Vettel takes pole as Webber struggles to fifth

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2010

Sebastian Vettel will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from his tenth pole position of the season.

But team mate Mark Webber suffered a serious setback, only able to qualify fifth behind all his championship rivals.

Q1

The drivers found the track surface improving rapidly at the start of qualifying, with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel going fastest seemingly with every lap they did.

Alonso stayed out later than his rivals and set the fastest time. Nico Rosberg also did a late lap to go second.

Jenson Button, meanwhile, ran into trouble with a brake vibration, and had to do a second run to improve his time.

As usual the three new teams were eliminated, with Jarno Trulli once again the fastest of the six.

The two Toro Rosso drivers found themselves in a battle to get into Q2. Jaime Alguersuari scraped through with his final lap, as team mate Sebastien Buemi failed to beat him by one tenth of a second.

Driver eliminated in Q1

18Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’41.824
19Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’43.516
20Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’43.712
21Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’44.095
22Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’44.510
23Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’45.085
24Christian KlienHRT-Cosworth1’45.296

Q2

It was an eventful Q2 for Lewis Hamilton who who had two off-track moments and a controversial encounter with Felipe Massa.

Hamilton took to the kerbs and demolished a corner marker as Massa went around the outside of him. Both drivers made it into the top ten – Hamilton making it in with just a minute to spare.

Sebastian Vettel was the only driver to lap the Yas Marina track in less than a minute and 40 seconds and none of the others could match that.

Button improved to second with his last effort but just a few hundredths covered Rosberg behind him in third and Mark Webber.

A late improvement by Vitaly Petrov surprisingly eliminated his team mate Robert Kubica.

He was knocked out in Q2 along with Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld, Nico Hulkenberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jaime Alguersuari.

Driver eliminated in Q2

11Robert KubicaRenault1’40.780
12Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’40.783
13Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’40.914
14Nick HeidfeldSauber-Ferrari1’41.113
15Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’41.418
16Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’41.642
17Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’41.738

Q3

The Red Bulls held back at the start of Q3 while the McLarens and Ferraris went first. And their first times were set in that order – Hamilton doing a 1’39.582, leading Button, Alonso and Massa.

While those four did two separate runs Vettel and Webber did just a single run at the end of the session. While that worked like a dream for Vettel, who who improved his time progressively to a 1’39.394, Webber ended up over half a second off his team mate.

The other drivers were all getting in each others’ way as the final laps begin, Rosberg threading his way through the Ferraris to ensure he didn’t miss the cut-off. Massa started his final lap the instant the clock ticked to zero.

Hamilton improved his time but fell short of beating Vettel by a few hundredths. But Alonso was the big winner, pulling together a lap good enough to salvage third place, splitting the McLarens.

The grid tees up a fascinating battle for the championship tomorrow with Alonso surrounded by McLarens, and Webber facing a mountain to climb to keep the Ferrari driver from the title.

Top ten in Q3

1Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’39.394
2Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’39.425
3Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’39.792
4Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’39.823
5Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’39.925
6Felipe MassaFerrari1’40.202
7Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’40.203
8Michael SchumacherMercedes1’40.516
9Nico RosbergMercedes1’40.589
10Vitaly PetrovRenault1’40.901

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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    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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    132 comments on “Vettel takes pole as Webber struggles to fifth”

    1. Hamilton takes the start as the Red Bulls are slow starters. Button accidently clips Alonso in an overtaking attemp which naturally causes an uproar. Vettel’s engine blows up. Webber is just struggling but eventually advances to third, his engine blows up on the last five laps. Hamilton’s champion!

      1. Webber is a slow starter. Not Red Bull.

      2. I’m a bit worried about Button clipping Alonso. IMO its not his fight and he has nothing to gain, so I dont think he will go out of his way to clip him.

      3. Button is usually good at avoiding contact.. too good I suppose that it often sacrificed his good start.

        1. Button clips alonso throwing him out of the championship and thus starts the worlds’ biggest controversy theory! :D

        2. As we have already seen, McLarens are too fragile to be clipping anything more rigid than a pillow, what’s more a Ferrari (see Monza, first lap…) So, even if Button tries something like that, I doubt Alonso would feel a thing…

      4. The comment above was first posted straight after quali, in response to the first comment to go up. Now the criticism voiced by Raj has been removed (along with the original posting of this comment) and for some reason my comment is re-posted at the the end of the thread.

