Webber beats Vettel to pole as Red Bull dominate Spanish GP qualifying

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Mark Webber won the battle of the Red Bulls at Barcelona

Mark Webber claimed pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, beating team mate Sebastian Vettel by one tenth of a second at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Red Bull enjoyed a huge margin of superiority over their rivals with Lewis Hamilton three-quarters of a second behind the RB6 drivers.

Q1

The session began on a dry track with temperatures around 20 degrees – slightly warmer than final practice, but still quite cool for the Circuit de Catalunya at this time of year.

While the front-runners made their way through to Q2 with little difficulty, the midfield scrap to avoid the dreaded 18th was as fierce as ever.

Pedro de la Rosa jumped up from 18th to sixth with a fine late effort but that left Rubens Barrichello stuck in the bottom seven. He failed to improve with his last lap and on the radio after he complained about getting messages from the team during his best effort.

The six new cars occupied the bottom places as usual with the revised Lotuses comfortably clear of the Timo Glock’s revised Virgin and his team mate. But both VR-01s will lose five places due to a grid penalty.

Q2

Red Bull demonstrated their superiority by saving a set of soft tyres in the second session. They went out on the hard tyres for their first run – and their rivals using soft tyres couldn’t beat them.

When the RB6s put soft tyres on for their final runs the scale of their performance advantage was revealed – Webber’s Q2 time was half a second faster than Button’s McLaren, who took third behind Vettel.

A great lap by Kamui Kobayashi late in the session put him eighth, ahead of Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg. Force India, who’ve become accustomed to getting cars into Q3, saw both their drivers eliminated in Q2.

The Toro Rosso duo failed in their efforts to reach Q3. Sebastien Buemi beat his team mate to 15th place by just one hundredth of a second.

Q3

The battle for pole position was always going to be a Red Bull-only affair. But for once it was Webber, not Vettel, ho came out on top.

Vettel took the top spot with his final lap but Webber had one final lap in hand and he broke the 80-second barrier to claim pole position from his team mate.

The McLaren had consistently placed third and fourth but Fernando Alonso split the pair of them to take four on the grid for his home race.

But the stewards may take a dim view of an incident in the pit lane where he pulled into the fast lane in front of Nico Rosberg, who was forced to take avoiding action.

Michael Schumacher claimed sixth place and beat Rosberg in qualifying for the first time this year in the updated W01.

However it looks unlikely anyone is going to be able to catch the Red Bulls in tomorrow’s race.

Full qualifying times

Pos.#DriverCarQ1

Q2

Q3
16Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’21.4121’20.6551’19.995
25Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’21.6801’20.7721’20.101
32Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’21.7231’21.4151’20.829
48Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’21.9571’21.5491’20.937
51Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’21.9151’21.1681’20.991
63Michael SchumacherMercedes1’22.5281’21.5571’21.294
711Robert KubicaRenault1’22.4881’21.5991’21.353
84Nico RosbergMercedes1’22.4191’21.8671’21.408
97Felipe MassaFerrari1’22.5641’21.8411’21.585
1023Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’22.5771’21.7251’21.984
1114Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’22.6281’21.985
1222Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’22.2111’22.026
1310Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’22.8571’22.131
1412Vitaly PetrovRenault1’22.9761’22.139
1516Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’22.6991’22.191
1617Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’22.5931’22.207
1715Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’23.0841’22.854
189Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’23.125
1918Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’24.674
2019Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’24.748
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’25.475
2225Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’25.556
2320Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1’26.750
2421Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’27.122

2010 Spanish Grand Prix

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    185 comments on “Webber beats Vettel to pole as Red Bull dominate Spanish GP qualifying”

    1. 8th May today. Qualifying on Saturday, just like 28 years ago. Salut Gilles.

      1. Indeed, Rest in Peace Gilles !

    2. Marc Connell
      8th May 2010, 14:19

      another redbull pole start :) glad its webber this time

      Just hope the finish the way they started

      1. i hate red bull
        they are breaking the 55% downforce cut agreement
        and they have got an illegal car

        1. I didn’t realise there was an agreement. Just regulations to try and ensure that this happens. And the car can’t be illegal, it is checked by the FIA

          1. the teams agreed that
            i just dont like red bull thats why i said there car was illegal

            1. Your input is cherished.

            2. I don’t like Pedro De la Rosa. He is therefore illegal :-P

            3. I don’t like America’s political stance therefore it is illegal

        2. I think all cars probably are with all these updates. If it was illegal they’d be punished.

        3. The car’s not illegal and they haven’t broken any agreement. They’re just doing a better job.

        4. You have the words “illegal” and “blindingly-fast” confused.

          1. “An agreement”. Mclaren broke one with the F-duct and heard the new Mercedes did too. Never mind, if you were in the same position I’m sure you’d do everything to win.

