Well if Canada was a shock to the system, one that we never saw coming this just blew all of that out of the water. We may have another Mercedes one-two at the front of the grid - but this time it isn't the factory team... The last time the all conquering silver cars were beaten it was as result mechanical difficulties surrounding the MGU-K gizmos, but this time it appeared that Mercedes shockingly didn't have the pace when using the softer compound tyres. Put them on the primes and they had over 8 tenths in hand over the rest of the field, it doesn't make too much sense, but it does make for plenty of intrigue tomorrow afternoon. A second comment lies in the lack of performance delivered by Red Bull - on their home track - I'd have thought that Helmut Marko and his associates would have made subtle changes to the design of the track to favour his team. The rest of us however are glad that the integrity of the A1 ring has been maintained.
There is one minor criticism, and one which has given the stewards and officials a lot of work just in qualifying alone. That being the ongoing saga over track limits, because of tarmac run-off areas. It is a problem that continually plagues any track that has been upgraded from it's more traditional past. Instead of fixing the problem by placing grass at the track boundary - we have the situation where drivers are having lap times cancelled. Just like double points, standing start restarts they are obsessed with trying to solve problems that don't even exist...
Qualifying
After the 11 year absence the track did look remarkably familiar as qualifying began today, all the corners in the right places, and all elevation changes and remarkable scenery were as they were all those years ago. Of course some of the gravel had been needlessly replaced resulting in the situation we find ourselves in in turn eight. The home B-team Toro Rosso set the early pace with Daniil leading Jean-Eric, but it wasn't long before it was Mercedes power that dominated the timesheets. Neither Williams nor Mercedes themselves needed to bother using the faster tyres to secure qualification into Q2.
With the complete grid of cars competing it started to get rather complicated, because so many drivers had their times deleted due to running wide in turn 8. This in itself isn't a problem but the on-screen graphics refused to update so they were completely non-representative of what was actually going on. In the end we came close to losing Vettel in the first part of qualifying, as the Red Bull car dropped down the field when several teams swapped onto the softer compound. In the relegation zone it was a battle between Lotus and Sauber as to who was going to join Caterham and Marussia. In the end that honour fell to Sauber after Sutil had his strongest lap deleted handing the final qualification spot to Maldonado.
Q2
The second part of qualifying was far more interesting as the softer tyres came into play. This time it was Mercedes power leading right from the off in the back of Hulkenberg's Force India. It appeared that these softer tyres were not working quite so well, as there was a lot of sideways action in the final sector - especially when tucked up behind a car in front. Fernando Alonso did what so many have done in practice and ran wide on out of the final turn and bounced down the grass... Why can't we have astro-turf just behind the curb and then grass everywhere else, as it forces drivers to keep things on track and punishes mistakes.
Red Bull were in strife trying to make it into the top ten, once again Vettel being the slower of the two cars - there was no home town advantage for the outgoing champions. To add insult to injury Kvyat, in the B-team car was beating the pair of them... I assume Helmut will be down to Toro Rosso to make sure it didn't happen again. Another interesting intra-team battle was forming at McLaren where Magnussen was miles ahead of Button in terms of time. Kevin had the benefit of being able to run in FP3 and competing at the circuit in FR3.5 last season, this meant that Jenson was out and Magnussen was through. In the day of the younger team-mates we also say Kvyat, and Ricciardo making it into Q3 while Vettel and Vergne didn't quite make it...
We did however a small hint of things to come when the session ended with Massa and Bottas considerably closer to the times set by Hamilton and Rosberg.
Q3
It was suggested that Mercedes were merely conserving their softer-tyres for the race which allowed Williams to get so close in Q2, and by the time the final runs came round, the dominance would return. The first run seemed to disagree with that theory... Rosberg could only manage second place behind Valtteri Bottas for Williams. Hamilton looked set to restore order going fastest in the first two sectors, but when it came to turn 8 the Briton got sideways like so many have done and ran wide. Of course this meant despite the fact that he gained no advantage, the time was disallowed and Valtteri Bottas held onto provisional pole position.
Could Mercedes redeem themselves, and retain the 100% record of scoring pole positions in 2014. But in a an unfortunate reversal of the Monaco situation caused problems for the favourites. This time it was Hamilton with the leading on-track position, but as he hit the brakes for turn two the car looped around and span off. This compromised Rosberg's lap who was following his team-mate and was unable to set a better time. So did this mean Valtteri Bottas was going to take his first ever pole... well no. Because ahead of the Mercedes incident on track was Felipe Massa in the second Williams. The Brazilian sneaked the top spot out from under Valtteri's nose giving us our first Williams 1-2 in a very long time.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
With a change in form at the front of the field, and less-experienced team-mates coming out on top, there were plenty of chances for bonus points today.
- 10pts - Felipe Massa - Pole for Williams in the face of Mercedes dominance, and his first pole position after that accident in 2009
- 8pts - Valtteri Bottas - Making it a 1-2 for his team and Valtteri's highest qualifying result
- 6pts - Daniil Kvyat - A brilliant job for the Russian, more often than not beating the main Red Bull team on home turf too
- 5pts - Kevin Magnussen - Another rookie doing very well against one of the few people to race an F1 car in Austria before.
- 4pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Beating Helmut's golden boy in front of the Austrian on home turf
- 3pts - Fernando Alonso - Kept the Ferrari out of the wall when running wide in Q2, and was the fastest non-Mercedes powered qualifier
- 2pts - Sergio Perez - Not for qualifying but had two successive moments on the exit of the final corner, including a spectacular wheelie.
- 1pt - Pastor Maldonado - Not only managed to make it into Q2 but managed to out qualify Grosjean in the process.
The Penalty Points Championship
It has been a while since there has been a need for these penalty points to be introduced - and if I considered giving football people these points the list would be infinitely long. But today the farce created by the omission of grass at the penultimate corner is a blatant clue that something needs to be done. Yet instead of fixing the obvious the FIA brought extra skid blocks to be affixed to the cars to create artificial sparks... to make it look nice. Only to be followed up by the idea of standing starts after a safety car. This on the back of testing done with megaphones attached to the exhausts to 'improve' the sound. It can only be described as utter lunacy and therefore the FIA themselves take two penalty points. One for not fixing glaring errors, and the second for this growing list of stupid ideas. Even the Indycar series, a championship based on entertainment, stopped double file restarts due to the number of accidents it caused.
Looking to Tomorrow
I think the return of the Austrian GP could be the first time we see Mercedes challenged for actual raw pace at the front without the need for them to be hobbled by mechanical dramas. We'll see if Williams can hold off Rosberg for their first win since 2012, and whether Hamilton can claw his way back through the field from 9th on the grid after not completing a lap. We also have Button and Vettel out of position in cars that are obviously much faster. I think it could be very close tomorrow because Ferrari, Red bull, McLaren and I assume Force India through strategy will all be fighting over the points positions with Toro Rosso looking to spoil the party.
It is a track where passing is possible, but the aerodynamic wake can be problematic in the final sector in the slightly faster corners. In the end there is a chance it could be a little static but here's hoping for something a little more dramatic... bring it on.
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