Vettel on pole for Bahrain, chased by the Ferraris, as Schumacher will start seventh
March 13, 2010 by vmr
Filed under Prime & Option, Top Story
In a qualifying session without incident, Sebastian Vettel took first pole of the 2010 season, followed by the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Rosberg as the top five starters for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. As he did throughout qualifying, Rosberg posted a time faster than famous teammate Michael Schumacher, who will start seventh, followed by reigning champion Jenson Button. The new teams were first out in Q1, and Button just beating last year’s teammate Rubens Barrichello into Q1.
Qualifying began after a final practice session in which Fernando Alonso posted the fastest time so far this weekend (1:54.099), just faster than Nico Rosberg, with Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher, and Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top five. Karun Chandhok again did not manage any running with clutch problems.
Q1:
Virgin Racing was the first team to leave the pit lane in Q1, where the seven slowest drivers would be knocked out. Halfway through the first session, sixteen cars of twenty-four were on-track. Alonso had an early lead, only to have Rosberg, then Massa set the fastest time, then Webber, then Vettel. With one minute left, it was the new teams in the knockout zone, along with Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber. At the very end of the session, Alonso went back to the top as Kobayashi posted a fifteenth fastest time and his teammate Pedro de la Rosa dropped into the knockout zone. He improved, putting the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari out, with Virgin Racing the best of the new teams, then Lotus, with the HRT of Chandhok over ten seconds off fastest Alonso’s 1:53.612. Vettel posted the second fastest time, then Sutil, Webber, and Massa the top five.
Drivers Knocked Out in Q1:
18. Alguersuari 1:57.071
19. Glock 1:59.728
20. Trulli 1:59.852
21. Kovalainen 2:00.313
22. di Grassi 2:00.587
23. Senna 2:03.240
24.Chandhok 2:04.904
Q2:
Vettel was the first out in the fifteen minute Q2, where only the top ten will advance until Q3. Vettel posted the first fast time of the session, just .06 slower than Alonso’s Q1 time. Five minutes in, only eight drivers had posted fast times, with neither Mercedes or Williams, having left the garage. Once Barrichello got onto the circuit, he went straight to tenth on the soft tires. With five minutes left, only Barrichello, de la Rosa, Kobayashi, and Petrov were circulating. Rosberg continued to post faster times than his famous teammate, fifth to Schumacher’s ninth, with four minutes left an no one on-track. Buemi and Sutil were the first drivers back out and opening the floodgates. With three minutes left, 2009 champion Jenson Button was in the knockout zone, along with Liuzzi, Hulkenberg, de la Rosa, Kobayashi, Petrov, and Buemi. As the clock ticked down, those seven remained there, as it looked to an observer like they waited a bit too long to return to the track, all seventeen of them. At the top, Vettel improved his time to a weekend’s best 1:53.883, with Alonso just behind by 3 tenths. Webber, Massa, and Rosberg rounded out the top five, with Hamilton sixth and Schumacher ninth. Button managed to squeak through, just forcing former teammate Barrichello out of Q2.
Drivers Knocked Out in Q2:
11. Barrichello 1:55.330
12. Liuzzi 1:55.653
13. Hulkenberg 1:55.857
14. de la Rosa 1:56.237
15. Buemi 1:56.265
16. Kobayashi 1:56.270
17.Petrov 1:56.619
Q3:
Both McLarens, Ferraris, Red Bulls, Robert Kubica, and Adrain Sutil began the final ten minutes in Q3 to determine qualifying and pole position for the 2010 season opener, with Massa the first to head out onto the circuit. Closely followed by teammate Alonso and Hamilton, they remained the only three cars on-track with two minutes gone in the session. Hamilton posted fastest session times in both sector 2 and 3 on his out-lap. Button was out next as Massa set a fastest sector 1 time. The long (about a minute) second sector seemed agonizing, waiting for the first Q3 of the season to become truly exciting. The Ferraris traded the top, with Massa’s time fastest, then Alonso’s, while Hamilton slotted into third, with all three slower than the previously set faster times. Sutil was the next out, as the other six drivers seemed to wait for just one set of flying laps with four minutes left and lap times nearly two minutes long. Finally the Red Bulls emerged with three minutes left, leaving both Mercedes’ of Schumacher and Rosberg the only ones not having posted a time. Button aborted his first lap, apparently uncomfortable with the car set-up. When one minute remained, only the Ferrari’s and Hamilton had posted any complete lap time. Then Sutil moved into third, supplanting Hamilton. Everyone was one a flying lap (either just begun or about to end) as the seconds ticked down. Vettel was on a flying lap, and looked to be the first to cross the line, with the fastest time of the session, followed by Massa, slotting into second. Alonso remained third, with Hamilton fourth, and fellow world champions Schumacher and Button in seventh and eight, respectively.
Final Qualifying Times for the GP of Bahrain:
1. Vettel 1:54.101
2. Massa 1:54.242
3. Alonso 1:54.608
4. Hamilton 1:55.217
5. Rosberg 1:55.241
6. Webber 1:55.241
7. Schumacher 1:55.524
8. Button 1:55.672
9. Kubica 1:55.885
10. Sutil 1:56.309
So if they enforced the 107% rule only the cars which had not been able to participate in testing would have been excluded.
correct. The cutoff would be a lap time of 2:02.409, leaving only Senna and Chandhok not starting the race.
I am sure even Senna-Chandok will be within limit by next race. Its just the question of their team giving them car to drive for all the free practices next time
I followed the Qualifiers on Beeb and what struck was body-language of both Alonso and Schumi. Both clearly not happy to be beaten by their team-mates in the quali.
Best quote of the day was from Rubinho. When asked by the Beeb team, whats his take on his old team-mate Schumi who will be starting three spots ahead. Rubens gives wicked smile and say “And I will be starting on Fresh Tyres” Loved it.
If Williams get it right tomorrow podium is possibility, good race strategy needed.
Team that puzzled me a lot was McLaren. I had hoped they would be running in the front with their trick downforce idea. They clearly lacked downforce. Looks like their drivers couldn’t put their knees on the hole correctly :D
W4E, I have to agree w/Lego. I think this first race is going to be very telling (obviously), but there’s a good chance we’re going to start to see some very interesting qualifying strategies. There is no real “fuel strategy” this year so tires are paramount. I’m not sure 11th on the grid with a fresh set of hard compounds isn’t the best place to be. It clearly all depends on how long the front runners can go on those supersofts.
When I saw McLaren not having enough downforce in Qualifying Trim (Q1/Q2), I actually was expecting them to focus on 11/12 spot and start on fresh tyre and do long first stint in race trim (assuming their car has better downforce in race trim).
I expect to see people not going for pole glory and focus on race in near future.
They had trouble getting their legs over…
Ok! We got the message. It will be a Vettel year with McLaren and Ferrari 2nd the 3rd respectively (I still think McLaren and Lewis can top the ferraris). Vettel is a great driver, definitely deserves a championship and RBR has a complete car and the confidence needed to support the trophy. Overall, no surprises at all – on the contrary, 2010 will be a reinforcement of the F1 oligopoly. The rules regarding the Q3 tire and that they “must” be the ones to start the race takes a lot of the first race secs excitement away, i think, and I do not see the reason behind it (refueling limitations do the same but i understand safety concerns behind that decision given numerous accidents last year). I am happy to see the new teams managed to finish a round or two and I hope they can finish the race tomorrow (at least Lotus). Schumacher far from the lead came as a no surprise to me and I predict this will be the case throughout the year. So happy the new season is on and I can’t wait till tomorrow! (Podium: Vettel, Massa, Hamilton).
I still reserve my judgment on reliability of “Newey Designed Car”. As much as I would love to see Vettel do one better this year, the way Newey designs his cars, there are always something compromised in his radical designs
Vettel is definitely Kid Dynamite, if his car ends up being reliable, he’ll be a hard one to beat.
So you think Massa is going to best Fred? Interesting. If history repeats, this is another in a long line of excellent single laps from Massa followed by a race that may or may not go so well. Massa doesn’t do so well in race situations under pressure, and this year with the tires being so important, I think we’re going to see him losing it as his tires go off and he tries to maintain position.
You can not rule out Lewis, he may not be everyone’s favorite guy, but he’s shown that he can certainly get good results in a less then perfect car.
I’m calling it Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg…
And here’s another perspective… cars at the front reach the corner at 135 mpf… those directly behind, slip streaming, make it there at 145– and that corner is at 40mph… could be a serious mess with 1670 kg on board and braking distances.
that’s a typo… I meman 160 kilos
I’m not drinking honestly I’m not… just another keyboard I’m not used to. Promise.
I’m also suspect of Red Bull reliability in these hot and bumpy surface conditions. So I predict Ferrari domination: Alonso, Massa, Hamilton.
Hmmmm…so now we know who was doing the best job of sandbagging in testing. Not how I thought it would turn out but excited nonetheless. Early days though.
That track did not look like it was easy to get consistantly good lap times on…something Alonso eluded to during his post quali interview. We knew the Red Bulls were going to be quick but they still need to make it to the end of the race and the fact that they were taking a hacksaw to the rear section during qualifying leaves a lot of questions.
That F10 still looks like the car to beat and I think Vettel is going to have his hands full with Alonso during the race. Massa had a good quali run, as he often does, but something tells me he won’t be able to string them together during the race.
Vettel is on tires that have 2 laps to go before they are useless at 160 kg more weight… meanwhile some of those on the 5th row are on primes…
the only thing I care about is getting F1 to bring back the driver position graphic. it cut the excitement level in half not having a clue who was where (speedtv delays quali by a few minutes so following live timing is not a real option)
Totally agree…
And the world feed did a horrible job showing finals laps in Q2. The director is in love with Button, I understand why, but there are other drivers who I would rather see.
Another vote here from properly displaying the driver positions, why does the FIA monkey around with things that DON’T influence passing at all, like graphics!
Absolutely agree with you!
Shame about Rubens, he set a 1:55.3 that would have had him ahead of Schumi in Q3. :)
but at the same time maybe Schumi was preserving his tires in Q3 for the race…
the top-10 racing on quali tires is one of the most annoying rule changes in some time. it really screws up q3. I want the fastest guy to get pole. I want the excitement.
now I have to wait until the race to see if Fred was being conservative to save tires or if seb and massa honestly beat him.
bunk stuff
I agree. It’s antithetical to the rule change of letting them run light in Q3 to see who is fastest. Now we still have Q2 as the fastest, possibly, and everyone having to tactically work Q3 as it could ruin their race if they are too aggressive.
It will be interesting to see how the tyre tactics for Q3 fall out over the season. But I’ve gotta think the best tactic is to be at the front of the queue when the lights go out.
Having seen the cars go round properly now (not just in youtube videos) I really reckon the Ferrari is aesthetically the nicest.