            1. I think Massa is pulling our legs. A dig at the active suspension accusations I think.

        5. i hate red bull aswell as any team beating ferrari but every team is breaking the 55% reduction that they have predicted

          1. and get your own words dont use bbc pundits words ok? and dont miss judge what they say cause there is a lot of people here using other peoples words

            1. I hate Ferrari, so therefore their sponsor is sending subliminal messages… oh, wait, I think I have that mixed up somehow…

        6. Younger Hamilton
          8th May 2010, 20:56

          Look lets just face it,RedBull Have the Quickest car at the Moment and have a big advantage than the others, its even bigger than they did in the past 4 races,In Qualifying Mark’s Pole lap was 8 Tenths quicker than the next non red bull car(Which was Lewis in the McLaren) even Vettel’s best lap was nearly three quarters of a second quicker than Lewis’s best lap.Im a Big McLaren fan but i have to admit 3rd was the best we could do and that Red Bull are the Fastest guys out on Track.But tomorrow we’ll see no one has actually won from pole so far this season and Mark is very Unlucky at crucial times. but every driver who started on pole for the Spanish GP in the past decade has won from pole.For me Lewis or Seb to win the race

      2. if they did all finish the way they started, the champ would look like this-
        BUT-70
        HAM-64
        VET-63
        ALO-61
        ROS-54
        WEB-53

      3. im not australian but theres something about vettel that simply makes me mad

        1. The way he celebrates a race with his index fingers in the air…he’s not number one, yet!

          1. Why is the word illegal coming here??

            I think Webber did a great job in the car, it will be interesting to see how is defent the attack from Vettel & Hamilton.

    3. Congrats to Webber. He owned quali today.

    4. Qualifying is boring this year. You know it’s going to be a Red Bull on pole but the important thing is you never know who’s going to win the race.

      No one has won from pole and Red Bull seem to have a habit of losing races for themselves. It’s not over till the checkered flag…

      1. Unfortunately the pole sitter almost always wins in Spain and has done for I think the last nine years? Personally I think Vettel will probably jump Webber off the line but it’s tough to see past a Red Bull win.

        1. We’ve sad that in every race though :P I really don’t think its a forgone conclusion like everyone is saying.

        2. i have a bad feeling vettel will get alongside webber at turn 1 and neither will give in…

          1. I think this race will answer the truly interesting question about the difference in Redbulls quali an race pace. If Redbull pull away, this glut of exciting races might be over. If they don’t, well Redbull on poll isn’t all that bad a thing. If McLaren is slower in quali an faster in the race we could be in for a damn entertaining title fight.

            McLaren have possibly topped Ferrari with their updates but 6tenthso probably didn’t provide quite that much.

            1. Bigbadderboom
              8th May 2010, 21:57

              Great comment, exactly how I see it. I think the red bull is made for quali, but has real problems with race pace. I think that red bull has serious issues in race mode. I still think the McLarens will prove too strong across race distance, if not we may be in for a really boring rest of season.

            2. One thing is for sure, there ain’t anywhere near a eight tenths of a second turn around between Red Bull’s qualifying and race pace, or that of their rivals for that matter. It is just not physically possible.

              In clean air they’ll blitz the opposition, I would think.

    5. My pole prediction time was 0.006 off!

      1. Lots of people were 0.005 off

        1. Dude, .006 is pretty damn close. Enigma, why do you have to take the guy down right away? What was your guess Dr. Facts? Lots of people can break 80 on a golf course, but its a big deal for over 90% of the world. You should change your name from Enigma to Dark_cloud

          1. i think you got it wrong!
            if he said-
            ‘lol, alot of people were 0.005 off! ha’ you wouldn’t complain. i think he’s just suggesting alot of people put 01:25.000 as their prediction.

    6. I knew Red Bull would be untouchable. Good to see Lewis qualify properly at last.

      1. Same think he could have a good advantage into the first corner tomorrow with the F-duct.

        1. Is it much use off the start line? My impression was it only really comes into its own at or near top speed and while it’s a decent run to the first corner here I wouldn’t think it would make much difference.

