Round 16 - USA 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

The weather in Texas has not been particularly cooperative, rain and lightning has raged in Austin over the past couple of days - FP2 and the first attempt at qualifying were washed out. Which is why, on a Sunday I'm compiling a post about qualifying, after it was postponed due to the inclement weather. Personally I would have sent them out anyway yesterday, and whoever managed to complete a lap without bouncing off the barriers would automatically claim pole. Yet some of the shots of the circuit did look as if the track had been completely inundated with water so, I suppose in the end it was the right call to abandon qualifying - the only difficulty with the decision was that it took so long to accept that the rain wasn't going away and it was only going to get worse.

Which brings us today, where we had a second go at qualifying, and managed to complete two thirds of the session before the rain came back and washed out Q3. I suppose it is easy to look at things from the sofa, and say that the session was curtailed a little too early, and if they really tried - Q3 could have happened. But it always looks more drivable on TV than it probably was in reality - comments online from people at the circuit were saying that the rain was severe, with waterfalls forming in the grandstands. So on reflection, it might have been the right decision to give it up. After all because the qualifying session was relocated to Sunday - if cars ended up in the wall - we might lose cars from the race as they wouldn't be fixed in time for the race.

Q1

The radar was less than optimistic with plenty of rain in the area and heading towards the circuit so the drivers flooded out onto the track hoping to get a lap in before the heavens opened. The circuit was still very wet from showers throughout the day, but a slight break in the rain triggered a flurry of on track activity. For a while it was questionable whether or not this was a qualifying session or a drifting challenge because there were cars getting sideways everywhere. Those painted lines and curbs were taking no prisoners, and a river forming across the track at turn ten was catching everyone out. I recommend more wet qualifying sessions because seeing cars powersliding through the puddles is amazing. The drivers themselves probably didn't see the fun in it all - especially not Carlos Sainz who took a little too much curb at the start of the slalom section and fired the Toro Rosso into the barrier. Hitting thr wall at the one of the few places that run-off is quite limited. Less than 8 minutes into the session and the red flags were out to recover the car and straighten the wall.  No sign of the duct tape the Russians used to repair the same barrier type, but perhaps the tape wasn't quite waterproof enough,

At this stage in the session the usual suspects were at the front Mercedes locking out the top two places ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari... Williams still hoping it would dry out before they could mount a challenge. But the early red flag period lead to some strange timing anomalies towards the end of the field. Several drivers recorded 14 minute lap times, as their laps weren't completed before the red flag and thus they only crossed the timing line once they left the pits to restart the session. The weather was remaining stagnant, but was certainly not drying out when activity got underway.

But with no cars on track, there was not enough activity to stop the river at turn 10 from getting worse. This lead to a plethora of spins from new and experienced drivers alike. Hamilton completing a full 360 degree spin while both Ferrari drivers completed half spins at the same corner. Vettel even bounced off the wall as he was caught out by the standing water. Elsewhere Ericsson completed drift of the session in the final sector powersliding through the long triple apexed corner at the end of the lap. Only Maldonado could boast a longer slide - but he managed that in FP3. 

With more rain forecast for the rest of qualifying, there was a realisation that the positions in Q1 could form the grid, so the intensity ramped up. Ricciardo took provisional pole, dancing the Red Bull on the very edge of control - and as the session drew to a close Rosberg stayed out on track even though he'd safely made it into Q2. A plan that worked out as he pipped Hamilton with his final lap to line up second. Further back there were concerned faces at Ferrari, as Vettel was slipping towards relegation with each completed lap. His car was still in the garage after his brief visit to the wall in the infamous turn 10, but he sneaked through in the final promotion place as Ericsson failed to relegate the German.

