
Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton after Spanish GP qualifying
Mark Webber took pole position ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, beating his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, with Lewis Hamilton in third. Here is the breakdown of what happened:
Q1
The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber waited for nearly 15 minutes before going out, but were still able to get comfortably into Q2. Heikki Kovalainen was the first out, folowed by the two Ferraris. The cars were much slower at the start of Q1, as a rain shower last night had washed away much of the grip that the track had.
It seemed as if Pedro de la Rosa would be knocked out with the new teams, but he pulled out a good lap at the end to get sixth. This left Rubens Barrichello in the drop zone, and he was unable to improve on his previous lap time. It was a big surprise, and an indicator that the Williams car direly needs more improvements.
Drivers knocked out in Q1:
18) Rubens Barrichello
19) Jarno Trulli
20) Heikki Kovalainen
21) Timo Glock
22) Lucas di Grassi
23) Karun Chandhok
24) Bruno Senna
Q2
Everyone knew that Q2 was going to be extremely close, after the tight lap times in the midfield in Q1. The Red Bulls surprised many by going out on the harder tyres first, and they set fast laps instantly, going 1st and 2nd within 5 minutes. Nobody, even on the soft tyres, seemed to be able to keep up.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was once again slower than his team-mate Sutil, and never improved on his initial time, finishing 17th. Once the Red Bulls switched to the softer tyres, they were even faster again, with Webber getting a 1.20.655 ahead of Vettel. Kamui Kobayashi did very well at the end of Q2 to get himself into 8th position. Vitaly Petrov only got 14th, and with his grid penalty, he will start 19th on the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg qualified 13th, well ahead of team-mate Barrichello. The Toro Rosso cars never really impressed, getting 15th and 16th respectively. Adrian Sutil dissapointed slightly by failing to get into Q3.
Drivers knocked out in Q2:
11) Adrian Sutil
12) Pedro de la Rosa
13) Nico Hulkenberg
14) Vitaly Petrov
15) Sebastien Buemi
16) Jaime Alguersuari
17) Vitantonio Liuzzi
Q3
Robert Kubica was the first out, on the softer tyres. However, Fernando Alonso drove out of his pit box, straight into the path of Nico Rosberg. Nico just about avoided a collision, and it remains to be seen whether the Spaniard will receive a penalty, though Rosberg cartainly thought so.
The McLarens set the initial pace, with Hamilton leading Button by two tenths. However, Sebastian Vettel completely blitzed their times, beating them by an entire second, with Webber then finding a further tenth. Immidiately, with 4 minutes remaining, most of the field pitted, before their final runs. This was except Kamui Kobayashi, who had the entire track to himself, and had soft tyres, although he only got 7th.
In the final minutes, Vettel and Webber both set absolutely perfect first and second sectors. But, Mark once again pipped Sebastian by one tenth of a second to take pole position. Lewis Hamilton’s final lap beat Fernando Alonso to third place, while Jenson Button got fifth. Michael Schumacher dissapointed slightly with 6th, although he beat his team-mate by two hundreths of a second.
Full qualifying times from today:
|
Driver |
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
1 |
Mark Webber |
Red Bull-Renault |
1.21.412 |
1.20.655 |
1.19.995 |
2 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull-Renault |
1.21.680 |
1.20.722 |
1.20.101 |
3 |
Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes |
1.21.723 |
1.21.415 |
1.20.829 |
4 |
Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari |
1.21.957 |
1.21.549 |
1.20.937 |
5 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren-Mercedes |
1.21.915 |
1.21.168 |
1.20.991 |
6 |
Michael Schumacher |
Mercedes GP |
1.22.528 |
1.21.557 |
1.21.294 |
7 |
Robert Kubica |
Renault |
1.22.488 |
1.21.599 |
1.21.353 |
8 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes GP |
1.22.419 |
1.21.867 |
1.21.408 |
9 |
Felipe Massa |
Ferrari |
1.22.564 |
1.21.841 |
1.21.585 |
10 |
Kamui Kobayashi |
Sauber-Ferrari |
1.22.577 |
1.21.725 |
1.21.984 |
11 |
Adrian Sutil |
Force India-Mercedes |
1.22.628 |
1.21.985 |
|
12 |
Pedro de la Rosa |
Sauber-Ferrari |
1.22.211 |
1.22.026 |
|
13 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Williams-Cosworth |
1.22.857 |
1.22.131 |
|
14 |
Vitaly Petrov |
Renault |
1.22.976 |
1.22.139 |
|
15 |
Sebastien Buemi |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari |
1.22.699 |
1.22.191 |
|
16 |
Jaime Alguersuari |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari |
1.22.593 |
1.22.207 |
|
17 |
Vitantonio Liuzzi |
Force India-Mercedes |
1.23.084 |
1.22.854 |
|
18 |
Rubens Barrichello |
Williams-Cosworth |
1.23.125 |
|
|
19 |
Jarno Trulli |
Lotus-Cosworth |
1.24.674 |
|
|
20 |
Heikki Kovalainen |
Lotus-Cosworth |
1.24.748 |
|
|
21 |
Timo Glock |
Virgin-Cosworth |
1.25.475 |
|
|
22 |
Lucas di Grassi |
Virgin-Cosworth |
1.25.566 |
|
|
23 |
Karun Chandhok |
HRT-Cosworth |
1.26.750 |
|
|
24 |
Bruno Senna |
HRT-Cosworth |
1.27.122 |
|
|
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