After a jolly good qualifying session has been completed, with some rather spiffing entertainment with the good ol' British weather once again having some fun with the proceedings. It did rather put a damper on the final stages of a couple of the sessions, but seems to have finally opened up at the site of the track to make the GP2 race more interesting but that's not being played till later.
But no amount of tea supplies and bacon consumed during the session could drone out the incessant whining of teams and Eddie Jordan regarding the rather impromptu shift in the regulations. Being altered in the middle of FP3 before Q3 - so teams were running around to fix and adjust the settings before being released onto the track. Only to be told at the end of the session that all this change and annoyance will be overturned at the end of the race and be reset to the Valencia standards when the engine mapping was changed. Makes you wonder why they bothered really just for this one race - but some teams have been stung by the temporary change and others being able to take advantage of those dropping back.
It looks like Renault Squadron and McLaren have taken the biggest hit as they are two of the main teams who have this blown exhaust diffuser system as a fundamental element of the car. Red Bull have also been hurt but the underlying speed of their car has allowed them to weather the storm and still maintain control. But all that political and regulation nonsense aside it's time to look into how the session took place beneath the ominous English sky.
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| Sourced from F1fanatic.co.uk |
With rain speckling the radar the session opened with all the teams glancing up into the sky, technology is all fair and helpful but there is no substitute for actual observation. The initial flurry of activity wasn't as intense as you'd expect it to be considering the threat of precipitation, it was the smaller teams first to venture on track in the form of Lotus and Virgin. Within a couple of minutes the entire field was on the track fuelled up to stay out right up until the rain to take advantage of any dry running.
Vettel set the early fastest time while Alonso was exploring the gravel trap in Luffield deeming that was not the optimum line round that section of the track bouncing the car not so gently in among the stones. The Ferrari surprisingly showed no signs of damage and returned to the track, setting a fairly healthy time on his next lap. Drivers running the soft tyres were mingling up with the top runners - the likes of Maldonado, Kobayashi and the Force India cars were secreting themselves in the top 10. Webber decided that the German bloke had spent too long at the top of the timesheets and took away the pole for the first session.
Down at the opposite side of the grid the battle to avoid relegation was looking rather interesting - the back row was claimed by the two HRT cars with new entrant Ricciardo starting last. A couple of rows further up and it was the Torro Rosso team being completely submerged in relegation as Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen was once again outperforming the car placing it into Q2. Of course STR weren't going to let that go without a fight - sending their drivers back out, however the Lotus favouring gods decided that it was a good time for a rain shower and water hailed from the sky in significant enough quantities that no further running was going to take place. This ended the effective lappery for the session consigning STR, HRT, Virgin and Trulli into relegation.
Having done it's work the rain had stopped before the start of session 2. There was a degree of indecision up and down the pit-lane as to determining what tyre compounds were going to be most effective - the majority of the track had dried but there was still some water down in Copse corner. Mercedes went out first on Intermediate tyres along with Willams, the rest of the field filtered out on differing tyres. Opening laps was considerably slower as the drivers were very cautious through the segment of the track which still held water.
The likes of Sauber and Force India set the early pace running on the soft compound tyres while Red Bull and Mercedes were being more cautious at first. As the track gradually got drier and drier the times began to evaporate seconds were being shaved off left right and centre - Rosberg and Ferrari were the first to redress the balance of power charging up to the front of the field. Renault Squadron were struggling outside the top ten as each lap grew faster and faster, the gap to enter the final session was extremely close. Only two tenths separated seven cars it ended up being a lottery of just who would end up shuffled to the bottom of the queue and dumped out.
Despite the intense nature of the session Red Bull and Ferrari was showing they were the two teams to beat with the power just in Red Bull's favour. McLaren were in the middle of the mess trying to survive with the likes of Kobayashi, Maldonado and Di Resta refusing to give in and fall to the end of the train. The time was running out and and the positions were changing fast with cars moving up and others shuffling down, the mid group of drivers setting almost the same time was expanding 0.2 now being the gap between eight competitors. The chequered flag fell, or was waved rather, and the field was frozen so who was caught out and doomed to relegation...both Renault Squadron cars failed to make the cut along with Sutil, Rubens and Schumacher. Also in the drop zone were Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen who was realistically as far up as the car could achieve, and one-stop Perez was the last car to stay in the garage.
