Struth mate ... is that Webber in second?

Absolutely. Webber looked dialed in all qualifying. He was third quickest in Q2, behind the McLarens and was fast enough for a front row slot in Q3 as Lewis had a ragged final qualifying session.

The Q2 result indicates the Red Bull has found raw pace though Webber was genuinely shocked to be on the front row. Expect the Aussie to be lower than others on fuel, but a podium finish is a possibility.

Lewis, Lewis, Lewis ...

Hamilton made yet another error, overdriving his car in the final sector, at Priory, of his first hot qualifying run and ploughing through the cat litter. The mistake was compounded by his driving past the pit entrance to complete a wasted lap. Why he didn't come in and get some new tyres and have the bottom of his car checked out is anyone's guess.

On his final hot lap Hamilton had a moment in Abbey, which cost him time in S2 — although it is likely he wouldn't have beaten Heikki's pole position time.

Who knows whether the MP4-23 has sustained any undertray damage. The underfloor aerodynamics are critical to performance and some strakes or other bits could have been damaged a little. However, it won't be too bad as Lewis still managed to go quickest of all in S1 where the majority of the high speed corners are.

Tomorrow's race will be interesting. Unless Kovalainen is very light (unlikely) the best Lewis can hope for is second. He is faster than Raikkonen but Mark Webber is the wild card. If the Finn gets ahead of the Aussie off the start Lewis will be left fighting for third. Lewis' post qualifying demeanour is telling. Today he was downcast, which means he is probably light. Rain in the first 10 laps will be handy.

Ferrari ... wassup?

The lack of pace of Ferrari has been the surprise of the weekend. In Q2 the red cars both missed the top 5 — something that has been unheard of in the past few years.

Perhaps the wind has caused the car to be unbalanced or perhaps the other teams really have made a great leap forward. Whatever it is, the Scuderia have been behind the curve since the Friday afternoon practice session.

It is good news for the Championship. With Massa starting in 9th and Kubica in 10th the front four should be more tightly bunched after the chequered flag tomorrow.

BMW continue to fall

Nick Heidfeld had a season best P5 in qualifying today and also looked smart in Q2. As he points out, he was also close to Kubica in Magny-Cours so it does seem as though the German has overcome his early season problems.

What becomes more apparent is that the Hinwil-outfit continues to fall back. BMW will say that their target was a GP win, which they achieved at Montreal. Still it has to be concerning for BMW fans that they aren't a match for the front two — the gap looks as though it will continue to widen.