I told you things would be behind schedule today, but here I've been able to catch the qualifying session from the Yas Marina after a painting set throughout the afternoon - it's amazing what you can do with some geometry and perspective rather than some actual artsyness - not as if that is a word. But set design aside there was a rather close and competitive session this afternoon (or this evening thanks to the iPlayer) as the sunlight went down and the artificial lights came out when the track was plunged into the night.
Despite there actually being a multi-car battle for pole at the end of the day it was that German Bloke who will be starting from the top grid position for a record breaking amount of times this season. Jenson found some pace obviously granted by his new charitable moustache which must have some aerodynamic impact, and then added to that by admitting in the press conference he had a 'loose rear'... make of that what you will. It was a session that is being considered more important than some of the others of the season as the teams and drivers are expecting poor amounts of overtaking and an overall processional event despite a dual DRS implementation in force this weekend.
But that's all in the pipeline for tomorrow - which will also be a delayed post due to rehearsals which are naturally the priority right now - so lets take a look at what played out today, or a few moments ago using the wonders of modern technology.
Qualifying
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| credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image |
Q1 kicked off with an unusual amount of cars queuing at the end of the pit lane- all poised to plunge down into the underground exit road. It was Renault Squadron who are no longer to be entitled Renault Squadron next year - re-branding themselves as Lotus. Of course this means the people who are Lotus at the moment - the green ones - can no longer have that title, and will become Caterham F1 instead, at the moment it seems both teams will retain similar liveries just making changes to handle the new branding. The other team being re-named when the season rolls round next year is Virgin Racing - who will no longer be Virgin and transform into Marrussia Racing to reflect the sponsors share in the team and to but an end to the jokes. The're just no fun any more, then again I'd probably have more success finding a Marussia whatever one is compared to... well you get the idea.
Naturally it was the Renault of Senna who claimed the fastest time - on the account of being the first one to complete a lap, before being defeated by the Torro Rosso's and then the Force India team. It wasn't much longer before the division one drivers took to the track to take control of the leaderboard. Webber was the first of that division to secure the top spot only to be usurped by Hamilton in quick succession, Lewis' hold on the Q1 pole was also short lived when the German bloke took it away. Several position changes later and it was Hamilton back out front Webber and Button.
This being Q1 of course the zone of intrigue was further back where Schumacher and Massa were slipping towards relegation as cars around them shifted to the softer compound. The key keeping them away from ejection from the session was Rubens Barrichello, still stuck in the garage with an oil pressure problem - in the car not in Rubens himself - as the minutes turned to seconds and then session drew to a close the Williams was not able to take to the track and Michael was able to move onto Q2.
At the opening of the second session once again it was Bruno Senna for the now temporarily entitled Renault Squadron followed by Kobayashi and the Torro Rosso cars. This time the division one cars were immediately behind and took full control of the top of the timesheets - with Lewis once more the driver at the head of the field - despite whining about being single this weekend, when he should just get used to it - that's how life works. But then again I'm a bitter fat bloke on the other side of a computer screen so by default solitude is a permanent state of events.
My minor rant was truncated by a loose bollard (not something you want to happen too often - might explain my solitary state perhaps) it had been uprooted from the 12/13 chicane - only to be knocked further off course by Massa. The Ferrari driver managed to jump over the actual bollard but clipped the base in his efforts to cut yet more corners - look how well that worked in India Felipe hmm. To clear away the corner marker a red flag had to be thrown to clear the track - right in the middle of Vettel's fastest lap and Force India's opening run.
One minor delay later and things were back underway and Massa clearly realised there was some time to be gained from the missing bollard to cut the corner even more, sending the car into the air as he jumped the curb. Compared with most Q2 sessions this one was rather stagnant - with the exception of the Force India cars setting their first times and propelling themselves into the top ten - no-one seemed to change position. Schumacher went out for another run anticipating the likes of One-stop Perez or one of the Renault Squadron cars to make a run for Q1. However none of them were able to set a better time, so for the second session in succession Michael sneaked through in the last available position in 10th.
With only ten cars remaining it was time to set up for the final run of the day, or more appropriately, night - as the sun had receded below the horizon and illumination was completely in the hands of the trackside lighting system. Once more there was a queue formed at the end of the pit lane - but this time Senna wasn't here to park at the front of it - so instead that honour fell to Jenson and his moustache which is close to gaining sentience and competing for it's own points. And it was the Button-stache combo that took the provisional pole, only to be beaten once more by Hamilton who wasn't weighed down by such facial hair - not that I'm one to talk sporting an evil panto beard at the moment, but the less said about that the better.
Ferrari were off the pace and settled in behind McLaren and Red Bull, while Rosberg opted only to completed some sector times on the harder tyre, before returning to the pit lane - the others remained in the garage with the threat of penalty points hovering above them if they didn't make an effort.
In the final run of the session, the list of cars taking to the track did improve as both Mercedes were joining the foray along with Adrian Sutil. Jenson and the Moustache headed the field out for the second run followed by Alonso, Hamilton and Massa, ready for the final face-off. And it was Button who set an impressive time to claim the provisional pole position from his team-mate, while Fernando failed to make any impression as he crossed the line to claim 5th. Alas Jenson didn't retain the lead for too long before his team-mate found 9 thousandths of a second more to take the top spot and giving McLaren a temporary one-two.
Of course no-one can rule out that German Bloke who was going rather quickly through the first two sectors and rounded off the lap with a reasonable 0.15s advantage over both the McLarens to claim yet another pole position and take another record away from Nigel Mansell. Webber finished fourth ahead of both Ferraris, Mercedes and Force Indias completing the top ten in team formation.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
As night has now fallen completely in Abu-Dhabi - although now it must be close to dawn there at the moment, here are the winners from today's session
- Jenson and the Moustache - firstly for the stache but also for doing a rather good job
- Felipe Massa - gets the high jump award for both his jumps at turn 13 and clearing a bollard at the time
- Daniel Ricciado - for being the best non-Lotus driver in division three, not bad considering his seat time
- One-stop Perez - for taking an off pace Sauber almost into the top ten
- Mandy's perspective stairs - they deserve a point from earlier today
The Also Official Penalties Championship
Only one penalty has been applied from qualifying and this has been handed to Pastor Maldonado in the form of a 10 place grid drop as a result of using an engine beyond the eight allocated for the season.
Looking to Tomorrow
Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow - and I won't for a few hours after it has finished so that post will be delayed too. But with the top four cars so close on pace in qualifying I can assume the battle for the win will be rather competitive as less than two tenths separate the top thee cars on the grid. Behind them however Ferrari could be in for a lonely race, not on the same pace as the two teams in front of them but with a buffer to Mercedes, who in turn will also be in a world of their own.
There may be a high degree of field-spread as groups of cars break away from each other especially at the two ends of the field. In the middle of the pack however things will be a little different as Renault Squadron, Torro Rosso, and Sauber are all on the same pace in the mid-field, and are all vying for that important 5th place in the constructors standings at the end of the year.
Both the drivers and the teams have stated already that they don't expect too much overtaking to take place during the race, even with two DRS zone in place, blaming the layout of the track and the single file nature of everything after turn 11. Hopefully those fears will not be realised and it will be a great race because against a backdrop of glistening harbour waters and sparkling structures of metal and glass. It would be nice to see a race that is just as good as it's settings. So until I'm able to get the next post online this is farewell for now.
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