        The cynic in me would say its a good example of what a carefully controlled and biased forum this is, but I’m sure that would be removed too, so I better just say..
        We LOVE The Leader.

      5. I prefer fantasies involving Angelina Jolie, but thanks for sharing.

    2. Looks like a repeat of last year’s race with Vettel and Hamilton in a 2 way race for the win. Can’t see anyone else touching them.

      1. Younger Hamilton
        13th November 2010, 14:23

        Note their both currently the only 2 drivers to be on the front row in Abu Dhabi.

        1. Their = belonging to them

          They’re = they are

          1. Younger Hamilton
            13th November 2010, 15:21

            Yeah sorry i was too quick,i once realised after i made the comment and when i was in my bathroom giving myself a good British Bath

    3. Hamilton will most likely be penalized, Alonso will be champion if his engine keeps working until the finish line!

      Truly disappointing couple of races from Webber, showing some psychological weakness. No wonder Red Bull favour Vettel, he has been absolutely brutal since Japan, and terribly unlucky throughout the year (no one had more mechanic-related DNF’s).

      P.S. NOT a Vettel fan by a long shot, but I must face the reality.

      1. Agree. Everyone seems to say how much Webber deserves it but fact is he’s had no mechanical failures.

        Vettel’s had a lot of failures and 3 whilst leading. If Vettel STILL manages to beat Webber in the championship it really will say a lot about who is the better of the two.

        1. Webber deserves it because after all these years he has driven for slow teams. To say he deserves it more than the other 3 is debatable.

          1. If he can’t win in a fully reliable RB6 he doesn’t deserve a title.

            Yamamoto’s spent a few years driving slow cars. He definitely deserves a title.

            1. In my world of sport there is no such word as ‘deserve’. You win or you don’t and recently Webber is the ‘don’t’ so if that’s what you mean ok. I just hope that whomever wins it wins it for the right reasons.
              At the moment Webber has not done enough and today did nowhere near enough, so I can understand why people might say he doesn’t deserve it.

          2. I agree with Tommy. Button spent years driving slow cars, but got a car that was the fastest for 7 races, and grabbed the opportunity to win a title with both hands.

            Webber definately hasn’t done that. Vettel can at least claim that he was ridiculously fast but beset by mechanical failures.

        2. Guilherme Teixeira
          13th November 2010, 14:42

          I once calculated how many points Vettel lost at least this season, either by accidents, failures or mistakes, and came up with 123 points.

          It amazes me how Webber had perfect reliability this year, lost at most 40 points due to mistakes/accidents and is still only 7 points in front of Vettel!

          That’s why I say, if Vettel wins this championship, he will be the most deserving one.

          1. Exactly! Bahrain, Australia, Korea being the most obvious non disputable ones where a 25 pointer would be a no-brainer! that’s 63 points just there!

        3. old story mate…

          all of them deserve it…

          1. Subjective comment I know, but still, IMO there is (Alonso and Hamilton), (Vettel, Rosberg, Kubica and possible Button) then (Webber) very closely follow by the rest, and then Yami’ :-)

        4. Couldn’t agree anymore with TommyB89. Everyone on this site sympathizes with Mark Webber because its probably he last title shot, and plus he is the less favoured driver at Red Bull and blah blah blah. But the fact of the matter is that he is not as good as his teammate, and despite his teammate losing close to 70 points through mechanical retirements, he still only trails Mark by 7 points.

          Everyone says Mark deserves the WDC, IMO he is the least deserving of the 5 title contenders this year. I wouldn’t want to look back on this fantastic season, and see Mark Webber as WDC.. no frickin way.. I much rather see Vettel, Alonso or Hamilton.

          1. LOL.. spot on Todford.

          2. Totally agree with your post. See my post above. ;-)

          3. Agreed, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso are in a whole different league.

            1. Yep! They’re the absolute elite of F1 now.

          4. Agreed with Todfod

          5. Todfod and others don’t count the number of points Webber’s lost because Vettels been favored by the team? That number is probably unquantifiable. But throw Turkey in the mix as an obvious one…

            1. No, apart from losing 10 in Turkey, Webber has simply been too slow in the second half of the season in a dominant car. It’s not the team’s fault that he spun off in Korea, hit a Lotus in Valencia or lost a ridiculous amount of places off the startline.

