a handling wall and could not go quicker.