          1. Think about it this way. The f-duct won’t do a damn thing at a standstill because there’s no air moving through the system. What you you will find is that as the car’s speed increases, so will the effect of the duct. It won’t spoil the wing at lower speeds as much, but it’ll still help.

        2. I really don’t think so

        3. I think it doesn’t really help. It gives them higher speed, but they set the wings so it’s more grip.

    7. Yawn, let’s see this track scrapped and Valencia Street Circuit installed as the Spanish Grand Prix.

      1. I think they should ditch the chicane before the last corner and remove Valencia from the calender altogether, that’s even worse than Barcelona.

      2. Not sure they would improve anything, Valencia does not really make great racing.

        1. They should race at Jerez

      3. Valencia’s rubbish too, and Jerez is far too tight and slow for F1. They should have the Spanish Grand Prix at Motorland Aragon.

        1. Catalunya would be fun if they reverted to the original, fast lay-out (quite easily done too). We wouldn’t necessarily see more passing though.

        2. Good point. I remember that track now. I’d be in support of that.

        3. If they really want two Iberian races, then they should have a new Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve Circuit in Portimao. They need to at least try both of these tracks; they can hardly be as bad as the current selection.

          1. Unfortunately GP2 have now dropped that race from their calendar :-(

        4. I did like Motorland Aragon layout that circuit will provide us with some good racing.

      4. ugh no Valencia is more boooooring then Katalunya. Valencia had 0 ovetakes last year and 4 the first year. Katalunya had 2 last year and 2 the year before 5 and 7 before that. If only one race be taken out my personal feeling is Valencia but I would like to see both go.

      5. Agreed. Let’s add a trap in Switzerland through the alps with ice tires and a jump!

    8. Its incredible.. almost 1 second away from everybody.. how can’t Ferrari and McLaren don’t see what to do to catch up?

      1. It’s amazing that despite all these much touted updates to rival cars Red Bull have in fact managed to increase their superiority over the pack since the last race.

        This is incredible work from that team!

        Now all they need is a proper strategist on the pitwall; they might have already rapped the championships had they had one to this stage.

      2. NO kidding. Last year 1 sec was often the time different from the first to last between the cars in Q2.
        The scary thing is that RedBull was even faster in FP2 then they where in any Quali session. On another thing I think it’s pretty funny that Schumacher in his upgraded car only managed to be 0.3sec ahead of Rosberg in the old car on a consistant basis. I think when he get the new car Rosberg might find himself once again a head of the weltmeister.

        1. Rosberg has the new car too

        2. Both have the updated car!

    9. well done Kobayashi!!! pure skill to get into q3 with the big boys. ALO and MSC starting on the dirty side of the grid tomorrow…

      1. Maybe we will see a repeat of the Alonso-Schumi-Button tangle we saw in Australia. All of them will want to get in front and be agressive about it.
        Just hope Kubica does not get hit by them, as i wonder how many laps will Kobayashi get to drive before the engine gives up.

      2. Anyone else really want a Burger King….

        1. Yeah, would go great with my Marlboro cigarette….

          1. big burger king meal with some cola to wash it down, then a nice big cigarette after. mmm…

            1. and a can of Red Bull. I think I’ll go set up an account at Santander while I’m out.

            2. We should have a whole boatload of alcohol as well. J. Walker, the bunch from Force india.
              Get drunk smoked to death high on cola and Red Bull and stuffed with burgers. Then call all our friends through the different mobile networks availabe.

            3. Yea Im with TommyB. All those activities involves a lot of hand movement – may want to get those thumbs insured

            4. and wash it down with a can of Force India

          2. and johny walker :P

            1. Has anyone seen my Alice cell phone?… oh, I left it on the Kingfisher flight to India. darn it.

    10. quite a standard result, glad alonso broke mclarens grip and 2nd row…id rather have webber win than vettel, but who knows maybe theyll take each other out. looks like it be a luxury having 3rd tomorrow for ferrari, but at home alonso is always better than usual.i personally dont have this track like some people say, but that last turn modification needs to be reversed.

    11. The HRT of Senna is only a couple of tenths faster than the GP2 cars. Is the Cosworth engine the problem, or did Dallara do a not so good job.

      I am getting to like Webber more and more, if he could seriously get a try at winning WDC away from Vettel that would be amazing.

      1. HRT already openly blamed Dallara for the awful chassis and they’ve ended their partnership. It’s definitely not the Cosworth engine that makes for that big a difference, just look at the Williams.