              Your comment is exactly the kind of “blah, blah, blah” Todfod was referring to.

            2. How many points has Mark lost by favoritism in the RB garage? According to my calculations he has lost 0 points due to the only act of favoritism we saw at Silverstone.

      2. I don’t think either driver is up to Alonso or Hamilton. Vettel is superb at qualifying and lightning fast, but still making rookie mistakes when not at the front and can’t really overtake properly. Webber is just off being the very best. But on balance Vettel has definitely done what’s needed at the end of the season, while Webber has had every chance to seal the championship and failed to take them. I’ll be happy to see Vettel, Ham or Alonso champion. The latter for supreme self-confidence, talent and, yep, steamrolling Felipe Massa.

        1. Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel all half a second faster than their team mates.

          1. Exactly. It’s more difficult to compare between teams, but the final grid order of the season accurately reflects the best drivers in each of the top 3, I think.

      3. So Lewis sees Massa at the last second drives of the track to avoid him potentially destroying his race. Massa keeps to the racing line makes no attempt to avoid him , this is not a case of a driver hogging the racing line and having no regard for other drivers it’s a bungle or worse.Massa did not suffer from it I can see no reason for a grid penalty. Anyway all you Alonso fans ,if Fernando is stupid enough to tussle with the others (which I very much doubt) he won’t deserve the title.’Which I think he does'(Big Hamilton Fan ).

        1. Agree entirely. Hamilton certainly gained nothing by flying over the curb and was probably unsighted as he said after. Massa, though, once again showed his needless aggression towards Hamilton – which funnily enough he hasn’t the courage to show to Alonso.

        2. I don’t think Hamilton should get penalized, but he was off the racing line, driving slowly, obviously showing all others that he would let them through .. so Massa thought he would let him through but all of a sudden Hamilton goes to tae the corner instead of waiting. Clearly not Massas falut, but probably just a misunderstanding.

        3. I’m a fanatic Hamilton supporter, mate.

          However, after causing a bit of a ruckus with Senna on friday, Ham was already on the line for a penalty. Massa could just say he was blocked and I firmly believe the stewards will impose a 5 grid drop for Lewis.

          Unfortunately, I say, because I believe he has what it takes to win this race!

          1. Massa cannot say that Hamilton impeded him as he is on his outlap but not a timed lap!

            1. HounslowBusGarage
              13th November 2010, 20:36

              It’s 21.36 CET, and I haven’t seen a report of HAM getting a penalty. Does this mean he won’t get one?

    4. Younger Hamilton
      13th November 2010, 14:22

      Well i have to say Seb deserves pole by finding that amount of time in the final sector if it werent for that Lewis would have pole now but Great job by Lewis and Jenson and Fernando(I said i’d be supporting him after Lewis) as well to get themselves up there.Its a terrible situation for Mark he just have to drive the socks out of the car and maximise his start.Keith if im right then Seb,Fernando and Mark are all on the clean side(which is the racing line) of the grid

      1. The racing line actually goes ‘through’ the two sides as the last corner is a left and the first is a right. At the back of the rid there shoud be more of a difference than at the front.

    5. I’m predicting a messy start. I think Hamilton and Alonso are going to go for it, and it’s going to end badly going into the first corner.

      It’s also nice to see Petrov out-qualify Kubica again.

      1. You won’t give up until the very end will you.

      2. I certainly hope so :) Vettel deserves the title, despite his age and many mistakes.

      3. Fernando wont go for broke, he doesnt need to beat Seb and Lewis tomorrow, all he has to do is keep out of trouble and make sure webber doesnt find his way into 2nd place behind seb.

        I think Alonso will also be finding himself on the front row in the next hour or so

        1. I dont think so. The FIA would never disadvantage Lewis.

          1. Someone missed the 2008 season…

      4. I am predicting a messy start too.

        I think Massa will take out Webber and Vettel will crash into Hamilton after Hamilton out-drags him into the first corner.

        P.S. @Keith: Like the HTML tags for bold, italics and quotes, can we have one for sarcasm please.

        1. HounslowBusGarage
          13th November 2010, 20:42

          Nah, all wrong.
          WEB and ALO take each other out on the first lap, both retire. VET leads unassailably until the penultimate lap when his engine hand-grenades itself.
          HAM tours home saying “Me? Are you sure?”
          BUT second, MAS third.

