The qualifying from a very changeable Spa-Francorchamps has been completed, escaping the rather significant rain shower in the area which made the GP2 race rather entertaining. It was probably the only race I've seen where there were more crashes, retirements and overtaking under the safety car. It's amazing what rain can do to an event. But back to the mains game and just because the F1 session avoided the bulk of the rain they certainly didn't have it easy...
It was a session in drying conditions with a little shower in Q2, but by the time Q3 rolled around the cars were on slicks and something rather unheard of so far this weekend was that there was more than a dry line appearing. It's certainly not dry any more after the recent shower. But now to look back on how the unpredictable conditions ended up producing a rather predicable result at the front, with a couple of changes further down the order.
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| Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
Qualifying
After the final practice session was quite wet indeed from an early morning shower - the track was a long way from any dry running - on rain since FP3 meant intermediates were the natural decision as the surface water has ran off the tarmac. The radar was a flurry of incoming showers predicted for the first section of the session as a result everyone charged to the pit lane exit, in that race Torro Rosso were the champions scoring an early 1-2 in the pit lane duel. Ahead of Virgin Racing and HRT.
The track started to get rather full, but being four miles long there was enough space for traffic not to be too much of a problem, well it wouldn't have been if they all left the pit lane with some space between them all. But racing drivers and teams being the way they are all wanted to be on track ASAP. With that threat of rain on the horizon. This haste must have caused problems in the Mercedes garage as Michael Schumacher on his 20th anniversary of his début found his rear wheel falling off. The car was propelled into the barrier before Rivage and then out of qualifying to a back row starting position
STR topped the time sheets, just by being at the head of the queue and setting the first times, Red Bull were next out and obliterated the time-sheets Webber ahead of Vettel. Before the McLaren pairing took residence up front. With Schumacher in the fence, the field thought they were safe - believing the remaining six relegation positions would fall to the three newer teams. But with the track drying out, and the feared rain not arriving yet the times were tumbling, the concept of safety was rather a tenuous one. There were times in the session when both Saubers were in relegation then the Williams were next to hold position in the drop zone. As the session drew to a close the originally high flying Lotus racing cars had been overtaken by the mid field and knocked out. However that didn't sit well with Kovalainen as rain was starting to fall. Even encountering traffic entering pit lane Heikki dragged the green machine out of the drop zone and into Q2, at the expense of Paul Di Resta.
Q2 started minus both HRT's, Marussia Virgin Racing entries, Di Resta, Trulli and Schumacher. The circuit was a little damper as light rain speckled the intervening period between the two sessions. With the track expected to get wetter as the rain continued, another queue formed at the end of pit lane, and once again it was the Torro Rosso Team that claimed the first two positions, and the initial benchmark times. But their reign was short lived as Alonso claimed the top position. Times were changing rapidly Vettel went fastest ahead of Button and Webber - Fernando down to 4th.
Then we Eau Rouge claimed it's first car, and so far it's only car - (Leal managed to avoid hitting anything when it got him in GP2) - Adrian Sutil took a little too much of the curb on the final part, Radillion, and span off into the inside wall damaging the car to put him out. The debris on the track forced a red flag as it was not possible to send marshals to one of the fastest corners in the world to collect a shattered front wing and rear suspension.
That all cleared up and the rain stopping again, there was a new queue in pit lane - which STR won again, and were joined by the rest of the field - with only six minutes on a drying track traffic was going to be a problem - as they all left at the same time. Alonso spent the outlap whining at the cars around him demanding through some mythical Ferrari superiority that people should let him past, which holding up Kovelainen in the process. Despite his ramblings he managed to go fastest, harnessing the raw power of moaning. Two-Cakes-Up Button was called in, the team thinking he was safely through, but fell down the order and into relegation. Positions were swapping rapidly at the other side of the top 10, Sauber and Torro Rosso were fighting over the top ten places vacated by Button and Schumacher.
It was Perez and Jaime El Incognito who claimed those positions, another spot was almost up for grabs as Hamilton claim close to going out. On his final effort he encountered a collection of cars trapped behind Heikki, both Willams cars were in the way trying to find space and complete a fast lap at the same time. As the Williams cars fanned out in the Bus-Stop Hamilton saw an opening an nudged Maldonado out the way to confirm his place in the top 10. However this didn't end well, further retaliatory contact was made on the exit of La Source - A-la-NASCAR where Pastor attacked Lewis although the Brit also moved at the Williams car. The McLaren was damaged but not severely. The Stewards have reprimanded Hamilton and issued a 5-place grid drop to Maldonado.
Off into Q1 with all division one cars, Renault Squadron back in the final session along with Perez and El Incognito. But the track was now dry, well had a dry line in to run on at least. So it was slicks all round - except Rosberg who tried inters but decided against it. Massa didn't take an immediate liking to the dry tyres running off wide on the exit of Malmedy after a spot of oversteer. Webber set the initial pace with a time, and improved his pace to stay ahead over the chasing pack, Hamilton and Alonso came close but couldn't take pole.
Further back El Icognito and Senna were having exceptional sessions jumping ahead of Fernando and Rosberg. Then the time for the final lap arose and a Webber pole was looking increasingly likely but Hamilton found some extra time and jumped into the lead only to be beaten again by Sebastien Vettel to claim his ninth pole of the season. Rosberg recovered the positions lost to Senna and El Incognito, and Massa found himself in 4th beating team-mate Alonso for the second race in a row. Perez and newly promoted Wing Commander Petrov rounded off the top ten.
The Official Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
From an exiting session who will be given the points from today...
- Heikki Kovalainen - Making it in to Q2
- Bruno Senna - Very solid performance for a first time in the car despite the controversy
- Felippe Massa - For managing to beat the Faster Alonso
- Jaime El Incognito - Very strong qualifying performance
- Torro Rosso - For winning all the pit lane queues except Q3 which belonged to Alonso
The Also Official Penalties Championship
Only one penalty has been issued and that went to Maldonado for the contact with Hamilton
The Still Official Dodgy Dealings Championship
I have to award a penalty point to Alonso for his whining in Q2, complaining that no-one was letting him past, well Mr Alonso you don't have any special privileges but what you do have is a penalty point.
Looking To Tomorrow
Well this is the Belgian GP so it is going to be epic, even just to look at the racetrack in awe of the spectacle of it all. But the forecast suggests that it may be dry tomorrow so it will be a complete voyage into the unknown to for the grid, and in the place of the unknown is where madness lies - maybe not GP2 levels of madness but still some craziness. However there is nothing certain in the skies above Spa and anything can come out of there, perhaps not sheep but still it's rather unpredictable.
Under dry conditions, it could be a Red Bull race from the front and another Vettel victory, with the others not too far behind, the rest of the podium could be very close indeed. But regardless of what the conditions throw at them there will be some major points of interest - the major one being Michael Schumacher starting from he very back of the grid in a much faster car than those around them. But there is one problem, unlike previous charges from the back, the charger has had a tyre advantage, this time all the cars around him have fresh tyres having done all their qualifying in the wet so it won't be so easy.
Things are set up fantastically for an epic race on an epic track, and an outside broadcast too, it is going to be brilliant lets hope that Spa Francorchamps live up to the immensity it deserves.
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