The first qualifying session of the year has now been completed and we now the grid for the opening charge down to turn one of 2011 is set. Tomorrow 58 laps of the Albert Park race circuit await the field in what will be an enthralling opener to an exciting season in prospect.
So what have we learned
Qualifying was the first opportunity to see where the balance of power lies across the paddock, it became clear that some things remain very much the same from the form of the previous season. The front of the grid still belongs very much to current champion Vettel - who opened a very large can of domination through the session and delivering a final crushing blow in the final segment. Finishing the day with an unprecedented 1:23.5 miles ahead of the competition.
Following in behind the un-naturally quick German up front was one of the surprising performances of the session, the Mclaren of Hamilton pinched the final front row slot from local Webber showing the Mclaren had a lot more pace then any pre-season tests had shown. Grid order remained for the second row, seeing a Red-Bull heading the second Mclaren with Webber pipping Button to the inside of the track.
Then came the first of the under performing Ferraris in the obvious hands of Fernando who is already looking forward to Sepang. The second of the red cars was having a less productive day, Massa was severely lacking in pace suffered a severe beating at the hands of his team-mate. His unproductive weekend ultimately ended in spinning the disappointing barge in turn one coming out of the pits.
Other interesting performances we afoot at Renault - Petrov who managed to break several cars in the previous season, pilotted his car up into sixth making him the best of the rest - if we discount Massa's failings. His performance was a direct opposite to his opposite number Heidfeld who failed to exit Q1 perhaps as a result of being a stand in for the severely injured Kubica. Mercedes were also a lot slower then expected with Michael once again being out powered by Rosberg and failing to join his younger team mate in Q3.
Another thing that can be deduced from qualifying is that despite what the practice sessions had shown, now prepare yourselves for this revelation... the Hispania exist and have cars that can move. But that's about it after a couple of laps at what has to be a the most disappointing effort I've ever seen since watching the sport in 97. A paralysed sloth could have gone round faster, and surprise surprise they failed to make the 107% cut-off with a time in the hands of the fastest driver at 109% pace and for Narain at a pathetic 111% and hence they've been banned from the grid for being well crap.
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| Image from the Daily Mail online |
Qualifying
Session one kicked off with the first car that hit the track for the start of Q1 was Lotus-Renault's Vitaly petrov and was soon followed by last years new teams. As was expected the first segment was pretty much a formality as the default six were relegated, it was the final drop zone place was the only one up for grabs. Massa came close to being dropped but a last lap run rescued his session. This was the first time the HRT cars tried to do anything and may as well not bother - continental drift was their only rival. An unusually slow Heidfeld was the final victim in the session. Koybayashi was a entertaining managing to get the Sauber more sideways than any other competitor.
Q2 was started by the Torro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi and he held the opening pace, Rubens in the off pace Williams made an unusual error on the run to T3 and buried it in the gravel, ending his session and confirming a 17th place grid slot. Fighting on the drop zone cut-off point of 10th place was between Schumacher and Buemi - the elder losing out by less than a tenth but gifting him the coveted 11th place - the first car with free tyre choice. Further back Force India were down on last seasons pace, both Di Resta and Sutil only contending with GP2 rookies Maldonado and Perez. Struggling with the new DRS concept Sutil dropped it on the exit of the final corner and by some miraculous driving skill avoided any of the walls.
Red-Bull further opened the taps for the final session and Vettel crushed the field with an eight tenth abyss separating him from everyone else. The top three teams occupied the front section of the grid with the only interloper of Petrov in the Renault, behind them was the only top 10 Mercedes of Rosberg and of course the lead Sauber of Kobayashi who should get extra points for being awesome, with Buemi in a faster than expected STR rounding out the final session.
Bonus Points
And now the moment you may or may not have been waiting for, and after some careful deliberation with myself because there is no-one else to deliberate with, there will be bonus points allocated for qualifying as well as the race. For qualifying there will be five winners all getting one point each all going towards the final score.
So the winners are - in no particular order.
- Vettel - For being super-humanly fast, destroying the competition to that extent has to be worth something.
- Sutil - For completing his spin of the final corner without reducing the Force India to a box of spare parts and saving what would have been an expensive moment.
- Petrov - For out preforming the car, and having such a huge gap to his team-mate with a 12 place difference.
- Hispania Racing - For giving me something to laugh at, being such a diabolical team and falling the 107% rule at the first hurdle.
- Ron Dennis - For spontaneously deciding that Eddie Jordan needed cake after the session, a strange gesture deserves a point.
Looking to the race
With the pace shown today there is a high chance that Vettel will run off into the distance and never be heard from again. But this being Melbourne there is a chance of the safety car being deployed after an inevitable collision. On top of that is the unpredictability of the tyres which have already caused two unusual spins - one for Massa today and one for Chandok in FP1. So nothing is for certain and looking at last year the key to success is spinning Alonso at turn one, making an odd tyre decision and running off the track later on after the stop. So maybe whoever rams Fernando has a good chance.
It should be brilliant. Race on here we go.
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