        1. Yes, and in which direction is Williams heading?

          LOL. Williams is the fastest Cosworth car and they ain’t exactly threatening to make it into Q3 every time.

          1. If Williams manage to beat a Renault, a Ferrari and a Mercedes Engine all in one dry qualifying session (like they did today) it’s very safe to say that at this point the amount of power the new teams get from their engine really is the least of their problems.

            1. Of course they are lacking downforce but I have my reservations about the Cosworth engines too.

            2. So far the Cosworth engine has been quick enough to be competitive and seemingly reliable… in spite coming in only this year and supplying more teams than any other engine developer.

              It’s hard to quantify performance since we have no clue on how good the williams is and top speed has more to do with downforce than power, but Cosworth seems to be doing a pretty good job actually.

            3. I heard Rubens is not happy with Cosworth’s efforts at the track.

      2. Klien has come out and said there’s at least half a second in the car just by setting it up properly after testing it in FP1. It’s a team of rookies on all sides, which isn’t going to help.

        1. So why didn’t he set it up properly then?

          1. He only had Free Practice One to look at it, there’s only so much he can do in 90 minutes on the Friday. To be honest, the sensible thing to do would be to put Klien in the race seat but I’m assuming (and I’ll stand to be corrected) both Senna and Chandhok are pay drivers who are keeping the team afloat with their own sponsorship.

          2. Maybe that is the reason Chandhok was considerably faster than Senna all weekend.

            There is more than 0.5 secs between them in qualifying.

        2. Klien also said that the HRT car is “not up to F1 standard.” I’ll take his word for it, after all if there’s anyone who knows about not being up to F1 standard….

        3. I’m sure I would say the same thing if I were Klein because I would want to make a play to be a driver instead of the backup to a bunch of young guys with a future in F1. Klein is just trying to get the drive. Besieds, .5 seconds isn’t going to help but eliminate 1 of the 10 times they get lapped. They need to find 3-4 seconds. I wonder how they can still be this far off the pace. I hope they change the standards before next season because the cars can’t be this far off the pace. Whats the point of them?

        4. probably why Chandhok’s car was ahead of Senna by same margin Bruno has had before for a change

    12. Ned Flanders
      8th May 2010, 14:30

      As Tommy says above, Quali has not been great this season.

      o 7 cars go out in Q1- we know who 6 of those will be

      o Of the 17 remaining cars, you know the Ferrari’s/ Red Bull’s/ McLaren’s/ Merc’s + Kubica, so that leaves only one spot

      o And of course in Q3 the Red Bull’s are ina league of their own

      My solution- split quali into 5 short parts. 5 cars go out in Q1 (so the quickest new car is rewarded), another 5 in Q2, Q3, and Q4, and then a one lap shootout for the top 4. Or something like that

      1. Umar Farooq Khawaja
        8th May 2010, 15:15

        The solution is not to complicate the qualification process even further, but to go back to basics, i.e., a flat 1 hour with no restrictions on teams as to how they want to use that hour. No restrictions on times, tyres, nothing.

        Just go out, run your car around as you see fit and after an hour we’ll see who’s fastest and what’s what.

        I detest this artificially structured qualifying.

        1. Hear hear, qualifying was so much much more exciting when you only had 4 laps to set a time within the hour.

          1. I think the qualifying format is good. No one complained last year. I just think teams need to catch Red Bull. I like the fact that the race is more exciting than qualifying now though.

            1. Agree, this is probably the best qualifying format we have had in the past 10 years. Next year it might be different, there won’t be so much difference in the backmarkers and red bull might not be so dominant.

          2. there could be long periods of no action though.

          3. Especially when it’s raining during qualifying, no one wants to go out until the very last moment. I can remember several sessions where the picture shows rain dripping in puddles and the commentators are desperately trying to think of something to say. The current system lacks the frantic excitement of the closing minutes, but it’s a good compromise.

        2. There was an idea last year that in qualy they should make a race. I guess the qualy grid would be decided by times in practices. In qualy they’d race, and the last one on each lap would have to stop. It would take 19 laps last year, 23 this year. It would make an interesting qualy & give some idea of the race pace.

      2. or not…
        qual tyres and low fuel and then new tyres for race…that is qual..not a chook raffle or rock paper scissors as you are proposing.