      5. LOL. I knew PM was going to bring Petrov’s qualifying performance. Hats off to Petrov… he did better than most of us thought. :)

      6. Petrov out-qualifying Kubica was a shock.

        But doesn’t make up for his poor season.

      7. Yes PM, great news for Petrov. Very timely. :)

    6. Fantastic qualifying session. I though that Brazil’s qualifying were good, this is better by miles! Suddenly everyone just found the speed to take on the Red Bulls. Lets hope it don’t get too messy tomorrow between the top five.

      1. thought*
        comment too short

    7. Younger Hamilton
      13th November 2010, 14:27

      Well if Lewis can keep up with Seb in the first sector which i think is Likely considering McLaren’s miraclerous but great pace this weekend then Lewis and Jenson have a very good shot of getting their targets on the two straights and out braking them into the corners.The Battle for the race win i think its between Lewis and Seb

    8. I’m not sure Alonso would now want Hamilton penalised for getting in the way of Massa, as any grid demotion would put Alonso up to second and on the dirty side of the grid, with Button on the clean side in third. And as Alonso says, Hamilton’s welcome to race for 25 points — the two of them are running different races. What a first lap it’s going to be tomorrow!

      1. Right now he said that on tv “he doesnt want Hamilton penalised”

    9. Hold on your breath till the end of sector 2 especially if Vettel ends up leading by the end of sector 1 but with no big advantage from the others, it´s the only chance hamilton or even Alonso have to prevent Vettel from winning the race.
      Going to be pretty interesting.

    10. I think:
      Webber will take himself and Alonso out of the race.
      Hamilton and Button will pass Vettel and they finish in that order.
      Lewis Hamilton will once again be champion by one point! :D

      Unless of course he gets penalised for that Q2 incident. Is he under investigation?

      1. If Ferrari suspect that Webber might try to crash Alonso out of the race, so that Vettel becomes champion, then they might order Felipe to crash into Webber.

        And looking at the grid positions, Felipe is closer to Webber than Webber is to Alonso.

        1. i highly doubt anyone will order anyone to crash into another driver. Its highly dangerous and despite what attitudes they might have to each other, none of them would be so unproffesional or stupid or dangerous. The ramifications wouldnt just stop at the end of the season but effect their careers. Noone wants another Singapore scandal. Ferrari still chasing 2nd in the WCC and Webber can still win the WDC.

        2. That would be a great start wouldn’t it? Webber looks at running into the back of Alonso, while Massa spearheads across the track aiming for Webber. Cannot wait for those 5 red lights to go out!

          1. Now, THAT would be nasty.

            For years, fans will keep debating whether Webber was truly trying to crash into Alonso or not. Webber will finally release a book 20 years later to try and clear the mystery. But it will only add fuel to the fire.

    11. HAM will want to overtake VET on track – revenge for 2008!

    12. Look at this photo from when Hamilton took that corner marker with him. It seems the marker had a camera!

    13. Some curse of the middle east for Webber it seems. In Bahrain he qualified 6th and Vettel 1st, here again, he is way off his team-mate’s pace.

    14. that was a stunning qualifying… where did those laps come from Vettel, Hamilton & Alonso? ;) wow!!!

      who wouldn’t think that Luca will be asking Massa for a good start to pass and block Webber? that could ease Alonso’s race pace and thus a good comfort zone to take care of his engine.

    15. Brilliant Quali. Hope Lewis doesnt incur a penalty

    16. For once im happy mclaren are doing well. Im hoping for them to get to the end like they start!! or even if hamilton wins thatd be sweet too. Will be interested tomorrow… IF and thats a BIG if massa jumps webber at the start webbers championship is all but over. This qualifying comes at a good time to remedy all that snow falling outside :)

    17. I don’t know how much power Ferrari have to affect the outcome of any investigation, but they’d be mad not to try and keep Hamilton where he is.

      Yes, 2nd will give Alonso the championship. But he’d then be starting on the slippery side of the grid and vulnerable to Button and if there’s a squeeze moment, Webber could catapult ahead of him too. Then all Red Bull would need to do is get Webber ahead of Button and switch the drivers.

      With Alonso both higher than 5th and Webber, Ferrari would do well to keep as many cars between the two Red Bulls as possible.

    18. McLaren could help Fernando if they stay in front of the Red Bulls. They will help the Red Bulls if they stay behind them and in front of Alonso.

