Here we are at the completion of another qualifying session, although this contribution is taking place somewhat later then normal, a combination of an earlier then normal start time - being in Japan and all and being preoccupied with other people invading my little house. The blog forbids siblings for having birthdays on race weekends - they get far too excitable making screeching noises when I'm trying to watch the recorded session. And on top of that something seems to have gone rather wrong with my video player so had to be in the same room as an overly excitable child...
Anyway amongst the high pitched noises I did manage to see some form of qualifying session - couldn't hear great deal of it - either that or Eddie Jordan had forgot to learn the words and became a mime artist. Which somehow I rather doubt. It also appeared that the German Bloke once again decided that he didn't want to share the pole position with any one outside the team. While everyone else decided to have a bit of a meeting in the Casino Triangle instead of completing their final runs.
But to cover how this came to pass how the rest faired here is how qualifying played out.
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| Credit to F1Fanatic for the image |
Qualifying
After having a morning argument with the video recorder only to find it refused to power up - curses and what not so there was a need to find an alternate video player to watch the event. Several moments later after realising all the spare fuses were locked away, I retreated to the main room - sadly the epicentre of the irritating child based celebrations.
All that sorted out it was time so settle down - with tea in place and a working video player in operation - I know obsolete technology and all but it works... most of the time; and that's good enough for me. Then the time of Q1 had arrived and the green light was met with a green car piloted by Jarno Trulli who duly opened the time charts being the first car on track.
But within moments the rest of the grid opened their accounts considerably quicker than Jarno's benchmark time. Division one claiming their place at the top Alonso at the very front ahead of Button and Vettel, Hamilton was initially off the pace, running wide in Spoon corner using the tarmac run-off as a get of jail free zone where the indigenous gravel would have ended his session. But after this early slump he found the missing pace jumping up ahead of Button.
Things were going rather less well in the Mercedes garage, while Nico Rosberg was experiencing technical gremlins in the hydraulic system - but nothing to the gremlin that was still groaning about birthdays and other nonsense in my living room. Nico's problems were enough to put him out of Q1 and remove all the risk for the other drivers as the last places were all booked up with the newer teams. This didn't stop some drivers running a couple of security laps to confirm progression on the softer tyres. Kamui Kobayashi local legend who's 2010 race has sold 1000 more tickets in Kobayashi corner, took full advantage of the softs and topped the timesheet for the end of Q1.
Roll on Q2, and it was nice to see a car leaving the pit lane at the beginning of the session - and for this segment it was the turn of Force India to lead the group. But once more the division one field headed out onto the track to shuffle for the lead positions. Vettel went fastest early on, remaining a 100th of a second ahead of Button only to be defeated by Hamilton.With three places left on in Q3 there a major battle was brewing to claim them - Force India, Renault Squadron and Kobayashi were all competing for the remaining places.
One-Stop Perez was taken out of the competition when hydraulic gremlins ended his session as well, but his team-mate forced himself into 8th. All this with no time left on the clock, Sutil's lap moved him into 9th and Wing-commander Petrov claiming the final spot. But things were not quite finished sorting themselves out quite yet, it was Renault Squadron who made the improvements, both team cars moving ahead of Kamui into 8th and 9th dropping the local hero into 10th but still into the next session with the division one competitors.
Only the final session remained and it was the remaining Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi who was waiting at the end of the pit lane to kick the session off - but he was only there for an installation lap on the hard tyres before returning to the pit lane. It was the top teams who were on track to set competitive times. However I had no idea who was setting what time - partially on the account of annoying children drowning out the sound of the television. But that would have been ok, I'd just look at the on-screen graphics - but no they had gone down, what I do know is that Hamilton went fastest ahead of Button and Vettel.
The teams were reluctant to do too many laps due to the high tyre degradation and to save tyres for the race ahead. So they saved it all for a final effort at the end of the session, but timing that run didn't work out too well for Hamilton who's outlap was too slow. As a result he was caught by both Michael Schumacher and Webber who both had to pass him into the final chicane. Out of the three Webber was the only one to find another lap, taking away Hamilton's chance for pole position.
