24/07/2010
NEWS STORY
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Ahead of today's all-important qualifying session, the air temperature is 20 degrees C, while the track temperature is 25 degrees. The sun, which first broke through in the final moments of free practice, is still shining, with no threat of further rain over the next hour or so.
After a damp start this morning, conditions improved over the course of the hour and by the end of the session were at an optimum. This meant that we saw the fastest times of the weekend thus far and, interestingly, the trend that we witnessed yesterday - whereby Ferrari appeared to be the main threat to Red Bull - continued.
Despite restricted running - certainly in ideal conditions - McLaren is persisting with its new aero package including its controversial blown diffuser. Thus far however, despite the obvious optimism within the team it is unclear whether this is a gamble which will pay off.
Mercedes look to have improved this weekend, though time will tell if this for real, while Williams and Sauber continue to impress.
Timo Glock and Adrian Sutil have both incurred 5-place penalties after their teams opted to change the gearboxes on their cars.
The tyre choice this weekend is one of the strangest we've seen, hard (prime) and super-soft (option). However, thus far, contrary to expectations, the option tyres appear to be bearing up well, surprisingly well.
As we await the green light, Hulkenberg is told that there are a couple of rain showers in the vicinity but that they should hopefully miss the circuit.
When the lights do go green, de Grassi is first out, with Alonso and Massa are surprisingly early risers. Schumacher and Hamilton are also keen to get to work.
With di Grassi heading back to the pits, it is Petrov who posts the first time, the Russian crossing the line at 18.210, this is soon beaten by Alonso and then Massa (16.908).
Hamilton splits the Ferraris with a 17.140 as Schumacher posts 18.565 to go fifth.
Alonso improves with a 16.430 as Vettel sand Webber head down the pitlane.
The red flags come out when Liuzzi crashes heavily at the start of the pitlane. The replay shows the Force India running wide at the final corner and losing it on the Astroturf. The car careers across the track hitting the start of the pit-wall. The Italian is out of the car and fine but his session is over. The replay also shows that Glock was lucky not to be hit by one of the wheels which broke loose from the Force India and bounced back across the track.
When the session resumes at 14:13, the Lotus head the queue at the end of the pitlane with the Red Bull duo right behind.
Hamilton goes quickest in the first sector, while the Ferrari duo remain in the garage.
Webber posts 16.024 to take the top spot but moments later Hamilton crosses the line at 15.505. Alguersuari moves up to fourth, ahead of Massa, Button and Barrichello.
Vettel goes second with a 15.881, immediately going quickest in S1 of his next lap. Elsewhere, Button goes quickest in S2. The Englishman goes second (15.823) only to be demoted when Vettel crosses the line at 15.152.
A 15.951 sees Kobayashi go fourth, as Rosberg goes sixth with a 16.178. Webber makes it a Red Bull 1-2 with a 15.334.
A 15.281 sees Alonso split the Red Bulls, the Spaniard immediately going quickest in S1 of his next lap. No sign of di Grassi who is still in the Virgin garage and yet to post a time.
Alonso is the first driver to break the 1:14s barrier, the Ferrari driver crossing the line at 14.808. Schumacher currently thirteenth on 17.029.
Massa goes third with a 15.216 as it is revealed that di Grassi will not be taking part in the session.
With 3:19 on the clock, the usual suspects fill the bottom seven places with Alguersuari, Petrov, de la Rosa and the Williams dup hovering.
Trulli improves to eighteenth with a 17.677 as Kubica posts 15.736 to take sixth.
Q1 comes to an end, with Alonso quickest, ahead of Vettel, Massa, Webber, Hamilton, Kubica, Button, Kobayashi, Buemi and Schumacher.
We lose Trulli, Kovalainen, Glock, Senna, Liuzzi, Yamamoto and di Grassi.
Q2 gets underway when Vettel heads down the pitlane, followed by Webber, Alonso and Hamilton.
While most are on the prime tyre, Massa and Barrichello are on options.
