Mark Webber ended the unblemished run of pole positions attained this season so far by Sebastian Vettel in qualifying for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. The Australian set a time exactly two tenths of a second faster than his Red Bull teammate in the final qualifying session to do so, albeit with the advantage of having fully functioning KERS. Lewis Hamilton will begin 'best of the rest' behind the dominant Red Bulls in third.
Q1
Formula one tyre supplier Pirelli announced earlier in the week that they would be bringing a harder tyre compound to the Catalunya circuit, reported by the drivers in practice to be in excess of two seconds slower than the soft compound without being much more durable. Bearing that in mind, it made for a difficult decision for teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault as to whether to use the hards in Q1, thus saving a fresh set of softs. Red Bull were easily fast enough not to have to, with Webber setting the early pace with a 1'23.9, a time Vettel couldn't initially match with an effort a full four tenths slower. Webber then raised the bar to a 1'23.6 before the Toro Rosso men of Jaime Algersauri and Sebastien Buemi demonstrated the advantage of the soft tyres by both coming within a tenth of the man they will doubtless be hoping to succeed at Red Bull. Eventually, Vitaly Petrov stole the top spot with the help of the softs with a 1'23.1, a time bested by a tenth by Michael Schumacher, who would remain atop the timesheets for the remainder of the session. Ferrari's Felipe Massa felt the need to use the softs in order to save himself from the prospect of elimination, but in the event a gearbox failure for Rubens Barrichello and a fire during final practice for Nick Heidfeld (the damage done by which couldn't be repaired in time) meant there was no real threat despite an impressive showing for Heikki Kovalainen for Team Lotus. Jarno Trulli in the second of the green cars, along with both Virgins and Hispanias, join Barrichello and Heidfeld in filling the rear seven slots of the grid.
Eliminated – Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Timo Glock (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Nick Heidfeld (Renault)
Q2
Besides the two Force India drivers of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta, everybody opted for the soft tyres in Q2. A pecking order quickly established itself as Webber and Vettel set a 1'21.8 and 1'21.5 respectively, a fair margin faster than the McLarens of Jenson Button and Hamilton who could both only muster 1'22.1s. Mercedes and Ferrari were next, with Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso all within two tenths of each other in the fight for fifth, but Massa was looking decidedly lacklustre, limping into Q3 with a time just about good enough for tenth place. That put him behind both Petrov and more surprisingly Pastor Maldonado, who gave the beleaguered Willams team something to smile about by guaranteeing himself by far his best ever grid position with a place in Q3. Both Toro Rossos and Saubers failed to cut the mustard, but the Force India team realised they were too slow to challenge for anything much more than 16th and 17th places, and therefore elected to save the softs and only set times on the hards. This meant that Kovalainen, notwithstanding the fact he unashamedly used softs in the process, was able to reach a commendable 15th place.
Eliminated – Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Adrian Sutil (Force India)
Q3
Like last time, Q3 was a session of two halves as only the Red Bulls and McLarens did early runs, waiting to see later on if it was worth trying to improve, with the rest posting their sole times towards the end of the ten minute window. Button, Hamilton, Vettel and Webber exited the pits in that order near the beginning of the session, and incidentally ended up in reverse order in the standings; Webber precisely two tenths clear of Vettel, hobbled by his KERS not working, with the McLarens close together but the best part of a second shy of the provisional pole-sitter. The paddock waited to see if Vettel would run again to try and keep up his perfect streak of poles, but he ultimately chose not to and settled for second on the grid beside his teammate. To everybody's surprise, Fernando Alonso was able to put a smile on the faces of his home fans by splitting the two McLarens, with Petrov and Rosberg securing sixth and seventh places. Massa could only manage a rather disappointing eighth, beating Maldonado and Schumacher who shrewdly set no time, allowing him to start on hard tyres for the race.
Top Ten – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Jenson Button (Red Bull), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
My Prediction
Last year's Spanish Grand Prix would suggest that the Catalunya circuit is one of the few where Webber has the upper hand over his teammate, so I'm going to back him for his maiden win of the season:
1. Webber, 2. Vettel. 3. Alonso, 4. Hamilton, 5. Schumacher, 6. Rosberg, 7. Massa, 8. Heidfeld, 9. Kobayashi, 10. Buemi
They say the screams of the home fans can make a tangible difference, and if Alonso could out-qualify Button, on the evidence of Turkey I see no reason why he can't out-race Hamilton if his strategy is sound. Schumacher's strategic gamble will pay off, and he'll log his best result of the season so far just ahead of Rosberg and Massa. Heidfeld will 'do a Webber' to claw his way up to eighth, with Kobayashi and Buemi rounding out the points-scorers as Button and Petrov collide (I know I predicted the same thing at Turkey, but just give it time).
Though the Spanish Grand Prix has traditionally been something of a snooze-fest, the new regulations should ensure that most definitely is not the case tomorrow. As ever, there'll be a full report of all the events right here.
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