After sleep seemed rather elusive here at the sleeping quarters of blog HQ I awoke at a rather unnatural hour at 5:55am to be precise. But the upside of being deprived of regenerative powers of the sub-conscious realm was that I did happen to be up for the live broadcast of this morning's qualifying session, a small gaze outside the window indicated that it was also snowing in late April which is odd. Yet it was a rather feeble sort of snow, almost just the idea of frozen precipitation as I sat in this darkened corner, powered up this machine and opened the BBC feed from the internet. Something that just wouldn't work out with all this sky nonsense as I'd have to potter over to another house a considerable distance from here in the middle of the night - instead I had tea, a toaster and get to stay indoors. That said for the main game tomorrow morning the blog is headed for it's third outside broadcast in succession which is always a good thing - and gives this underpowered and overworked machine a break for a change.
Despite the early start I still was roughly conscious enough to absorb the events that were unfolding across in China and it certainly was an interesting session, and probably the closest session in terms of time for a very long time. Throwing up a very interesting final grid for the race in the early hours, with a completely new name starting at the very front of the grid tomorrow alongside the a fellow silver painted machine. The degree of closeness that engulfed some of the session saw some names shuffled out of position and made for an enthralling grid in prospect. Including a second row which can be renamed with accuracy as the zone of awesome!
So lets look back all those hours ago, before a painting session at the stage which pretty much demonstrated I really should not be allowed anywhere near paint because it never ends well, decorating devices which may end up being superfluous anyway. That aside, back to the plot as it were.
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| Out front - image from F1Fanatic.co.uk |
Qualifying
The screen opened up to a very murky and misty Shanghai, although it is not entirely sure if the smog was coating my sleep deprived mind at the very early hours, shades of the Canadian Pre-race post were streaming back. However in that case the post and the coverage was processed in the really small hours of the morning during the Le Mans race after missing qualifying due to back-stage commitments elsewhere. Yet as fatigue wore off the dull Chinese sky didn't brighten in accordance and remained that way for the entire of the session.
After a few minutes in to the first session the first cars to find their way onto the circuit were Heikki Kovalainen and Paul Di Resta followed by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. The Brazilian took the top of the time sheet only to be quickly defeated by the second Force India piloted by Hulkenburg, then by Senna and Grosjean as the times spiralled. McLaren surfaced once more as the superior force on the grid claiming the top two spots, before being split by Kobayashi and Vettel. As the session developed it became apparent that it was essential for most cars to move onto the softer tyres to avoid being the driver dumped out with the six drivers from the three newer teams.
Once more it was Felipe who was the first to make the switch to the option tyres, feeling the pressure from the cars in the vicinity again while lingering in a dangerous 16th place. This set off a cascade of runners switching to the faster set of wheels and the times started to fluctuate, positions changing all over the place. In the frenzy Maldonado under the pseudonym Marcel Tija blocked Kovalainen pretenting to be Rodolfo Avila as the number resolution was still linked to the Porsche race drivers who were on the track before hand. Down in relegation Jean-Eric Vergne failed to make any improvements to escape the zone and was destined to be sitting the morning out. The times finally settled with One-Stop Perez on top ahead of his friend from Malaysia Fernando Alonso.
Onto Q2, and as the lights turned green to start the session a grand total of nothing happened, no-one seemed to want to do any running, and it wasn't until two minutes had passed before the first car left the pit lane. It fell to Kamui Kobayashi to break the silence with the sound of the Ferrari engine in the Sauber, but it was Mercedes who locked out the top of the timing with Rosberg heading Schumacher, using the magic DRS gizmo they have in the rear wing endplate to good effect. Hamilton was their closest competitor a tenth behind along with Raikkonen and Kobayashi on the same time, the entire top ten was separated by 0.9s making the fight to avoid relegation immensely close.
As the timer went out to bring the session to a close, the positions were far from decided. Webber went from being 10th - mere hundredths away from relegation to taking Q2 pole by quarter of a tenth, this knocked Massa out of the session and put Button on the edge. Jenson responded and moved the McLaren clear, moving Vettel into tenth place - and the gap separating pole from relegation was only three tenths and five tenths covered the top 15. A late lap from Grosjean put him into the top ten ejecting Vettel out, who on his final lap was 0.049s too slow to make it through only 0.331 off Webber's top time. Behind Sebastien and Felipe it was an all two-by-two formation in car speed order, with Williams, Force India and Torro Rosso having a row each.
