Vettel Crushes the Competition
by Adam Milleneuve on Mar 26th, 2011Formula 1 2011 is officially back in action with the first qualifying session of the season bringing plenty of drama, shock and entertainment. Heidfeld took and an early exit, as did Rubens Barrichello. Massa had a tricky time and Hamilton gave McLaren something to smile about. Oh and Petrov is flying the flag for Lotus Renault - who'd have thought that 12 months ago!?
Petrov was too quick for the cameras - image: Lotus Renault Media/LAT
Qualifying Round One
Oh dear, Ferrari and Felipe Massa narrowly avoided a disasterous start to the season until a last moment quick lap took Felipe to 11th. As a result, Nick Heidfeld in the Renault was the first 'big name' to drop out of qualifying and join the Virgin, Lotus and Hispania cars.
Thanks to the reintroduction of the 107% rule, Hispania may well not be allowed to race on Sunday with their quickest times being more than 107% of the quickest time. Renault now have to rely on Vitaly Petrov to bring home some points for the team on Sunday unless Nick can live up to his name (Quick Nick Heidfeld) and do something amazing for the grand prix.
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | BEST | DIFF (to P1 in Q1) | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1'27.239 | 1.943 | 10 |
| 19 | H.Kovalainen | Lotus | 1'29.254 | 3.958 | 10 |
| 20 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | 1'29.342 | 4.046 | 12 |
| 21 | Timo Glock | Virgin | 1'29.858 | 4.562 | 10 |
| 22 | J.D'Ambrosio | Virgin | 1'30.822 | 5.526 | 8 |
| 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT | 1'32.978 | 7.682 | 11 |
| 24 | N.Karthikeyan | HRT | 1'34.293 | 8.997 | 11 |
Qualifying Round Two
Michael Schumacher's return to Formula 1 just doesn't get any easier for him - he tried and gave it is all, but failed to make the pole position shoot out with his time leaving him 11th. Ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello will be rueing a mistake on his first lap of Q2 where he mis-judged the braking point into turn 3 and buried his Williams in the gravel - an unusal error for the most experienced driver on the grid.
Toro Rosso and Sauber will be chuffed with each of them having a driver in the final round of qualifying, joining both Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari drivers along with Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov.
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | BEST | DIFF (to best in Q2) | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | M.Schumacher | Mercedes | 1'25.971 | 1.881 | 8 |
| 12 | J.Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1'26.103 | 2.013 | 7 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 1'26.108 | 2.018 | 4 |
| 14 | Paul Di Resta | Force India | 1'26.739 | 2.649 | 6 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1'26.768 | 2.678 | 7 |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1'31.407 | 7.317 | 6 |
| 17 | R.Barrichello | Williams | 0 | na | 2 |
Qualifying Round Three - Pole Position Shootout
As everyone expected, Sebastian Vettel took his Red Bull to pole position in a worrying (for his rivals) fashion with a time that saw him nearly a whole second faster than Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton managed to get his McLaren up to second place to split the Red Bulls with his team mate just behind Webber in 4th. Jenson started from 4th and won last year, he'll be looking to try and recreate that on Sunday.
Vettel No.1 again... image: Red Bull/Getty
Petrov has taken full advantage of the rather rapid Renault o secure 6th, just behind Alonso and ahead of Nico Rosberg. Massa, Kobayashi and Buemi complete the top 10 for Sunday. The first couple of laps are going to be very interesting and it will interesting to see if Vettel's stunning qualifying performance translates into him taking the top step of the podium in 24hrs time...
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | BEST | DIFF | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1'23.529 | 6 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1'24.307 | 0.778 | 6 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1'24.395 | 0.866 | 6 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1'24.779 | 1.25 | 6 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'24.974 | 1.445 | 4 |
| 6 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1'25.247 | 1.718 | 3 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'25.421 | 1.892 | 6 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'25.599 | 2.07 | 3 |
| 9 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 1'25.626 | 2.097 | 5 |
| 10 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1'27.066 | 3.537 | 4 |
Comments and Discussion
Personally i think as per Stefano Domenicali’s comments Ferrari is all about race pace and tomorrow will be there or there abouts fighting with Mc and RB.
So much for Heidfeld's experience. Senna for the raceseat!
In his defence, Heidfeld's always been rubbish at qualifying. It's the Sunday's where he makes his impact. He's the FIA's golden boy in this regard because overtaking is guaranteed as he claws his way up to the position he should be in!
I really believed Ferrari would be quicker than that in qualifying, i was under the impression that they were snapping at the heels of Red Bull on raw pace. As i misread McLaren's speed too.
In both cases i'm pleased to be wrong.
I couldn't help a whoop of joy in Q2 when Kobayashi put his young team mate in his place: "Everyone's talking about you Sergio, but can you do this....?" Zonk. P3.
Evidently not yet.
Good job by Virgin in getting well inside Q1's 107% time (1:31.267 if you were wondering), though the front-running cars were 1.5secs off their ultimate pace at the time.
And Hispania should not be allowed to race tomorrow. I know Badger and others have been vocal about the guys and girls in the team having families and all, but the fact of the matter is they may well have their car fall to pieces in the middle of the GP and ruin someone else's race because they've had no testing.
If they complete Friday practice in Malaysia and still fail to qualify then i'd be more forgiving, but if they're allowed to hit the track tomorrow as a reward for being unprepared, then they'll be a liability to the other 22 guys on-track.
2 weeks til Sepang, if they start getting ready tomorrow then they should make FP1, and earn the right to compete.