Mark Webber pulled out a sensational lap to steal pole position from his team mate and give Red Bull yet another 1-2 result in qualifying, or as the tabloids call it – “a front row lock-out” (Badger doesn’t approve of this terminology, sounds a bit American Football to us)
It wasn’t all about the fight for pole position though – Q1 nearly produced a shock result with Alonso and Hamilton only just nipping through in 16th and 17th – thankfully for them Bruno Senna was ‘the fall guy’ to join the newer teams in the bottom 7 for the grid.
The second round of qualifying saw heartbreak for many, neither Sauber could break through to top 10, Toro Rosso’s season continued to be rather insignificant with 16th and 17th being the best they could do and Ricciardo had to pull over with a gearbox issue, not good. It was even worse for Jenson Button though, despite one final push he could only thrash his McLaren around into 11th place and miss the cut for Q3.
And so the scene was set for the top ten shoot out between Mercedes, Lotus, Red Bull, Ferrari and then the Hulk and Hamilton. Vettel went into the session as favourite for pole and you’d be mad to bet against him – it’s was starting to feel a bit 2011 again after the last two races. But Mark Webber, bless his cotton socks, came out fighting and stuck his Red Bull on pole ahead of Vettel in 2nd. Mark described his lap as perfect and Vettel looked pleased too (insert comment about ‘team playing’ here, ahem)
Beyond the FRONT ROW LOCKOUT (!), Hamilton’s poor start to the session was quickly forgotten with a solid 3rd place grid spot ahead of Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Rosberg and Schumacher.
Make sure you set your alarms for the 7am (BST) race start on Sunday!
Well done Mark – credit: Red Bull Racing Media
banburybadger
October 13, 2012
Sensational lap by Webber. Neither the Vet or Hamster looked overjoyed for him though!
Reckon the finger might be wiggling tomorrow, hmmm.