Chinese Grand Prix: Qualifying

Into the third GP of the year already Red Bull are showing signs of dominance with still their KERS and DRS systems under development. The McLarens seem to be catching up well with Ferrari being left behind a little. But it is too early in the season to draw conclusions and with a very long season ahead anything can happen.

With the longest straight of all the circuits in Formula One of more than a kilometer, racing at the Shanghai International Circuit may prove a very tough task for the engines.

The Practice Sessions were dominated by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, while Webber’s car had a problem and the mechanics could not fix the car up in time. The McLarens were gritty and were close up behind Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel made it 3 in 3 poles this season at Shanghai in what was an exciting qualifying session.

The Qualification Session took place in overcast conditions and was dominated by Vettel from the start. He admitted doing a mistake in his Q2 lap but was still ahead of the pack and when it came to Q3 he totally dominated the session and clinched it without coming on to the track twice thus conserving his tyres for the race.

Vettel clocked a time of 1:33.706 in Q3 to clinch the top spot followed by the McLaren of Jenson Button with a time of 1:34.421. Hamilton will start third on the grid after he managed a time of 1:34.463 after making a slight mistake at the final corner. He also lapped once in Q3 as he had to conserve his tyres due to a shortage.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was fourth with a time of 1:34.670 who will be followed by the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Their times were 1:35.119 and 1:35.145 respectively. Ferrari tested their new aero package which increases the free flow of air. Only Alonso was given the new package and the Ferrari are yet to get the balance right with this new add on as Alonso was experiencing hydraulic problems.

The Torro Rossos were the surprise package on the grid with Jamie Alguersuari starting seventh and Buemi starting ninth. They clocked 1:36.158 and 1:36.203 respectively. While the eight fastest was Force India’s birthday boy Paul Di Resta who clocked 1:36.190 while he was struggling on Friday with fuel problems and wasted three sets of tyres in process.

Vitaly Petrov of Renault was lapping very well but his car came to a sudden stop after Q2 where he was the fourth fastest. This meant that he did not take part in Q3 and thus will start tenth on the grid. His car stopped with three minutes remaining in the session and thus the session had to be stopped. This meant that many cars for instance his team mate Nick Heidfeld was at disadvantage as he could not clock effectively using his softer tyres like few others because of the traffic including Sergio Perez,Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and Pastor Maldonado along with both the Ferrari and Force India cars.

Force India’s second driver Adrian Sutil took the 11th spot with a time of 1:35.874 after he also was affected by the Petrov incident. He was followed by the two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi who clocked 1:36.053 and 1:36.236 in Q2. Schumacher will start fourteenth in his Mercedes car after he could only manage 1:36.457. A non-functioning rear wing added to Schumacher’s woes as his team mate clocked the fourth fastest time.

The Williams qualified fifteenth and seventeenth with Barrichello being the best amongst both who clocked 1:36.465 while Maldonado clocked 1:36.956. They were split by the Renault of Nick Heidfeld who clocked 1:36.611.

Red Bull’s second driver Mark Webber who was struggling on Friday also struggled to make an impact in the Qualifying also and could not manage to break into the Q2. He will start eighteenth on the grid with a time of 1:36.468 in Q1. It was a combination of a struggling car which the mechanics could not fix properly and poor decision from the team which sent him on the harder tyres rather the softer ones. Red Bull thought that the harder ones will get the right temperature but that was not the case.

Mark Webber was followed by the two Lotus cars, two Virgins and the two HRT cars. Heikki Kovalainen will start nineteenth with a time of 1:37.894 while Jarno Trulli clocked 1:38.318. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Timo Glock, Vinantonio Liuzzi and Narain Kathikeyan complete the twenty four drivers’ grid in the respective order with them clocking 1:39.119, 1:39.708, 1:40.212 and 1:40.445 respectively.

With the 107 percent benchmark coming out to be 1m 41.941s, everyone got qualified for the race.

So will Vettel convert his 3^rd pole of the season into a 3^rd victory??