    19. That was poor from Webber. It will be a disgrace to the sport if he is gifted the WDC by his team-mate tomorrow given his recent poor form.

      1. On the other hand, if tomorrow he overtakes Button, Alonso and Hamilton on the track to get 2nd place, I think he will be equally (may be a little more) deserving of the title as his rivals are.

        1. Im not an Alonso fan but I think his consistency, determination and lack of errors this year make him the most “deserving”, not that it means anything. His WDC would, of course, be overshadowed by the use of team orders.

          1. anyone remember hockenheim HAM-KOV in 2008? even so Lewis deserved to win that year, is the same this year for Alonso, sorry for my bad english.

            Good look to the drivers.

            1. It’s been covered here many times already, though I see this is your first comment so you might not be aware.

              More here: https://www.racefans.net/2010/07/27/why-the-team-orders-rule-must-stay/

            2. Thank you for the link Keith, Sorry but yes is my first time here. :D

            3. And you’re very welcome here. Enjoy the race :-)

            4. Thank you so much, enjoy too :D

          2. Agree with this, I’m a Mclaren fan, and I’d have to say Alonso deserves it this year purely due to his recent driving. It makes the team orders that happened at Hockenheim look somewhat insignificant. IMO

    20. I think that Ferrari are going to hypnotise Massa so that he somehow overtales Webber at the start

      1. Or get Massa to crash into Webber. Neither of the 2 drivers are good when it comes to wheel-to-wheel driving. The guy just behind them Rubens, is also not the cleanest first lap drivers, add Vitaly Petrov – who is not far back to this mess, and we are going to have a very messy start behind the first 2 rows.

      2. Webber could just have his trademark starts (Valencia, Hungary, Spa, Monza). Massa would be through in no time.

    21. Great qualifying today, what a incredible race tomorrow. I can’t wait!

      I think Hamilton will win this race followed by Vettel (the McLarens are fast this weekend). Most likely Alonso will drive safely & tries to be ahead of Webber for the whole race. Like what he said, he needs a podium for the remaining races to win. Will see…

    22. I don’t see how Hamilton can’t escape penalty.

      There is little doubt that it was a block. People have been punished for less.

      1. Massa was able to advance into q3….His qualifying session was not affected in anyway by this.

      2. To be fare he drove off the track to avoid a block he could do no more IMO. If I was Alonso I would want Hamilton there then he can save his tyres, engine and car lapping 0.5 off his ultimate pace and come in with an easy podium and the WDC

      3. Your double negative implies that HAM will escape penalty. You meant “I don’t see how Hamilton can escape penalty.”

    23. mclarens in the position to do what massa hasnt been able to do. makes me wonder who mclaren would rather have a wdc :)

    24. Just an Epic Qualifying session, the only bad thing is that its taken so long to have one that close for all 3 top teams!!

      Tomorrow could be the most titanic fight in F1’s history, all 4 drivers for the title, with 2 team mates riding shotgun on the grid is looking to make this one hellova 1st lap. Maybe im reading into this, but Massa & Button could be the key players here if they manage to get amoungst the 4 infront of them.

    25. Imagine the reaction if Vettel stalls and Alonso runs into the back of him; this is the only way Alonso won’t win the championship, apart from that I see Alonso as champ by under 8 points :( :S FIAT = Ferrari’s International Assistance Team (conveniently the initials of Fiat, Ferrari’s parent company)

    26. Best Qualifying of the session for me.

      1. whoops, season even, of course it was the best of the session

    27. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH So annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 If Vettel becomes champion tomorrow…………………. I won’t finish that sentence.

      1. I think Vettel would be a deserving champion. IMO Red Bull have refused to fully back Webber because he hasn’t beaten Vettel since Spa.

    28. Younger Hamilton
      13th November 2010, 15:07

      Looks like a Spa-Esq weekend for McLaren at Abu Dhabi missing out on pole and having the true potential to take advantage at the start and control the whole race if this is McLaren in Qualifying then i cant imagine them in the race as most of the time this season,their race pace has obviously been much better than it is in Quali so interesting to observe McLaren and Red Bull battling out on track.

    29. I think it’s kind of funny how Alonso shouldn’t want to be 2nd ánd Hamilton and Vettel fight it out for the race victory! Hamilton starts second, Alonso is a much better driver than Button therefore, Hamilton is very vulnerable to Alonso as well or so it seems to me?