Q2

The rainfall that we'd been predicted held off for a little longer, therefore Q2 was still going to start at least. But the weather radar was starting to light up with incoming bands of heavy rain. So once more everyone queued up at the end of the pit lane hoping to set a good time before the weather took over, in places a faint sight of a drying line was starting to form... but it wouldn't last. The geniuses at race control decided to post a message to the teams that no intermediate tyres were to be used...so in a session on the brink of being cancelled for too much rainfall, it seems like a rather odd statement for the stewards to make. No-one was going to try intermediates, if they did the next thing they'd be trying is hospital food after visiting the barrier without any hope of slowing down.

Initially it was Red Bull taking advantage of their high downforce configuration to set the early pace - Ricciardo leading Kvyat, both drivers pushing the limits of adhesion in the difficult conditions. It may have seemed as it they were on the edge of the ultimate pace as more cars started sliding in corners they weren't having struggles in Q1. But again Mercedes found more pace, both Hamilton and Rosberg stripped the front row of the Red Bull occupation inserting themselves as the new team in charge. However the balance of power within the Mercedes team was slightly different - Rosberg leading champion elect Hamilton.

Further back in the relegation zone, the positions were changing lap after lap, because the conditions were so changeable, puddles would shift in the wind and the rain remained unrelenting. For a brief time Alonso put McLaren into Q3, only to be dropped back by Verstappen - Bottas tried to get into the top ten but seemed to be struggling for pace, once more Williams having difficulties in the wet. But those positions seemed cemented as the rain intensified with a few minutes remaining, no-one was able to improve on their current times and returned to the garage

Q3

The final part of qualifying only really featured Mercedes, which is all too often the case this season, however it was a slightly larger and heaver Mercedes that was getting the laps in. The safety car went out for a track inspection, accompanied by jet driers to get rid of some of the surface water. But the rain proved to severe to complete the session, and thus Q3 never happened and the grid was declared on the results from Q2. Leaving Rosberg on pole, Hamilton second and Ricciardo third.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Even though we only had two thirds of the scheduled qualifying session before the rain ruined the rest of it there were so many strong performances worthy of bonus points. The number of slides, saves and spins was quite high and almost everyone deserves some kind of recognition for the brilliant driving in the difficult conditions. Maldonado didn't even hit anyone or anything in the rain. But not everyone can score points, and due to the shorter session 66% points will be awarded today

• 6.66pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Delivered an epic save en-route to setting the fastest time in Q1 and finished third on the final grid.
• 5.33pts - Nico Rosberg - Out-qualifying a driver who grew up and raced in the wet british weather on a very wet track deserves some points
• 4pts - Sergio Perez- Firth place in the Force India, continuing a run of good form 
• 3.33pts - Nico Hulkenberg - An all Force India third row as Ferrari and Williams fall back for various reasons.
• 2.66pts - Fernando Alonso - Almost got the McLaren into the top ten demonstrating that the chassis might not be all that bad after all
• 2pt - Marcus Ericsson - Gets the top slide award for his extended drift in Q1 across the run-off in the final sector
• 1.33pts - Alex Rossi - Out-qualifies Stevens in difficult conditions, and pulled off a brilliant save through the tricky turn 11.
• 0.66pts - Rain - Would have been more points for the weather, but I can't lie that those two sessions were more entertaining than three dull, dry qualifying phases.

Looking ahead to tomorrow just over an hour from now

We are completely at the mercy of the weather, as more remnants from the powerful Hurricane Patricia lash down in Austin. The current theory is that the race, if it takes place, will start under-safety car until enough water is cleared to start the race. But all this continued running on the wet tyres should set a precident to get the race underway reasonably quickly, as it has been proven that the wet tyres can handle the conditions. However in a race scenario the problem is visibility, with all 20 cars sharing the same section of road, the level of spray and water causes a significant visibility problem. In the early parts of Q1 it was difficult at times to see some of the cars through the wall of spray in the air. I think that this will be the main limiting factor to getting any racing underway, I hope that it does go ahead, and go ahead under full green racing conditions. But at this stage it is difficult to say what the decision will be. 

The weather radar says that rain will remain in the area until after the scheduled start time, so this could be a long evening of delays, red flags and laps under the safety car...