        1. Ned Flanders
          8th May 2010, 20:11

          Er it’s hardly a radical step, it’s exactly the same as it is now but with a different number of cars going out at each cut. It’s harsly a raffle. Idiot

          (And sorry I know I’ve just broken the no insults rule, but this guy really bugs me)

      3. There’s nothing wrong with the qualifying format. We don’t need to go changing everything just because of one team doing a good job. Red Bull’s performance margin wasn’t anything like as big as this earlier in the year so obviously something’s changed. Let’s see if they have this kind of margin at Monte-Carlo…

        1. I suspect even more of a difference to the rest in monte carlo due to the even higher downforce requirements than any other race and its exactly where redbull is so much better than everyone else at.

          Anyway things are fine as they are its just not cool seeing a team with 1 sec difference to the second best in such a small track.

          1. yeah but mechanical grip is more important than downforce at Monaco.

    13. East Londoner
      8th May 2010, 14:33

      Petrov also has a 5 place grid penalty as well for a gearbox change. I know these rules are designed to cut costs, but they are ridiculously draconial and unfair.

    14. Quick reporting Keith . Great to see Schumacher doing better. He was actually faster on Friday. Into the 20’s . Wet compromise?

      1. Doubt it very much.

      2. The RBs were slower than on Friday too. I think the rain took some grip out of the circuit.

    15. We want turbos
      8th May 2010, 14:37

      It’s interesting that on low fuel they are so much quicker, and the rear ends scrape the floor I know this has been done to death but it’s obviously where the advantage lies, I’m guessing to must have something to do with the pull-rod suspension. Fair play to Red Bull for it though!!!

    16. ferrari and mclaren should kidnap Newey to catch those tenths of a second, RBR is an alien at the moment. If only they had the right engines…

      Related to this, is it true that Volkswagen is interested in buying Red Bull?

      1. I also heard the commentators say that McLaren are planning to build their own engines(buying the unit from BMW), any1 has any idea about that?

        1. Younger Hamilton
          8th May 2010, 21:01

          Well McLaren did separate from Mercedes and therefore became a independant racing company late last year and Mercedes are only gonna be their sponsors and engine suppliers until 2015 so its Likely that it is true that McLaren are beginning to develop their own engines

    17. Just to spice things up they should move the Virgin cars 5 places backwards, if that leaves them at the back then count from the front and have them starting 2nd and 3rd. It all adds to the spectacle!

    18. What hell is happening with Massa? I believe he can do better than he is doing.

      1. I’m too am surprised by his poor qualifying form this year. That was supposed to be his strong point.

        1. From what i have been reading, he is suprised himself as well.
          That is the second race going, is it possible he did lose something in the crash?
          Or maybe the car is developing more into Fernandos liking and a little bit away from what Massa prefers.

      2. I am surprised too. I expected more from him. Its like he’s not even there!

    19. Good that Sauber have found the key. Unlucky for Sutil to miss Q3. Too bad Rubens missed out. Worse for Luizzi as he can’t blame traffic today.

    20. Great qualifying for Webber. I am so happy for him. I hope he stays ahead of Vettel tomorrow too. I want Lewis to win the race though :)

    21. Mclaren is stronger on race pace…Lewis should win….

      1. They are no where near RB’s race, don’t worry about that. Remember Malaysia?

        1. The McLarens started near the back in Malaysia. This time they’re right behind. The Red Bulls are obviously way ahead in qualifying but McLaren have matched them when it comes to race pace. Red Bull will most likely win but Lewis isn’t going to be thrashed.

          1. They haven’t really though at times they have been close. RB is strong in the races and have pulled away from the pack when at the front. Remember also that this is quite possibly the biggest gap in qualifying so far this season. Eight tenths of a second over the relatively short Catalunya lap is HUGE. The gap has grown since China.

            1. Even if they struggle a little bit with tyres, they should be able to get 15 seconds lead from the soft tyres and if they don’t wait too long this time, that will be it.

              Not much chance of catching up for Fernando or Lewis after the first hundreds of meters. Only rain, safetycars or technical gremlins can get between that.

      2. are the red bulls harder on their tyres or something???

      3. Don’t think so. Q3 the first run by red bull cars were on hard tyres and still they were faster than everybody else on soft tyres.

        They have genuine race pace and unless the conditions are really hot or it rains others have no chance.

      4. Jhonnie Siggie
        8th May 2010, 18:37

        Mclaren doesn’t necessarily have stronger race pace. They just seem to be the fastest in the first 1/3rd of the race when the rear of their car is dragging on the ground. Remember in Australia, Hamilton passed a bunch of guys early but once he came up to Alonso in the middle of the race, he couldn’t do anything about him. Lewis will do well if he can split the Bulls early on but they will probably get him back during a pit stop and end up with a one two finish.