      I think Alonso is just going to make sure he stays in 4th position and in front of Webber, then he’ll be a happy man! He does deserve it, the second half of the season was absolutely magnificent. Highlight is that breathtaking performance in Singapore this year, where he claimed a grand slam with Vettel 3 tenths of a second behind him all race long! That’s possibly the best performance I’ve ever seen, ranks right up there with Senna and Mansell at Monaco.

    30. ….but are the Mclaren still eating their tyres in the race, that is the big unknown… otherwise I can see it Being Ham, Vet, Alo (he won’t even try to get higher), But, Webber DNF in the wall or another driver.

      DOH! I’ve done it again, talk to myself… “stop speculating “

    31. Oh man today we see what button is worth of again. Yes he qualified fouth, which is not that bad, but read his comments. He couldn’t even get his own set up right and had to follow hamiltons so that he can qualify fourth! Well. Surprised. Surprised. Suprised.

      1. Brundle said: ‘That’s the most oversteer I’ve seen on Button’s car in 3 seasons!’

        I guess that explains it!

      2. He couldn’t even get his own set up right and had to follow hamiltons so that he can qualify fourth!

        There’s nothing unusual at all about one driver adopting another’s set-up. With two cars and just four hours of practice time, drivers often evaluate different set-ups and run different parts in practice.

    32. The tussles that will occur tommorrow will make the AbuDhabi race the best race all season.
      1. Front row, Hamilton on Vettel. Coz of the F duct, Lewis has a damn good chance of out dragging Vettel to the first corner. Lewis just has to be careful the rookis doesnt take him out at turn 1.
      The ‘clean side’ of the grid is actually the dangerous side. Vettel from Alonso from Webber. All in a row? Definately gonna be some contact there. 1 driver will try go past on the outside and that will definately result in some carnage.
      Moral of the story, lewis has a good chance at the title tomorrow.!

    33. The Stewards, having received a report from the Race Director concerning the incident between Car 9, Rubens
      Barrichello and car 7, Felipe Massa, at Turn 6 & 7 and having heard explanations from both drivers and team
      representative, decide to take no further action.

      1. Source?

        I didn’t even know Rubens was under investigation!

        1. FIA Document 31. I watched Qualy on Speed and saw nothing but it might have happened during one of their many commercials.

            1. Cheers, thanks, anything to pad out the comment.

    34. Does anybody knows where that f1fanatic last race points calculator is? (that one where you could shuffle racers and check possibilities)

      1. Top Right of this page.

    35. The first lap, the pit stops and then the suspense of F1 always being a mechanical sport…
      That’s probably where the race will be about. Hopefully I’m wrong and we will see some great on track battles.

      Then again, if you have this 4way championship hanging above every lap, who needs on track battles?

      1. I do :) I want to see Vettel and Hamilton battling for the lead!

    36. Younger Hamilton
      13th November 2010, 16:22

      Schumi at his Best once again out Qualified Nico well impressed with that

    37. great alonso! great lap, this third position is worth the title against faster cars…

    38. Vettel’s title hopes aren’t over yet – if Button and Webber can get ahead of Alonso, which certainly isn’t inconceivable, he just has to win to be champion!

    39. No Penalty for Hamilton

      It wasn’t even investigated!

    40. Am surprised Hamilton wasn’t penalized, even the commentators were almost sure of a grid place drop penalty.
      Am not entirely sure about Webber’s lack of pace, we haven’t seen him this slow to his teammate in any of the races this season .. does anyone sense something fishy here
      The start will be really important as will the pit stops especially since the option would grain quickly

      1. No damage of significance was done to Massa. They both made it to Q3 and the stewards took that into account. Massa himself has said on Autosport that he is not surprised at the decision so get over it.

        Oh and the commentators are wrong so often it’s unbelievable.

    41. If the race finishes in the same order, VET will be within 7 points of ALO and will thus guarantee us a tainted WDC. I guess the masses tend to forget and this is what Ferrari will be counting on. ALO will obviously do his best to appear a credible WDC. Whether he sleeps well in his old age is another matter.

      1. I guess the masses tend to forget and this is what Ferrari will be counting on.

        I don’t think it’s been overlooked here in the slightest.