We were left with only ten remaining drivers and ten minutes to decide who was going to sit on pole for the Chinese GP. It was Kimi Raikkonen who opened the scoring in Q3, setting a average but sensible time followed on track by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. However Nico decided he wasn't going to have an average lap, he didn't even settle for mildly competitive lap, instead opting to completely annihilate the field with an unassailable laptime. Follwing which he got out of the car and chilled for the rest of the session, the lap did generate one of the most hilarious peices of team radio this season - when Michael radioed in to ask what his team-mate had achieved. Upon receiving the information Schumacher responded with "oh Sh..... ok" remembering it might end up on international television.
The battle was only now for second - a massive five tenths away from Nico's time, which was secured by Hamilton fractions ahead of the second Mercedes of Oh Sch....umacher. As the circuit temperature dropped so did the laptimes, so none of the cars that went for an early run improved to any degree as the rest of the top ten completed their runs in the closing stages. Both Webber and One-Stop Perez filed in behind Raikkonen - as the pair were then beaten by Jenson Button while Alonso demonstrated that the Ferrari is by no means cured by lapping slower than all of them. Then there was the ultimate surprise of the session other than Nico's lap, when Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi put the car into 4th place which is a net 3rd after Hamilton's grid penalty. Our tenth driver, Romain Grosjean didn't bother with a time and therefore earns a penalty point for his lack of effort.
So there we ended up with a Mercedes lock out of the front row, with Kamui and Raikkonen forming the row of awesome behind them. Jenson and Webber complete row three, and Hamilton is dropped from second down to seventh alongside One-Stop Perez, as Alonso and Grosjean complete the top 10, just ahead of Vettel and Massa. Then it's team order all the way to the back as all 24 cars will make the grid, including HRT, ah Vettel will be pleased.
The Bonus Points Winners
From such a frantic session offering the points was not an easy task but here are the top 8 from qualifying for the Chinese GP.
10pts - Nico Rosberg - Immense lap, finding half a second on the entire field when the same gap separated 15 cars in the second session.
8pts - Kamui Kobayashi - A fourth fastest time a tenth off the top non-Rosberg lap echoing the perforamance of Sergio in Sepang
6pts - Michael Sch...umacher - Best radio communication since the magic paddle last year and the old bloke's on the front row.
5pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Extracting the pace out of the Lotus car being competitive with the fastest cars
4pts - One-Stop Perez - For placing above Alonso on Q1, retribution for Sepang
3pts - Pedro De La Rosa - For getting a car which failed to qualify two races ago and barely made Malaysia within a second of the car in front
2pts - Mercedes - For their first, but inevitable pole, since 1955 - that DRS thingy really works well
1pt - Duct Tape - For holding up the BBC commentary box, the ultimate force of the universe strikes again
The penalty points series
As a result of no action being taken against Maldonado despite being named as Marcel Tija on the information panel, there were no official driving penalties imposed, Hamilton's was a technical issue and not for once a result of him hitting anyone. But the season is young and plenty of time and chances to get on the board there. Anyway I digress, so that means we move swiftly on to the penalty points series and there is only the one point to offer this time and that does go to Lotus driver Romain Grosjean for not bothering to take part in Q3, the car is quick enough for net 4th so why stay inside. Shame on you.
Looking to Tomorrow
It isn't that often you look at a grid line up and you get all excited inside, either that or I've had a little too much sugar, combined with the lack of sleep.... yes lets go with that instead. But the starting positions do present the opportunity for a very exciting race, China last year signified the arrival of the new style of F1, and now a year later it could get really entertaining. Just to make things even more thrilling there is a small chance the race could be affected by some of that lovely rain that always converts the dullest of events into a spectacle, a la Hungary.
As for how are things to play out, well we may have a Mercedes lock out of the front row but it is a little unlikely that they will stay there, as they don't have advantage of the front wing stalling device throughout the lap. Meaning the cars behind will be looking to step forward, now because it's Kamui and Kimi behind, two very fierce drivers in quick cars anyone could emerge out front. Just behind them are the faster McLaren's and Red Bulls who can't be counted out either. It is possible that any of the top nine cars plus Vettel could win this, definitely well worth getting up for and prepping for the outside broadcast. I hear tell of Bagels, now bagels and a very promising motor-race, yes please. So until tomorrow this is farewell from Blog HQ.
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