        1. Hamilton cought up to Alonso in the last few laps! That’s hardly the middle of the race.

          Besides, he had had to race like a madman to make up for the time that that extra pitstop cost him. That pretty much ruined his tyres.

          And then … he actually DID get past Alonso. Only Webber rammed him off.

          Did you actually watch the race?

      5. How can you say that when we’ve still seen very little of the effects the new aero parts are having apart from qualifying runs?

        1. because the sum total of the effects of new aero packages was that RB has actually now extended their advantage in qualifying, not decreased it as was McLaren’s intentions.

          1. Too bad the original post was about race pace …

    22. how can somebody think that mclaren or ferrari could race red bull tomorrow?
      they are nearly a second faster…
      red bull’s car of today reminds me the f2004

      1. Yes, they are 8/10th faster on empty tank but how will they behave when in race trim? That is where other teams are better than the RBs.

        LH said they are slow in the straight too, so maybe the F-duct will help him to, at least, pass Vettel in the first corner. Hopping Jensen will have the balls to pass Alonso too but that is just my dream ;-)

        1. You forget Button is excellent at overtaking. Look back to last season and you will know.

      2. Except they can’t seem to to actually win that many races…

        1. only because of bad luck

          1. Shanghai wasn’t bad luck.

          2. Technical problems and bad team strategy in the race as well as wors pace in slippery conditions did it for them.

          3. Webber could (would) have won in Australia if they hadn’t waited so long to first bring in Vettel for the first tyre change. That they dropped him from P2 to P6 is hardly bad “luck” either.

      3. Only when it’s going to rain. In the dry everyone is going to be beaten.

    23. great for sauber…
      they gonna get their first point this season for them this time around.. hopefully.

      and hope that ferrari engine have enough burger king lubricant in it

    24. Interesting that Alonso and Schumacher did faster laps in yesterday’s second practice than in Q3. Schumacher did a 1:20.7 and Alonso a 1:20.8. Sorry and Vettel did a faster lap in second practice as well. Weirdly though the track temperature appeared to be higher today than it was yesterday.

      1. The rain overnight might have taken rubber off the track.

        1. Schumacher screwed up his first sector on his final lap I think.

    25. Red Bull’s dominance is beginning to get slightly scary, even though I like the team and drivers. They were always going to do good here, but this is quite insane.

      Considering they were the fastest of the non-double diffuser teams last year I think we might see Red Bull dominating for quite a while longer. Sure the F-duct is a cute and inspired feature, but it does feel very flimsy compared to the ultra clean looking Red Bull. I’m surprised nobody attempted to copy their suspension.

      1. Copying a pull-rod suspension isn’t an easy thing to do. It involves various anchor points in the chassis being designed and present, which with the homogulated chassis rules means it’s almost impossible to copy.

        The other reasons that the other teams haven’t used this design, is probably for the same reasons Arrows back in 1990 (I think) stopped using their design. It was adding quite a lot of time to their set up time!

    26. Did anyone else notice how angry Rosberg was when talking to Schumi. He looked very aggrieved about something. Pehaps that the car handles like a cart horse for him now. Schumacher gave him a slightly condescending pat on the back, sort of hard luck mate I’m in charge now.

      1. It’s a kind of understandable reaction. He beats Schumacher resoundingly in the first races, Schumacher pressurizes Brawn, the team completely reworks the car, Schumacher is now way ahead of Rosberg, but with no apparent improvement for the team. They’ve simply swapped places. Gives you a clear idea of how he beat Barrichello etc. in the past. If Rosberg adjusts and catches him again, you can be sure Schumacher will be off to Brawn to eek out another advantage over him.

        1. I agree with with you 100% .
          I feel so bad for Nico.
          Funny thing is Nico would have been further up than Schumi’s position today had they not changed the car.

        2. woah! guys lets not jump the gun. wait til after turkey then we’ll see if schumi has actually gained an advantge through the designing of this new car.

      2. I thought they looked like they were actually working together.

        1. At least Rosberg did …

    27. Ferrari got a $20,000 fine for releasing Alonso into the path of Rosberg, but no grid penalty.

      1. Not a racing incident so I don’t it deserved a grid penalty, especially given the way the stewards have been behaving so far this season.

