Sebastian Vettel strolled to a relatively straightforward third successive pole position in the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix, but it wasn't all plain sailing for his Red Bull team. The reigning champion's teammate, Mark Webber, will line up for the race in a lowly 18th position after a combination of a strategic error and a non-functioning KERS system left him high and dry in the first session of qualifying. Once again, it was left to McLaren to provide opposition for the seemingly unstoppable Vettel, with Jenson Button joining him on the front row from Lewis Hamilton in third place.
Q1
Button, who had been looking strong throughout the practice sessions, set the early pace with a 1'36.7, a lap that Jaime Alguersauri topped by sixth tenths of a second in his Toro Rosso with the help of the softer compound tyres. Lewis Hamilton proceeded to resume normal service atop the leaderboard, taking a tenth out of Alguersauri on the hard tyres before Button shaved a further tenth from his teammate's time. Vettel then stole the top spot by just three-hundredths of a second before improving to a 1'35.7, a time that would remain the fastest until the arrival of a late flurry of soft tyre runners, the fastest of whom was Nico Rosberg in a more promising performance by the Mercedes team. One driver that didn't feel the need to use soft tyres, in spite of not having KERS available, was Webber, but such was the advantage of the soft tyre that the Australian could only set a time good enough for 16th in his final effort. This became 17th when the other Mercedes of Michael Schumacher launched himself up the field after using the softs, and finally into the drop-zone when Pastor Maldonado clawed his way out of it for Williams. Joining Webber on the sidelines after Q1 were, as ever, all six new-team cars, all of them once more inside the 107% margin required to qualify for the race.
Eliminated – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Timo Glock (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania)
Q2
Alguersauri, as in Q1, used the soft tyres from the off to put in an impressive early showing in the form of a 1'35.9 to kick off the second session of qualifying. Button got his first taste of the softer rubber and posted a time eight tenths quicker than the young Spaniard, but Hamilton was able to go another two tenths better in the sister McLaren. Vettel set a time a tenth slower than Button's at this stage for third, with Vitaly Petrov a further three tenths back in fourth position. Immediately after he set his time however, his Renault coasted to a halt on the exit of turn 4, prompting a temporary stoppage of the session. Because his car stopped on the track, even though he had done enough to secure a place in Q3, his car was taken straight to parc ferme for the remainder of the session as per the rulebook. This would consign the Russian to tenth on the grid. It was thus left to Nick Heidfeld to salvage a good position for Renault, but he was yet to post a time when the session resumed. With just over two minutes remaining on the clock, the German joined a hefty queue consisting of both of the Ferraris, Mercedes, Saubers, Williams and Force Indias at the end of the pit lane. The final man in the train, Paul Di Resta, only just crossed the start line in time to begin one last flying lap, with several cars jockeying ahead for position during the out lap in a bid to ensure a clear track. Luckily for the Scot however, he was already inside the top ten at this point, and remained there when only Nico Rosberg succeeded in escaping elimination. Schumacher would have probably done so also but for a costly mistake at the hairpin which meant he could do no better than 14th. His countryman Heidfeld could only manage a disappointing 16th after getting mired in traffic during his one and only lap of the session.
Eliminated – Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Q3
Just two drivers chose to run twice in the all-important final qualifying session, coincidentally the last two winners of the Chinese Grand Prix – Button and Vettel. The former set his best lap yet at 1'34.4, but the latter put in an utterly blistering 1'33.7 to snatch provisional pole away. Predictably the Toro Rossos of Alguersauri and Sebastien Buemi were both two-and-a-half seconds in arrears of the reigning champion, but Di Resta did an excellent job in splitting the duo in Force India's strongest qualifying showing of the season yet. Fernando Alonso was able to place his Ferrari in a provisional third, a second-and-a-half behind Vettel, but was surprisingly demoted a place by a terrific lap from Rosberg. Hamilton appeared the only man capable of denying Vettel pole position, but a mistake around the final corner of his only lap cost him any chance of doing so, coming third ahead of Rosberg but behind both Vettel and Button. Not on course to beat the provisional pole-sitter, Button aborted his second flying lap to remain in second, whilst Vettel did likewise with no-one left to challenge his authority.
Top 10 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
My Prediction
It looks as if it will be a dry race, so here is my rather conservative prediction for the outcome of Sunday's race:
1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3. Button, 4. Alonso, 5. Massa, 6. Petrov, 7. Rosberg, 8. Kobayashi, 9. Alguersauri, 10. Perez
Call me boring, but I just can't envisage anything except yet another emphatic Vettel triumph in light of his mighty qualifying margin. Hamilton's spare set of softs from only doing one run in Q3 should allow him to overcome Button for the runner-up spot, whilst Ferrari's reasonable race pace will see both of their men jump ahead of Rosberg. Petrov will take advantage of the pace of the Renault to beat the German too, with both Sauber drivers making good use of their cars' gentleness on its tyres to score the Swiss team a double-points finish.
Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your opinions and predictions, and we'll find out tomorrow whether Vettel can convert his third pole position of the season into his third race victory. Hope to see you tomorrow to catch up with all the events on what will hopefully be another exciting race.
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