Sitting here watching the first of the GP2 support races of the weekend while opening up my computer looking back on the qualifying action of earlier on in the afternoon. So with the grid now set provisionally barring any engine/gearbox changes down the grid, all is in place for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Europe on the so called streets of Valencia.
If the GP2 race is anything to go by there will be some opening lap contact with a possibility of the safety car to clean up the debris. And Luca Fillipi just avoided becoming the most recent car to take to the skies in the same car and the same corner as Kral in 2010. But outside the opening phase, things will settle down with the odd battle further down the order.
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| Sourced from F1fanatic.co.uk |
This weekend saw the return of One-stop Perez, the original - retaking the reins of his Sauber from his stunt double Perez 2.0 who was sent back to McLaren where he will take back his third driver role there. He was back up to speed in the practice sessions running up in the same times as team-mate and Bonus Points leader Kamui Kobayashi.
With such a large performance variant between the two available compounds the question was who could get through the first session on only the hard tyres and avoid burning up a set of the valuable soft tyres. With the the mid-field moving to the softs to avoid being that driver to join the bottom 6 in the first relegation zone.
The first two cars to take to the track were Renault Squadron Leader Heidfeld and Paul Di Resta who lost many practice laps after Hulkenberg crashed his car in FP1. Within minutes the majority of the field joined them circulating on track, including the main contenders who opted to make their opening runs on the prime tyres. Opening times were not that impressive - a long way from the pace set in the final morning practice session down in the mid 1:40's with the Red Bulls dropping into the low 1:39's.
Both Vettel and Webber decided that their times were safe from those on the option tyres, which proved true although Webber needed a run later in the session still on the primes to secure progression. The zone of interest was further back in the contest to avoid relegation from Q1, where Torro Rosso were in battle with Sauber to get into Q2. Both STR entries limited themselves to one run late in the session on the option tyre to conserve more sets for the race, Buemi managed to launch the car a long way up the grid to where the main teams were running. Things were not so successful for the other side of the garage Alguersuari encountered traffic on his effort and failed to progress.
Alguersuari was joined by the usual suspects in the form of the six cars from the newer teams with Lotus heading that group and Vitantonio Liuzzi once again moving his car ahead of the Marussia Virgin of Jerome D'Ambrosio.
Moving into Q2, and in contrary to the usual form it was one of the Ferraris first to venture out of pit-lane occupied by Felippe Massa - holder of the fastest time in Q1 after having to use some soft tyres. This second session was aimed to filter down the field into the final 10 for the last shootout. As normal the same cars were running towards the top of the time sheets and the same cars were fighting over relegation.
But all things were not going to run quite to metronomic normality when Maldonado encountered technical difficulties with something in the fuel system grinding the car to a halt between turns 19 and 20 in the fast final sector. Trying to get the car to the pit lane the Williams refused to go any further and then couldn't be rolled away by the marshals - a red flag had to be thrown to move a removal vehicle onto the track to extract Maldonado. This intervention caught several drivers out who were on a lap on those valued soft tyres - those compromised included the Renault Squadron and Kobayashi
With seven minutes remaining the session restarted and the lead cars had no need to return to the track, but the battle to stay in the top ten was re-invigorated. With the Renault Squadron forced to make their move with their runs aborted under the red flag, and needed to set a time to move into the final session. Both Mercedes were able to progress without using up too many sets of tyres leaving only two remaining attainable places left for progression. To begin with Renault Squadron held both the final places, just like in Canada the top five teams locked out the top five rows, but that wasn't to last. Adrian Sutil in the Force India on his final lap was able to break the ranks at Renault Squadron placing his car behind Squadron Leader Heidfeld knocking Wingman Petrov out of the final shootout. Joining him in relegation were both Saubers and Williams cars along with Buemi and Di Resta.