        1. which is a good thing don’t forget. would have been depressing if he’d got a grid penalty for that.

    28. raymondu999
      8th May 2010, 15:45

      Let’s have a list of opinions here. Will Vettel jump Webber off the line, or will Webber hold him?

      1. I don’t see why Vettel would fly past Webber at the start… In fact it was rather the contrary in China.

        1. It’s not as easy here from the dirtier side of the track. Whats more, he has to keep an eye out for Alonso racing past with the F-i duck switched on.

      2. I think it’ll be very close, but probably Webber will keep the lead.

      3. Lewis is going to jump Vettel, Alonso might too

      4. I miss KERS. Would love to see Hamilton and Alonso both sail past those Red bull cars and hold them up for the whole race.

    29. HAM says the mclarens are fast down the straight but they are alot slower on the speed trap results from quali…
      http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2010/828/6728/speed_trap.html

      1. Well compared to the Red Bulls they aren’t, they are about 3kph quicker. I think lewis will have to look out for Alonso more, he is flying down that straight although he is starting from the dirtier side.

        From what I have heard the Mclarens can afford to use more wing due to their duct and im guessing Alonso isnt doing that which explains why he is fast through S1 but slower in S2 and S3.

        However with overtaking as hard as it is in Spain, Alonso may have chosen to do the right thing, untouchable on the straight and nowhere to pass through the corners. Guess we will find out.

        I was thinking though, and this may be a bit of an over reaction, but with Alonso and Massa using their left hands to block the duct, if they have to make a sudden movement to their right will they be able to do it with just their right hand as it seems pretty cramped in the cock pit?

        1. Well Badoer had such strategy in Spa. After some drivers pited on lap 1 he gained some places and it was close to impossible to overtake him on the straight. Sutil overtook him in corner exit.

      2. Jhonnie Siggie
        8th May 2010, 18:42

        He meant that they are faster than the Bulls not “fastest” so he was correct. He Bulls are is target.

        1. Jhonnie Siggie
          8th May 2010, 19:33

          Hehe…. That last line should read “The Bulls are his target”

    30. So according to Webber;

      “(Team boss) Christian (Horner) said to me beforehand, you probably won’t get to drive a car this quick around here again, so go and enjoy yourself and I did.”

      Um, as an Aussie I hope he means that he expects the Red Bulls to slow a little cos otherwise that sounds pretty definitive on Webber’s chances of a drive next year.

      1. Rubbish Dave
        8th May 2010, 16:30

        With the change in aero regulations, they’re expecting next years car to be slow.

        1. But i did have the same thoughts after reading that. I would hope Webber to turn in the keys after winning WDC with the car!

          I like him, he had a fair share of bad luck, his williams going out after leading impressively in Monaco, some young bloke punting him out behind the safety car once etc.

    31. bad_whippet
      8th May 2010, 15:51

      Awesome lap by Webber and I’m not trying to take anything away from it, but did anyone notice him coming wide out of turn 7 so that turn 8 he took with all four wheels off the track… he was on the inside of the kerb.

      You can see it in the replay on the Beeb at around 42s – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8669726.stm

      Surprised no-one else mentioned it, else I’ve got too much time on my hands and am being pedantic ;)

      1. Legard mentioned it every bloody time “OH LOOKS LIKE THEY’VE GONE OFF” without bothering to notice every driver was doing it and not losing time at all rather they were clearly doing it cos its the best line :)

        Brundle talked about it at one point saying that it is TECHNICALLY against the rules to take all four wheels outside the white line but that in some places everyone does it so in that case it’s ok.

      2. They were all off the road through that section.

        1. bad_whippet
          8th May 2010, 16:05

          That’s cool, fair enough. I’d only seen that particular piece of footage, didn’t actually get to see quali.

    32. So i guess vettel will win this Gp then since he didn’t get pole?

      1. Don’t forget, you can’t win from front row in 2010.

    33. How can these cars get much faster than they were on first day when they were light on fuel?

    34. Glad for Michael. Finally.

    35. The first victory for Lewis Hamilton! ;) Wanna bet !?…

    36. rubens helmet after quali session

      http://twitpic.com/1m3vm2

      1. wow, what happened to that.

      2. Did he throw it?

    37. Nice to see Schumacher showing some decent pace. Maybe he’s not quite past it after all! Of course, now Rosberg is complaining about the car. Oh well.