Webber posts 15.323 to go quickest, as Hamilton goes second ahead of Barrichello, Alonso and Vettel. Moments later, Button posts 15.517 to go fourth.
A 14.664 sees Alonso go quickest - the fastest lap of the weekend, thus far - immediately going quickest in S1 of his next lap. Elsewhere, Massa goes quickest in S2, crossing the line at 14.607 to go quickest. Remember, Massa is on option and his teammate prime.
Schumacher can only manage eleventh, albeit ahead of his teammate, while Vettel posts 14.807 to go third. Moments later the German is leapfrogged by his teammate who posts 14.702.
Rosberg improves to eleventh, one spot ahead of his teammate, with 7:24 still remaining.
Massa raises the benchmark with a 14.478, Kubica, Schumacher and Buemi being the only other drivers on track.
With 4:45 on the clock, despite being second and fourth, Alonso and Vettel go out again, this time on fresh rubber. The Spaniard immediately goes quickest in S1.
As Alonso improves to quickest with a 14.081, Mass and Kubica are the only drivers still in the pits. That said, the Pole heads down the pitlane clearly aware that at this stage sixth is no guarantee of making through to Q3.
Barrichello improves to sixth (14.889) as Rosberg and Schumacher seek to climb into the Top Ten. A 15.307 for Petrov isn't enough, the Russian seemingly doomed to miss the cut.
Schumacher goes ninth with a 15.026, but is it enough. Moments later, teammate Rosberg goes ninth, thereby demoting the seven-time champ to tenth. Schumacher fails to improve on his run lap his fate now resting on Hulkenberg who subsequently crosses the line at 14.943 to go ninth, ahead of Rosberg.
Therefore, we lose Schumacher, Kobayashi, Petrov, Sutil, de la Rosa, Alguersuari and Buemi.
Quickest was Alonso, ahead of Vettel, Webber, Massa, Hamilton, Barrichello, Button, Kubica, Hulkenberg and Rosberg.
Ahead of the final shoot-out one wonders whether it will be a Ferrari or Red Bull that comes out on top, and in all honesty it would take a brave man to take a punt.
The lights go green and Webber leads the way, followed by Massa and Hamilton. Game on!
Webber posts the first time of Q3, the Australian crossing the line at 14.347, Hamilton goes second and Massa third.
Alonso is on a very, very quick lap, the Spaniard crossing the line at an incredible 13.927.
Vettel posts 13.961 to go second, a strong lap but not enough.
The majority of the drivers head back to the pits preparing for the final assault, just the Williams duo on track, the Grove drivers doing what thy usually do on these occasions, going for one hot lap on a clear track.
Hulkenberg makes a mistake at Turn 16, therefore he can only manage ninth (15.765). As the rest of the drivers pour on to the track, Barrichello posts 16.320 to remain tenth.
Hulkenberg, who has stayed out goes eighth with a 15.339, ahead of Rosberg.
While there are a couple of personal bests in S1, Webber has a poor S1 having run wide at the final corner.
Vettel goes quickest with a 13.791 the German, as ever, doing just what he had to do, when he had to do it.
Alonso remains second with Ferrari teammate leaping up to third ahead of the second Red Bull.
Surprisingly, Button takes fifth, ahead of his McLaren teammate, while Kubica is seventh, ahead of Barrichello, Rosberg and Hulkenberg.
A fantastic qualifying lap form Vettel, which, sadly, was mostly unseen. However, the main talking point here has to be the performance from the Ferraris, where exactly did that come from?
Earlier this week, Alonso claimed that he could still win the title, prompting talk of 'I'll have what he's on', but suddenly the Spaniard's claims are not quite so ridiculous.
In all fairness, McLaren is still getting used to its aero package, hence the relatively lowly positions, while Kubica and Barrichello can be satisfied with their performances.
Apart from the ever present concern regarding the weather, one has to wonder whether Vettel can win his home race, an achievement that would clearly mean so very much to him. Then again, having won in Germany last year, no doubt Webber would like to make it a double.