Then there was Q3, where things do go a little downhill - where the vagaries of strategy have compromised the concept of qualifying more than a little. Splitting the final phase into two groups, the main pole challengers from the top three teams, and then there is everyone else with the Mercedes drivers straddling the void with one in each division. The first division of cars went out first and set their laps, Alonso was the first so set a time but was not fast enough to be in contention for pole. Fernando weathered the runs of Massa, Button and Webber hanging onto the top spot until Hamilton went a tenth faster, but was soon comprehensively beaten by Vettel who went sub 1:37.
The second division held station in the garage only the Mercedes cars left the garage but were slower than the other cars that had been before them. Now this is where the problem lies - both Sutil and Heidfeld decided they were not going to play at all in the session electing to save tyres rather than bother qualifying and by default ended up 9th and 10th.
As the session was running out the first division left on their second runs with only Webber managing to improve their position elevating himself ahead of Fernando's Ferrari and Hamilton making it an all Red Bull front row. After making a mistake in T17, aborted his run and Vettel knowing his time was not going to be beaten aborted his run too. Ending qualifying in not so much of an spectacular but more of a whimper with the contenders all filing politely into the pit lane instead of charging for pole.
So as with every other race this year Sebastien Vettel was on pole, but with Webber alongside and Shake n Bake Hamilton in 3rd on a return from some laps in Tony Stewart's NASCAR at Watkins Glen. Both Ferrari's split the McLarens shuffling Button down to the bottom of division one ahead of both Mercedes' and Squadron Leader Heidfeld with Sutil rounding off the top 10.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
With qualifying becoming more and more of a non-event, more of a competition on who can save the most tyres while Vettel takes pole week in week out. But somewhere beneath the lack of enthusiasm many of the teams are displaying points can and will be awarded come hell, people will be getting points. So from the European GP qualifying here are the points winners.
- One-stop Perez - here's a welcome back point and for getting straight back on the pace
- Vitantonio Liuzzi - for out-qualifying a driver from another team in this case it was D'Ambrosio
- Adrian Sutil - for breaking the top five team lockout in the final top ten
- Jarno Trulli - for being able to maintain position without any power steering
- Red Bull - to come up with a front row after engine mapping rules were aimed to slow them down
Vettel you get no points because you're always on pole and Q3 is becoming a formality.
The Also Official Penalties Championship
There were rumours in FP2 that Karthekeyan received a speeding fine in FP1 - but nothing has appeared on the FIA stewards communications so it cannot be proved.
The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship
I don't often assign penalty points in the qualifying session because the principle is simple - fastest time wins and there isn't that much you can do to subvert that without gaining an FIA penalty but the standard of qualifying has declined. Focussing on tyres instead of performance, so as a mark of my displeasure those being a pain and using the strategy to abandon qualifying will get penalty points.
- Qualifying strategy - gets a penalty point in itself for being the cause of the problems
- Squadron Leader Heidfeld - for not playing in Q3 at all
- Adrian Sutil - same as Nick penalty point for not bothering setting a time
Looking Ahead to tomorrow
Valencia has a history of being a rather boring and uneventful race, the curving straights being a misnomer in themselves discourage drivers from running too close to avoid incidents like we saw last year with cars sailing through the air. Even in the GP2 two cars were close to being launched making wing-to-wheel contact instead of wheel-to-wheel which kept them grounded.
But with the dual DRS zones in effect this year things could be very different where we will see many more passing manoeuvres the 12 of last year. However looking at where the lines have been drawn on the circuit the length of the zones the overtaking could be rather too easy again as we saw in Turkey, that will however simple will add another dimension to the race and benefit the likes of McLaren and Mercedes with strong DRS systems.
Combine that with tyre degradation and the possibility of safety cars - though they'll be more likely on the opening lap if the orderly demeanour of the grid falls out of line and into the barrier. So overall the European GP is looking like an entertaining prospect and Red Bull should look behind them at the charging pack who won't be left behind. The mid-pack will be tightly contested and depending on the attrition rate could move into the points along with people on alternate strategy gained from not bothering with qualifying.
So prep your sofa and race snacks for an afternoon of entertainment ready for the 2011 European GP from Valencia
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