Well on the basis of practice times, we all thought the impossible may take place under the artificial lights of the Yas Marina circuit. But as time elapsed and the final flag fell at the end of Q3, we all have a grid which looks oddly familiar at the very front. And the track descended into darkness it always give the illusion that it is far better than it is, simply because visually it is immense, a representation of the severe amount wealth present in this region and the huge excesses it can produce. It is strange that we arrive at this citadel of indulgence with a sport which is undergoing severe financial problems of it's own - the requirement for drivers to bring their own support instead of abilities is spreading infectiously through the field. At the moment Lotus are bearing the brunt of the current media coverage into their struggles, mainly surrounding the relationship between Raikkonen and the team. As it appears he hasn't been paid all season, but given the hundreds of millions the Finn should already have then should he really care... After all he gets to drive a really fast car and I'm sure sponsor events and appearances help keep him afloat. But there are other consequences to Lotus' troubles regarding their future line-up. Because whether a new influx of funds arrives determines if Lotus can buy speed with Hulkenberg, or sell his seat to Maldonado and his bucket of money from Venezuela.
It does make you wonder, if the team fighting for second in the championship can't afford to have a very strong pairing then what hope is there for anyone else, Sauber have already thrown their hat in with the Russians to secure funding. This came with the the caveat of bringing Sergey Sirotkin on board, but what does this mean for those teams at the very back of the field, the likes of Caterham and Marussia - how are they supposed to cope... This is another clear sign that things need to change but because those at the front are so powerful and so greedy there is no hope in hell of this curse ending anytime soon. But for now it is time to refocus on the race weekend at hand.
Qualifying
The session started in the final hours of daylight, kicking of what's left of the season now that all the championships are all wrapped up and done with following events in India. Unlike many Q1 sessions this season, almost the entire field had taken to the track inside the first six minutes - leaving Fernando, and the Red Bull drivers waiting in the pits. Of those who had decided to take part thus far it was the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne that held an early lead, but of course the Toro Rosso is far from a top line car and it soon ceded that position because Mercedes were on form again. Rosberg held an 0.006s lead over Hamilton who needed to pit for a change of helmet. Eventually Alonso took to the track, but his Ferrari looked as unstable as Massa's this was not going to be a strong session, Fernando was almost three quarters of a second off the pace. Although that was good enough for 3rd, for a little while.
Finally Red Bull realised that they do have to qualify and set out on the softer compounds... and immediately created a front row lockout... we've been here before... To demonstrate how difficult things were for Ferrari this weekend, Massa was in the relegation zone behind Van Der Garde, and Alonso was only a few places further ahead as the pace available on the track dramatically improved. This saw a rapid series of position changes throughout the field. Sauber, Toro Rosso and McLaren climbing up the order - and of course Ferrari escaped relegation. This dumped Sutil and Gutierrez out - fairly embarrassing for the pair whose team-mates were setting times close to the top ten.
Q2 now and it was the Germans that left the garage first - Hulkenberg and Rosberg, with Vettel not too far behind. It was the Mercedes who took the early lead from Hulkenberg to deliver a Nico 1-2. A partnership which Raikkonen decided to interrupt - his car must be much lighter since there is no money in it at the moment - going second. Hamilton then went fastest as he did in Q1, but only 0.004s - a very finely balanced partnership at Mercedes. One wonders how long that will last once this business with Brawn finally comes to some form of a decision. But the session itself went into a phase of inactivity while tyres were changed and plans were formulated for the second phase.
What came next was another ramp in track evolution, as it seemed every lap placed a different driver into the top ten, Toro Rossos, Force Indias and McLarens all taking a share in holding one of the few places in the all important final phase of qualifying. Within this relegation zone was a certain Fernando Alonso, in a Ferrari which was refusing to co-operate, Massa in the other Ferrari was not doing much better only just making it into 10th place dropping Vergne out in the process. If Ferrari were having struggles then Button was in a world of pain, after spending the majority of the session in 16th place Jenson recovered to 13th. This pushed Alonso to 16th as Ricciardo and Hulkenberg also broke into the top 10. After a lock up on his fresh set of tyres Alonso didn't have the grip on a subsequent lap to make it through, and was only good enough for 11th - behind Massa again.
For the first time in Q3 that i've seen in a while, there was a queue forming at the bottom of the pit lane before the underground exit tunnel. On the basis of the first two parts of qualifying it seemed like Mercedes could stop this run of Red Bull domination, and it seemed they had delivered on their first runs. Nico lead Hamilton while Vettel was completing his lap... and as the German Bloke crossed the line, normal service resumed and there was a Red Bull out front. Raikkonen and Webber rounded out the early top five places. In a session where the battle for the lead had been measured in thousandths, having third of a second over the Mercedes pair seemed like an unassailable advantage as the cars prepared for the second runs.
Rosberg was first up, but he couldn't beat Vettel, then there was Webber setting fastest first and middle sectors - only one sector to go Mark's least favourite part of the track - but he conquered the series of repetitive corners to drop into the 1:39's and take pole. Vettel tried to recover the deficit on his final attempt but wasn't able to beat his team-mate to which the German was visibly displeased at only achieving second place. The only remaining challenge to a Red Bull 1-2 was Hamilton in the only Mercedes still on a lap - but as he turned into that final sector the car got loose and span out, refusing to restart. Raikkonen remained 5th (until he was excluded for a technical infringement), Hulkenberg qualified the Sauber in 6th, and Grosjean in 7th. Massa beats Alonso to take 8th ahead of Perez and Ricciardo.
The Bonus Points Championship points winners:
Today's qualifying was markedly better than India and has provided us with a rather interesting grid, with cars out of position setting up what might be another entertaining race at the Yas Marina circuit.
- 10pts - Mark Webber - Beating Vettel on one of the German Bloke's genre of tracks right after he took a win in India.
- 8pts - Sergio Perez - A country mile ahead of Button in Q2 and making it through into Q3
- 6pts - Nico Hulkenberg/Paul Di Resta - Sitting up near the top ten while Gutierrez and Sutil went out in Q1
- 5pts - Daniel Ricciardo - A really strong lap to make it into the final part of qualifying
- 4pts - Nico Rosberg - The closest challenger to another session of Red Bull dominance
- 3pts - Giedo Van Der Garde - Was sitting in a qualification position for a while in Q1 and won the bottom division battle again.
- 2pts - Daniil Kvyat - Not long after being announced as Toro Rosso no2 Daniil takes the GP3 championship with a race to spare after dominating race one.
- 1pt - Felipe Massa - Another session qualifying in front of Alonso
The Penalty Points Championship
Well, the actual qualifying session went to plan and there was no nefarious goings on, but the attention turns to the GP3 series that followed qualifying where the plague of cars driving into each other in a straight line strikes again. Carlos Sainz Jr, and Patrik Neiderhauser tried to take each other out. Sainz Jr has thus been excluded but deserves a penalty point as well...
Looking to Tomorrow
While the Indian GP took place on a more drivable circuit it exuded all the anticipation of a public hanging and was just as lifeless - this is a poorer layout (even though it is dressed up in shiny lights and posh buildings) but seems to have much more potential. Some of that is the grid we have been left with - there is Alonso down in 10th place, Button in 12th and now Raikkonen has to start from last having been disqualified due to a problem with the amount of deflection in the floor of the car. Therefore we shall have cars on all kinds of different and opposing strategies meaning there will be phases when drivers will be out of position during the race, fighting cars with different speeds. Which is a recipe for madness, hopefully. Because all the titles are done now lets just have chaos.
No comments:
Post a Comment