      2. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year is going to be the worthy champion, the 7 point brigade’s argument is tedious and irrelevent. Even Hamilton has come out and said it won’t be a tainted championship if Alonso wins by less than 7 points.

        1. They’re not tedious or irrelevant. They’re commonplace and incorrect ;)

      3. He won’t lose any sleep over it, don’t you worry.

    42. Just wanted to say that I didn’t agree with RB racing for favoring VET on the wing issue but I agreed with them last week when they didn’t favor Webber. If they had done that, they would have essentially eliminated VET from contention. All ALO would have to do this week is finish ahead of WEB.

      However, there are many more permutations in play now. He not only has to finish ahead of WEB but he also needs to finish no lower than fifth. Don’t underestimate the impact of these additional considerations on his psyche.

      Oh and ALO was awesome in predicting a few races back that 5 podiums will win the WDC. I wonder if he is starting to think now that the odds are against this happening :)

    43. I truly admire the consistency of Alonso this second half of the season that got it back in the hunt even with a slower car, but damn, i can’t believe he is now set to win yet another WDC because of other’s mechanical failure when those others were in the lead… And worst of all, this time there’s that team order too.

    44. The man in the boxed seats is Fernando Alonso. The basic maths is that he only has to finish one place higher than his qualifying position and he’s champion. Taking on Hamilton would be risky as the Englishman is going to fight him tooth and nail, so I can see Ferrari wanting to pass him at the end of the first stint.
      For me, this is where Fernando will win or lose the title. If Ferrari make this strategy work, then Fernando will just hold position and let however is leading win the race.
      Lewis Hamilton has to attack. If he fails to pass Vettel then he’ll have to gap Alonso by a big enough margin to come in, change tyres, and get back out ahead. That won’t be easy at all.
      If I were Red Bull I would want Vettel to back the pack up, allowing Webber to make up positions and put Alonso and Hamilton under pressure. With the field set as it is I think that is Red Bull’s only hope for Webber to be champion.
      My gut reaction is that Alonso will see it through.

    45. I am absolutely gutted =(

    46. Imagine if RBR had favoured Webber last week and given the win to him, they would’ve been pooping themselves right now.

    47. A surprising quali by Webber.Usually he is off the pace by less than a tenth of a second.I suspect he has given up caring due to Red Bull’s lack of support for him.
      I look forward to his retirement speech after the race.
      Daniel Ricciardo has a major test driving Webbers car on Monday.

    48. Absolutely fascinating grid for tomorrow.

      But at the risk of beating a dead horse, Legard’s commentary damn near ruined the experience for me in Q3.

      “Rubens Barrichello FASTEST, 1’41.092!!”

      It’s the first time of the session, and quite slow…

      “Here comes Vettel then, final two corners. Knows the time to beat. Can he do it then?? Sebastian Vettel, nine poles so far, AND HE’S DONE IT!! LOOK AT THAT!! HE’S SUDDENLY FOUND A TENTH!!! SEBASTIAN VETTEL! Championship contender and PROVISIONAL POLE SITTER!”

      A Red Bull finding time in the third sector? I was surprised too. Next lap:

      Vettel improves by 0.054s…
      Legard: “What about this man, Sebastian Vettel, fastest so far, has he improved? Here he comes! OH HE HAS!!! HE’S DONE IT AGAIN!!! THIS HAS TO BE, SURELY, A TENTH POLE POSITION, another wonderful, wonderful last gasp performance!”
      Brundle: “Well the others are out on fresh tires.”

      Oh bother. This is when I really lost it and proceeded, frothing at the mouth, to shout profanity aimed at the voice of Jonathan Legard. The ineptitude on display in his commentary, given the amount of time left in the session, was mind boggling. Good riddance that he’s gone for 2011.

    49. Great session, session like this that makes Saturday too interesting for Sunday can’t wait for the race.Really dissapointed for Kubica & Webber.That run down to turn 1 is not that long so the driver in front will brake earlier & he runs in a danger of been hit by someone from behind.

      I am happy that Hamilton didn’t get any punishment for that incident though it was scary for any camera man! It was his fault or the team’s as they should have told him about the track situation.Vettel did what he can do but to get pole, I think Alonso will settle with third but the battle between him & Hamilton will be interesting to watch at the start of the race.If anyone who is under pressure is Webber as he is already on the back footeven before the race started.

    50. Looks like Webber now deserved what he deserves for causing several race incidents with his championship competitors

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