Latest F1 news in brief
- Stewards investigate trolley-jack incident
- Heidfeld targets podium for BMW
- Rivals 'expected more' from Renault – Theissen
- Fisi, Spyker, try to hush Aguri's party
- News briefs from Melbourne: Saturday 2
Stewards investigate trolley-jack incident
At the time of writing, stewards at Albert Park were investigating the qualifying incident involving Jarno Trulli and a stray trolley-jack.
The rear of the Italian's Toyota carried the device – which is used to lift the rear of the car during pit stops – the length of the pit lane before it detached and came to rest on the circuit at the immediate end of the pit lane.
After qualifying, leading team members were called to the stewards' room to explain. Race stewards fined Toyota 2,000 euros ($2,665).
Heidfeld targets podium for BMW
Nick Heidfeld played down the prospect of winning Sunday's Australian grand prix but heralded the pace of his BMW after qualifying third at Albert Park.
"I still think that Ferrari is in front," he told 'Premiere'.
"I am hoping to keep this position tomorrow and finish on the podium. That would be a great result for us."
The German's teammate, Pole Robert Kubica, will start from fifth.
Rivals 'expected more' from Renault – Theissen
The feeling in the Albert Park paddock on Saturday afternoon was that Renault did not perform as well as was expected immediately prior to the qualifying hour.
Giancarlo Fisichella is sixth and Heikki Kovalainen a lowly thirteenth, leading BMW's motor sport director Mario Theissen to answer to a question about the French squad: "No.
"We were expecting something more from them."
Fisichella hit traffic on his final quick lap, but he admitted that Renault was not expecting to be on pole.
"We know our speed on a single lap is not as competitive as the long runs at the moment," he said.
Kovalainen, meanwhile, commented: "Obviously this performance is not good enough, but there is no point dwelling on it now."
Fisi, Spyker, try to hush Aguri's party
Super Aguri mechanics huddled around a beaming Takuma Sato after the Japanese driver qualified his newly launched and untested SA07 in the top ten at Albert Park.
But not everyone was happy. Giancarlo Fisichella claims Sato baulked him on a quick lap.
"He slowed down on me a lot," said the Roman.
The Dutch team Spyker, too, tried to spoil Aguri's party by lodging an official complaint against the legality of the SA07 car.
Quite why Spyker did not pursue the same complaint against Toro Rosso, using a version of Red Bull's RB3 contender this year, is unknown.
News briefs from Melbourne: Saturday 2
While Mark Webber qualified seventh for Red Bull on Saturday, his veteran teammate David Coulthard failed to make the Q1 cut and then vented his frustration on live TV.
"I didn't deliver. I came through turn 15 and there was a lot of dust and shit on the track which got on my tires," the Scot said.
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Eighth and ninth doesn't sound great, but after Toyota's lackluster winter, the Cologne based team is happy after the first qualifying session of 2007.
"We are all very happy," said Jarno Trulli, "because after a difficult winter of testing we came here without the highest expectations."
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Although second to last on the grid, Spyker's Adrian Sutil enjoyed a dream start to his formula one career by out-qualifying his experienced teammate Christijan Albers by a whopping 2.5 seconds.
"I'm disappointed to be this far behind," Dutchman Albers said, explaining that he missed crucial practice time in the morning with a broken gearbox.