And then there was ten, but eyes once more were aimed a little closer to the radar screen as Silverstone wasn't quite finished yet with it's interesting weather. This threat of more rain forced more cars to the track then normal for the opening run. The majority of the top ten left the garages with only Kobayashi and Maldonado aiming for an alternate strategy to avoid the traffic. After the first run of laps it was the Australian Mark Webber to set the fastest time only a third of a tenth ahead of that German bloke who wins a lot. Alonso proved to be the closest contender to the Red Bull front row moving into third, ahead of Massa. Things were not so rosy down at McLaren - their opening laps were significantly off the pace with Hamilton worst affected being 2s behind the pole. The second barrage of laps settled the positions between Button and Hamilton in the 0.7s abyss of space, it was the third of the locals in the final session who was first in that void. Paul Di Resta forced the Force India into 6th ahead of Maldonado and Kobayashi.
Rosberg was shuffled down to ninth ahead of a rather displeased yet unusually restrained Lewis Hamilton. Everyone was gearing up for a second run both Button and Rosberg took to the track followed by some of the other contenders as the rain was starting to descend again. It was only a slight drizzle but enough to slow the times down - Button backed off realising it wouldn't work - but Nico wasn't going to be beaten by a little local rain. He began throwing the car at the corners - exiting chapel sideways onto the run onto the Hangar straight but there was just too much dampness on the track to prevent any time from being gained. So he too with the rest of the field aborted their runs and pulled back into the pit lane.
Pole belonged to Webber in a Red Bull one two - we still have on of those blue cars on P1 but it is a rare change from that German bloke. Ferrari after benefiting from the rule changes have caught right up to Red Bull this weekend but McLaren have been left behind, Button hung onto 5th but Lewis down in 10th. Good run for Di Resta in the Force India staring 6th making row three an all British affair. Maldonado and Kobayashi line up on row four - a strong result for both of them and Rosberg sideways or not pips Hamilton in 9th and 10th.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
After an entertaining session here are the points winners from this weekends Qualifying
- Hekki Kovalainen - for escaping Q1 again beating both STR cars
- Nico Rosberg - for still pushing as the track conditions were slipping away
- Paul Di Resta - for considerably making the top 10 in his first race at Silverstone GP
- Fernando Alonso - for once more taking the fight to Red Bull
- Mark Webber - for taking the pole a rare victory over that German bloke
The No Less Official Dubious Dealings Championship
I have to award a penalty point to the FIA for the handling of this blown diffuser issue, we have heard for weeks how things would be changed by the British GP. But when that time rolls around they are still making changes and allowing concessions in the middle of the weekend and altering the regulations just before qualifying. And on top of that deciding to ignore all the things they've done and revert to a previous state after the race...
Looking to Tomorrow
Of course you have to be excited for this - after all this is the British GP but if you look at it logically our circuit doesn't often throw up outstanding races the nature of the track does often incline itself to a more processional event.
That said there are some variables to consider, firstly how close Alonso it to the Red Bull cars which could make that fight rather interesting. There there is the position of the McLarens - Hamilton in particular who should be entertaining when out of position and given his temperament so far this year could end up hitting people.
And to top it all off there is that lovely element of the weather - a nice addition of some rain can easily convert the dull and single file nature of a race into a seething torrent of unpredictability and madness. Lets just hope the FIA ease off on the health and safety madness they exhibited in Canada and not throw a full yellow at the first sight of water. But i did think I saw the GP2 race started under safety car in the background shots inside the team's motor homes so that precedent seems still to be in effect - sigh.
Whatever lies in store tomorrow afternoon, it's good time to spend in front of the tele with plenty of tea at hand to fully enjoy the British GP from which ever location - I for one will be deserting the solitary confinement of my room for the event and will be off-site for the race venturing into new territories. Wherever you are it's time to get ready for the 2011 British GP
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