I know this post has been slightly delayed, so I apologise to the small number of valiant readers who pay attention to the crazed ramblings, but I was fulfilling my annual role of 'stage manager'. Which in reality is a fancy way of saying that I moved some chairs about and had dominion over a set of curtains - the event deservedly belonged to the cast. So this means that I recorded qualifying and I am presently watching it as I write this introductory paragraph - pushing the very boundaries of male multi-tasking.
But in the end it was the same story at the front of the grid, boasting yet another safe margin to the rest of the field. Surely on a track which is served Hamilton so well in the past, we'll see a less grumpy Briton with fewer complaints and unfriendliness. Of course that'd mean he'd have to take pole. Right...
Q1
The first session started without Gutierrez who planted his Sauber in the barrier half way through FP3, the impact while seemingly minimal punctured the chassis and wasn't going to be ready for qualifying. The track also seemed quite messy considering that Canada has a strong support race package, leaves, dust and general debris made for poor grip levels throughout the session. We saw Hamilton running straight across the first sequence of corners and Kimi Raikkonen powersliding through the exit of the final chicane coming very close to smashing into the wall of champions.
As the session approached the conclusion it seemed that the Mercedes power plant was definitely better suited to the track as the top six cars filled by Mercedes, Williams, McLaren drivers. Daniil Kvyat was the the best placed non-Mercedes runners in 8th place. Perez was the only Mercedes powered car not in the lead pack after spinning the car coming into turn 8. On the other hand Lotus were having even more difficulties as Maldonado had more mechanical dramas pulling off in turn three. Q1 was brought to an end when Marcus Eriksson span the Caterham into the wall on the exit of turn 9 with 18s left on the clock bringing out the red flag.
But there was one thing that we learned was that the lower mid-field are getting increasingly wary of Marussia as Chilton was only 0.107s away from knocking out Perez. If only anyone could get that close to the two factory Mercedes cars at the very front.
Q2
Even before the factory Mercedes cars took to the track it was still Mercedes engined teams locking out the provisional front row, this time it was Williams confirming they're in for a strong weekend. Not even the improved Ferrari could knock Massa and Bottas off the provisional top times. Alonso couldn't use up any more road as he brushed his rear tyre along the wall in turn three. When the factory team finally made it onto the track something interesting happened: neither Hamilton nor Rosberg couldn't complete a time faster than Felipe Massa's Williams. Probably the first time anyone has been able to hold any competition to the championship leading team.
After a slight lull in the action when the teams prepared for a second set of runs, Perez aimed to avoid being the only Mercedes car to be relegated from qualifying. Sergio's first lap wasn't strong enough, while Bottas made it two Williams' ahead of the factory Mercedes team, but in a session where only half of a second covered the top 12 cars positions shuffled on the very last lap. Hamilton and Rosberg restored the natural order of things by overtaking Williams at the very end of the session, Red bull powered out of relegation knocking Force India out in the process. But still, 50% of the cars through into the final session were Mercedes powered cars.
Q3
Despite Williams leading almost all of Q2, the whole world (probably) assumed it was still going to be another Mercedes 1-2 (and 3-4 as well perhaps). But 3rd on backwards remained exceptionally close and we were in for a titanic battle. You'd think given the intensity and importance of this final session someone would bother going out when the green light came on at the end of the pit lane... well apparently not... Three minutes later Bottas left the garage... alone.
When everyone else decided to take part, it was another crushing performance from Mercedes - but it was Rosberg who took top honours on the first run on a track which has traditionally favoured the Brit. So without any questionable yellow flag issues the German was still faster, in the Red Bull camp Ricciardo was continuing to defeat the odds by keeping ahead of Vettel - intra team battles everywhere.
Raikkonen joined the pack as the field regrouped for one final run for pole position. Just like in Monaco Rosberg was the leading Mercedes on track with Hamilton several seconds further down the road. Each sector was swapping the balance of power by thousandths of a second, but without any conspiracy theories or suspicion Nico Rosberg stole pole position away from Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel managed to sneak into 3rd place in group of four cars consisting of both Red Bull and Williams cars covered by only 0.04s - behind Mercedes it is exceptionally close.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
It is unusual to come to a race in which the front row was an inevitability and still be surprised at the final result, but the times and performances were impossibly close behind the top two. So here are the points winners from this evening.
- 10pts - Nico Rosberg - If anything can silence the complaints of cheating in Monaco, this should deal with it. Beating Hamilton on raw pace on a track the Briton has dominated at times.
- 8pts - Felipe Massa - Spent virtually all of Q2 ahead of the all conquering Mercedes team which in this day and age is miraculous
- 6pts - Sebastian Vettel - In a car which is very underpowered, and under increasing pressure from Ricciardo putting the Red Bull in 3rd place is impressive
- 5pts - Valtteri Bottas -Was only 0.002s away from equalling his astounding qualifying in the damp this time last season.
- 4pts - Kimi Raikkonen/Fernando Alonso - Both drivers coming so close to the walls without knocking wheels off in the process
- 3pts - Max Chilton - Yes Perez had a spin, but being 0.1s away from progressing into Q2 for Max is miraculous
- 2pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - Got the Toro Rosso into the top ten and then beating two world champions in Q3
- 1pt - Jenson Button - For being mildly amusing in the track walk with DC
Looking Forward to Tomorrow
It is set up wonderfully isn't it, to highly charged team-mates on the front row determined to beat each other, because it is an exclusive two horse race for the title between Hamilton and Rosberg. I haven't heard Lewis say that he is once again friends with Nico, but the press conference seemed slightly less cold and oppressive than normal. If that particular rivalry wasn't enough Williams and Red Bull are extremely close on pace, Williams have much better straight line speed but Red Bull have a downforce advantage. McLaren, Ferrari and Force India are in another closely fought battle at the other side of the points positions.
The threat of rain on Sunday has diminished since the start of the weekend, but in theory I don't think we'd need it to make for a brilliant race, bring it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment