Round 7 - Canada 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

Today's qualifying has left us with a rather interesting grid form tomorrow, while it may be business as usual at the very front of the field, there some very quick cars very out of position. Then there is Mad Max Verstappen who, after an engine change, in conjunction with is penalty for that incident with Grosjean last race meant he ended up with a 15 place grid-drop. Because it was to be unlikely that Verstappen would be able to actually take all of those place drops - the remaining places would be converted into a pit-stop time penalty. I think they should convert the remaining places into distance, for example if Max could only drop 5 places before being in last place - the remaining 10 places should result in being 80m behind the Manor (since grid slots are 8 metres apart). But I don't make the rules.

Before the session begun there were some concerns about who was going to be able to compete in qualifying given the events of FP3 earlier in the day. First there was Felipe 'Fred' Nasr who was involved in somewhat of an embarrassing incident in the final practice session. The Brazilian was attempting to weave on the back straight to warm his cold tyres... with the DRS open. Obviously this was a terrible idea and as a result he lost control of the Sauber and firmly stuffed it in the concrete wall. A substantial amount of damage was done, which meant the team had a lot of work to do in order to get the car ready for Q1. The other issue was Darth Button who encountered another mechanical difficulty with his McLaren. Emperor Dennis remained unamused, he remained unamused as Jenson's car couldn't be repaired and would miss qualifying.

Q1

The first part of qualifying started with only 18 cars running, Jenson Button wasn't going to make it out at all and final repairs were being made to Nasr's Sauber. That number dropped even further when Vettel complained of a loss of power from his upgraded Ferrari engine - and immediately returned to the pits after one outlap. Felipe Massa was also experiencing a power loss issue, but the Williams problem was a lot more mysterious - in all of the post session discussions with Massa and Smedley they couldn't identify which part of the power unit had gone wrong. Ferrari on the other hand remarked that it was Vettel's MGU-K that had failed. Both cars could still compete, but were disadvantaged. 

As for the cars who actually took to the track, it was unsurprisingly the Mercedes team who were making a mockery of the opposition in the early stages. Rosberg was the faster of the two - but only by 0.002s - and we have come to expect that sort of thing. As usual things are generally more interesting wherever the Mercedes cars aren't at - and today it was Lotus who were making surprise appearances at the sharper end of the timesheets - Grosjean and Maldonado getting the most out their cars, and taking over the role of leading Mercedes customer team from Williams. Pastor was so excited about setting a time quicker than Raikkonen for 3rd place, he forgot about turn one and span his car. A team of marshals were able to push the Lotus off the grass and back into the action. 

With a few minutes remaining on the clock, Sauber released Nasr's repaired car and Ferrari had another go at trying to limp Vettel's car out of Q1. Fred's return to the track meant that the results of the first part of qualifying was settled because Stevens and Merhi don't have a quick car, Jenson wasn't starting and Massa and Vettel were nursing slow cars. That accounted for all five relegation places. While we were watching Vettel's futile attempts at compensating for loss of battery power, Romain Grosjean bolted on a set of super-soft tyres and ended the session with the fastest time.

Q2

After Q1 turned into a bit of a formality, this second phase looked to be more exciting, and it was Grosjean and Lotus who seemed to be leading the challenge against Mercedes. Romain's opening lap only a couple of tenths off the fastest lap of the weekend - but with track evolution that benchmark was going to

move. Cue a response from Mercedes and Hamilton delivered with a time over a second faster than Romain's effort... It could be said that the sheer advantage of having a Mercedes engine was evident, because even Force India who have been notably behind in the development race were inside the top ten. Hulkenberg especially was on pace with the two Lotus cars. Only Massa due to his technical difficulties and elimination in Q1 was the only Mercedes powered car outside the top ten. Sergio Perez came close to eliminating himself from proceedings on a late run as the Mexican got very friendly with the wall on the exit of turn four. After the session Force India reported that Sergio had in fact made contact but didn't sustain any damage.

It was evident that although Ferrari have made steps on the engine, it wasn't a strong enough power plant to elevate their customer teams. Sauber were not able to extract the same gains that Mercedes customers were experiencing. The high power nature of the track was also making life difficult for anything with a Renault or Honda engine. Only the main Red Bull team were able to get something out of the engine - but in relative terms that was only because the other teams were having a worse time. Sauber, Toro Rosso and the remaining McLaren were anchored in relegation. Carlos Sainz briefly made it into the top ten, at the expense of Red Bull's Daniil Kyvat - but the Russian redressed the situation by promoting himself into 7th place and eliminating the Toro Rosso. None of the others were able to improve and the top ten was set.

Q3

At the front of the field it had been incredibly close between the two Mercedes drivers - Rosberg headed the pair in Q1 but Hamilton claimed the lead in Q2.

So it was all to play for in the final session - it was also reasonably close in the battle for third place between the two Finns, and the Lotus drivers. It was Raikkonen who set the early pace, but with a time that was half a second slower than what Hamilton achieved in Q2. Mercedes on the other hand were biding their time - opting for two warm-up laps while Ferrari were only taking one. The system was working when Hamilton laid down a significant opening marker eight tenths quicker than Raikkonen. Rosberg tried to get on terms with his team-mate but fell several tenths short - which was followed up by an odd radio message from the team. Nico was informed that his tyres were less uniform than his other sets... whatever that means...

Time for the second runs and it was Lotus making things a little interesting as they attempted to recreate the good ol' days of Renault Squadron by sending both cars side by side down the pit lane. On the exit of turn two Grosjean allowed Maldonado to build a gap - despite the formation flying antics it did ever so slightly compromise their preparations for the final effort. The ultimate battle for pole position turned into a bit of an anti-climax because neither Hamilton or Rosberg improved on their first lap-times, thus barring a miracle from Raikkonen or Bottas pole was confirmed. Kimi and Valtteri locked out an all Finnish second row, while Lotus Squadron claimed row three with the new Squadron Leader Grosjean ahead of Pastor Maldonado: Road Warrior. Nico Hulkenberg made it six Mercedes powered cars in the top seven ahead of the two Red Bulls and Perez rounding out the top ten.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

With so many of the more experienced drivers eliminated early on and Mercedes engines proving to be a dominant force - there was plenty of opportunity for bonus points to be won:

• 10pts - Romain Grosjean - Lead the Lotus Squadron revival and finished Q1 with the fastest time, something they haven't done in a long time
• 8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - The Force India is notably under-developed car and Nico was up there with the Lotus drivers
• 6pts - Pastor Maldonado - Gets points for his contribution to the strong weekend... thus far... for the Lotus team.
• 5pts - Kimi Raikkonen - His best qualifying of the season, holding off Bottas in an all Finland second row
• 4pts - Sauber - After Fred demolished the car two thirds of the way through final practice the team did well to put it back together again.
• 3pts - Roberto Merhi - After being comprehensively beaten by Stevens most of the season, Merhi out-qualifies Will for the second race in a row
• 2pts - Sergio Perez - Got closest to the wall in qualifying, brushing the concrete on the exit of turn four in Q2
• 1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Got pole position, so I suppose there should be a point for that.

• -1pt - Felipe 'Fred' Nasr - Weaving with the DRS open... that was daft 
• -1pt - The Stewards - Although a 15 place penalty for Mad Max seems mental, the idea of adding on a pit-stop penalty is confusing. Why can't we go with my plan of starting the Toro Rosso 80 metres behind Button. As Max qualified 15th - and can only drop 5 places, so adding the effective distance for the remaining places. 

Looking Forward to Tomorrow

Well, things are set up wonderfully, there is a chance for a battle at the very front of the field - although we made that claim so many times last season and it only materialised in Bahrain... There is also plenty of interest at the opposite end of the grid - two very quick cars are outside the top 15 - Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel have a lot of cars in front of them following their technical difficulties in Q1. So it will be very interesting to see them carving their way back through the field, more so for Vettel - who was handed a five place penalty for overtaking a Manor under red flags in FP3. The red flags were to cover the recovery of Jenson Button's McLaren. Also at the back of the field will be Mad Max Verstappen who as Monaco proved, is not afraid to make a pass or two oblivious of the consequences. 

If that wasn't enough there is an almighty battle brewing for the final podium place between the two Finns - just ahead of the Lotus cars. Set all of this on a tight circuit bounded by concrete walls and no room for error and everything is set up for a highly anticipated race.