The Grid - Thoughts on the Start
by Adam Milleneuve on Mar 26th, 2011The new season is off to a cracking start with the qualifying session throwing up some surprises and no one could have predicted just how quick the reigning champion, Sebastian Vettel could be - even homeboy teammate Webber was left to figure out exactly where he's losing a second in the same car.
Mark Webber considers his chances of a home win from 3rd - image: RBR Media/Getty
The Aussie GP always produces an unpredictable and consequently exciting grand prix so we should just expect Vettel to be lapping everyone halfway through the race - the first couple of laps could be chaotic, into the first corner, at the front there's the ever racey Hamilton who'll go for even a slight hint of a gap, Webber - who'll be desperate to finally have a victory in front of his home fans and of course Vettel who'll just want to lead away.
Then there's Petrov who's not exactly experienced at being in the leading pack and will an unknown quantity to the drivers around him. Button, will probably let the race pan out rather than go for a daredevil move up the inside into turn one and as for Fernando Alonso - the Ferrari is thought to have excellent race pace so he'll be a firey Spanish force to be reckoned with.
Also in the top 10 is the ever popular Kamui Kobayashi, who's well known for his overtaking skills, and as long as he keeps all four wheels on the track he'll be a real threat and a challenge to the rest of the leaders.
We can expect plenty more battles further down the field too, Barrichello won't stay 16th for long and Nick Heidfeld will be looking to raise his game to keep his race seat.
The Starting Grid for Sunday
 | Sebastian Vettel | |||
| Red Bull | ||||
| 1'23.529 | ||||
| ROW 1 |  | Lewis Hamilton | ||
| McLaren | ||||
| 1'24.307 | ||||
 | Mark Webber | |||
| Red Bull | ||||
| 1'24.395 | ||||
| ROW 2 |  | Jenson Button | ||
| McLaren | ||||
| 1'24.779 | ||||
 | Fernando Alonso | |||
| Ferrari | ||||
| 1'24.974 | ||||
| ROW 3 |  | Vitaly Petrov | ||
| Renault | ||||
| 1'25.247 | ||||
 | Nico Rosberg | |||
| Mercedes | ||||
| 1'25.423 | ||||
| ROW 4 |  | Felipe Massa | ||
| Ferrari | ||||
| 1'25.599 | ||||
 | Kamui Kobayashi | |||
| Sauber | ||||
| 1'25.628 | ||||
| ROW 5 |  | Sebastien Buemi | ||
| Toro Rosso | ||||
| 1'27.066 | ||||
 | M.Schumacher | |||
| Mercedes | ||||
| 1'25.973 | ||||
| ROW 6 |  | J.Alguersuari | ||
| Toro Rosso | ||||
| 1'26.103 | ||||
 | Sergio Perez | |||
| Sauber | ||||
| 1'26.110 | ||||
| ROW 7 |  | Paul Di Resta | ||
| Force India | ||||
| 1'26.739 | ||||
 | Pastor Maldonado | |||
| Williams | ||||
| 1'26.770 | ||||
| ROW 8 |  | Adrian Sutil | ||
| Force India | ||||
| 1'31.407 | ||||
 | R.Barrichello | |||
| Williams | ||||
| na | ||||
| ROW 9 |  | Nick Heidfeld | ||
| Renault | ||||
| 1'27.239 | ||||
 | H.Kovalainen | |||
| Lotus | ||||
| 1'29.256 | ||||
| ROW 10 |  | Jarno Trulli | ||
| Lotus | ||||
| 1'29.342 | ||||
 | Timo Glock | |||
| Virgin | ||||
| 1'29.860 | ||||
| ROW 11 |  | J.D'Ambrosio | ||
| Virgin | ||||
| 1'30.822 | ||||
 | N.Karthikeyan | |||
| HRT | ||||
| 1'32.980 Failed to Qualify | ||||
| ROW 12 |  | Vitantonio Liuzzi | ||
| HRT | ||||
| 1'34.293 Failed to Qualify |
Driver character graphics by Unlap - purveyors of motorsport-themed threads... and BadgerGP tshirts!
Comments and Discussion
Yeah, i've also been thinking over the past few weeks about the increased risk of 1st lap calamaties. I personally hate pile-ups because someone you expect to be entertaining is always eliminated or damaged.
I doubt everyone will be prodding their KERS at exactly the same time, so some cars are going to be carrying extra speed approaching the braking zones of turns 1 and 3. Perez, Di Resta, Maldonado - all hoping to be the most impressive rookie, all qualifying in the same blob and the error-prone Sutil right behind them.
With the KERS boosting cars though, Virgin and Lotus should be 'safe' in that there will be a 'reaction gap' between them and the main pack should anything kick off. If i were Nick i'd hang back with them, saving the boost until the quick bits after turns 10 and 12 to latch back onto the tails of those ahead who will have depleted their reserves by that stage on the first lap.
Barring any car issues, Vettel's got it won already.
By the way, why's Nico's character got a Tiara?
Nico has a tiara because one of his many nick names is 'princess'
yeah i love the princess tiara,cracked me up as soon as i saw it! I wonder whether Jenson reads this site?