This left Vettel and Button to be unchallenged as pole would be decided between themselves. It was the German bloke again - the one that only needs one point who was first to set a time - and a rather quick one at that. Button tried to respond, to take the pole position away from Vettel, but fell 0.009 seconds short. But this does mean the front row is made up of the FIA points leader and the bonus points leader, making it an interesting run to turn one. The rest of the top ten was populated by Hamilton, then the two Ferraris lead by a still rather angry Massa, from Webber - the last car to set a proper time. Out of the cars that didn't really bother Kobayashi heads Schumacher and the Renault Squadron, Senna out-qualifying Wing Commander Petrov.
The official Bonus Points Championship points winners
Upon one of the greatest layouts of the season within one of the more entertaining countries here are the points winners from Japanese GP qualifying 2011.
- Kamui Kobayshi - for being fastest in Q1, and for making Q3, and on top of that for the epic save he performed in FP2 on Friday
- Mark Webber - for being the only one to get through Hamilton's slow down moment to complete a final run despite losing a fair amount time in the process
- Felipe Massa - for out qualifying Alonso and for ranting about Hamilton with being blanketed behind PR formalities and niceties.
- Renault Squadron - for making a comeback after the humiliating performance in Singapore to get both cars in the top ten positions
- McLaren - for being on the same pace as the Red Bulls this weekend, beating them in practice and came close to being the first non-Red Bull on pole
The Still official dubious dealings championship
The tyre degradation issue in Suzuka meant some teams opted not to do a complete lap in qualifying which although being a tyre saving plot earns a penalty point for not taking part in the session. This weekend saw four drivers in Q3 not bothering - although Schumacher's lap was affected by Hamilton so I'll let him off as he was going to complete a time. The other three however... get penalty points
- Kobayashi - despite a strong session not playing in Q3 earns a penalty point
- Wing Commander Petrov - also for not playing in Q3
- Bruno Senna - also for not playing in Q3
And is a very early morning it is too, commencing at 6a.m, which I shall likely have to wake for as well... but it will be worth setting the alarm for. It will be a race that within all realms of probability will see the crowning of that German Bloke as the double world champion scoring that final point to place it mathematically out of reach of the only remaining contender - Two-Cakes-Up Button. However that amount of dominance may not be on the cards when dawn arises tomorrow morning, McLaren have been very close to Red Bull so far this weekend and that should continue in the race.
There is interest further back down the grid as well, with the likes of Rosberg and One-Stop Perez further down the grid then their car pace suggests they should be and with plenty of new tyres at their disposal. Rosberg in particular should be exciting coming from the back row of the grid towards the points scoring positions. The greatest instability lies once more in the mid-field where drivers from Renault Squadron all the way back to the newer teams are on a very similar pace making strategy the ruler of the final points positions.
Weather predictions show that it looks dry for the race, taking one unpredictable variable out of the mix, but there is still a chance of a safety car because of the limited run-off in some areas and the size of the accidents that can happen on the layout - Kamui narrowly avoided one on Friday practice but Rubens and Senna had accidents that would have brought out the safety car. The other thing to look out for is of course Kamui Kobayashi who was a whole new level of awesome last year and could be just as entertaining this time around.
The blog update may be running a little later than normal this weekend as a result of other events in my ever popular schedule... well my years worth of socialisation is raining down in these two days but that aside set the alarms or video equipment in preparation for the 2011 Japanese GP.
There is interest further back down the grid as well, with the likes of Rosberg and One-Stop Perez further down the grid then their car pace suggests they should be and with plenty of new tyres at their disposal. Rosberg in particular should be exciting coming from the back row of the grid towards the points scoring positions. The greatest instability lies once more in the mid-field where drivers from Renault Squadron all the way back to the newer teams are on a very similar pace making strategy the ruler of the final points positions.
Weather predictions show that it looks dry for the race, taking one unpredictable variable out of the mix, but there is still a chance of a safety car because of the limited run-off in some areas and the size of the accidents that can happen on the layout - Kamui narrowly avoided one on Friday practice but Rubens and Senna had accidents that would have brought out the safety car. The other thing to look out for is of course Kamui Kobayashi who was a whole new level of awesome last year and could be just as entertaining this time around.
The blog update may be running a little later than normal this weekend as a result of other events in my ever popular schedule... well my years worth of socialisation is raining down in these two days but that aside set the alarms or video equipment in preparation for the 2011 Japanese GP.
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