    38. I ran some stats on the 846 predictions.

      Turns out that everybody pretty much expected Vettel to take pole:
      Pole Perc
      VET 82%
      HAM 8%
      WEB 4%

      Odd to see how few votes Webber gets.

      The median pole time most people predicted was 1:19.2. In the end they were slower than in practice so most predictions were a bit higher than the actual pole time.

      Predictions were pretty close though, with 50% of the predictions within seven tenths of a second.

      The closest prediction was made by bunboyfantastic who predicted 1:19.999 (4 thousandths of a second off)

      Next closest where MAKrifayee, Ronan, Saipthegod, SimonF1, SethBahl, Chubbfw31, Mufin and BrawnGPStefan who all predicted a pole time of 1:20.

      I calculated F1 scores for each prediction (25 for prediction on P1 etc) and added all these socres up to get the following F1Fanatic top 10 prediction:

      Driver Score
      VET 16167
      HAM 12423
      ALO 11319
      WEB 8193
      SCH 7330
      BUT 6332
      ROS 2924
      MAS 1818
      KUB 1058
      SUT 54

      This compares pretty well to the qualification result. Notable differences are Webber who is predicted to finish a lot lower and Kubica a bit lower.

      1. Nice work PatrickL! I must admit i underestimated Webber as well, or maybe misjudged how focussed he is right now. For once i would not mind the polesitter winning this year.

        1. I think the problem was that that too many people overestimated McLaren’s pace and thought they were up there with RB6.

    39. Interesting things come from this qualification. First the way Schumachers explanations to the team have gotten him a better car. Second the explanation Barrichello gave to Williams did not work. He even blamed his crew to talk to him whil e doing a fast lap that cost him Q2.
      Hulkenberg did great however.
      The race could be very interesting because the RBs are quick in lap but they are never the fastest in raw speed. So on the straights Hamilton and Alonso should be able to actually try to overtake. We will see.

    40. personally i would like the ferraris to win tomoro… but RBR are good enough …they just need their strategies to be in place.

    41. Well done to Webber – I’ve doubted his ability to match Vettel but so far this year it’s been 2 to 3 in qualifying and Webber would have won a race had he not made an error at turn 1 in Malaysia, so it looks like he’s holding his own with the more talented German.

      If he wasn’t in the Red Bull, I’d wonder if Mark could get poles, but being that he is and beating Vettel almost half the time, I wonder if he could mount just as good a championship battle as his team-mate? Just as many (like myself) gave Button less chance of challenging, perhaps writing off Webber would be just as premature? And given that they owe their exact positions and number of points to circumstance and decisions (in one case favourable, the other unfavourable), maybe the two aren’t so far apart at all.

      1. Also, don’t forget that Webber was close behind (ie held up by) Vettel in Australia. Red Bull messed up their strategy big time waiting for rain that never came when everyone else had already pitted.

        They just about managed to keep Vettel in front, but Webber lost out hugely and dropped back to P6.

        From where his desperate and ultimately failed attempts started to claw his way back to the front.

    42. Perhaps, as a wild guess, Red Bull have produced such a good one lap pace which seems untouchable because they really do have an ‘original’ and ‘innotive’ design. For example, a pull rod suspension system, a tight ‘coke bottle zone’ and low exhaust system combine to give the high downforce and incredible quali pace. The other teams would struggle to meet that pace with a fundamentaly different back end. Perhaps we could be seeing more pull rod designs next year, and perhaps this is why Red Bulls are unstoppable!

      Nevertheless, remember Catalunya is a high downforce track, so the RBs would also have a good advantage here. Perhaps at slick tracks, like Monza, we’ll see a different grid.

    43. Juan Pablo Heidfeld
      8th May 2010, 22:14

      I really hope that Red Bull don’t repeat their dominance from qualifying into the race. Also I really hope that Schumacher hasn’t started to form Mercedes around him. I really dislike him.

    44. Red Bull is making P1 a habit, I wonder what would have happen if they gave the pole one points.

      Good job by Schumacher but for some reason Nico is complaining that Mercedes have taken a step backward don’t know why he is telling that.Another thing I am surprise is the difference between the Ferraris Massa needs to up his game.Good result by Kamui Kobayashi, hope that the car is reliable enough so that he car have a point finish.Again Kubica is consistent.

    45. Ferrari have been fined US$20,000 (£13,500) over Fernando Alonso’s near-miss with Nico Rosberg during qualifying.

      http://www.espnstar.com/motorsport/f1/news/detail/item437205/Ferrari-fined-over-Alonso-incident/

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