The Official Formula 1 thread

[Spork]

wtf? since when?

'Last rule modification on Sunday 16th May 2010'

[Scunner]

Does Webber know you have to go around - not through - other cars to pass them?

[Spork]

Red bull gives you wings!

[Zarkov]

Red bull gives you wings!

It must do.


Qualifying - Red Bull sweep to British pole


Sebastian Vettel will start the British Grand Prix from pole position for Red Bull after narrowly beating team mate Mark Webber. The two of them were inseparable in all three sessions, but Vettel just edged out the Australian with a lap of 1m 29.615s compared to 1m 29.758s.

It then transpired that there were only two of the latest RB6 front wings available and that Vettel got the second as a replacement after his original broke in final practice this morning. A tight-lipped Webber simply said: “The team is happy with the result today”.

Behind them, only Fernando Alonso really got anywhere close, and he was seventh-tenths off pole for Ferrari with his lap of 1m 30.426s. Lewis Hamilton drove heroically in a difficult McLaren to take fourth place with 1m 30.556s, and Nico Rosberg was close to him in the Mercedes with 1m 30.625s.

Robert Kubica was his usual determined yet unobtrusive self as he put the lead Renault into sixth spot with 1m 31.040s ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who could not get sufficient temperature into his Bridgestone tyres as he lapped in 1m 31.172s. Rubens Barrichello will start eighth for Williams on 1m 31.175s, with Pedro de la Rosa (1m 31.274s) and Michael Schumacher (1m 31.430s) sharing row five for BMW Sauber and Mercedes respectively.

Webber set the Q2 pace with 1m 30.114s and Vettel ran second on 1m 30.480s after feeling that he just pushed too hard.

Neither of the Force Indias made it through, despite Adrian Sutil pushing really hard to record 1m 31.399s and Vitantonio Liuzzi’s straight-line speed deficit (4 km/h) kept him to 1m 31.708s. That left them 11th and 15th, with Kamui Kobayashi 12th for BMW Sauber on 1m 31.421s, Nico Hulkenberg 13th for Williams on 1m 31.635s and a very disappointed Jenson Button only 14th on 1m 31.699s in the second McLaren. That is assuredly not where the reigning champion had envisaged starting. He just didn’t get the car sorted.

Renault’s Vitaly Petrov had looked very strong in Q1, but had an electronic problem at the start of Q2 and played no real part in it. He lines up 16th on 1m 31.796s, ahead of Sebastien Buemi, who took his Toro Rosso round in 1m 32.012s.

Q1 made it clear what sort of pace would be needed for Q3 as Vettel set the pace with 1m 30.841s from Webber on 1m 30.858s.

[Spork]

Nice work Webber, looks like he is getting a bit of a big head now..

[Zarkov]

Qualifying - Vettel snatches home pole in Germany


Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso led Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in both Q1 and Q2, and again after the first runs in Q3, but on his very last run the German stopped the clocks in 1m 13.791s. And when the dust had settled after the Spaniard had completed his second run he came up just two thousandths of a second short, on 1m 13.793s.

There could scarcely have been a better nor more dramatic scene-setter for Sunday’s German Grand Prix here at Hockenheim.

After Red Bull’s Mark Webber made a mistake in the first sector of his final run, he was jumped by Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, who thus starts third after a lap of 1m 14.290s. Webber is fourth on 1m 14.347s.

Behind them, the McLarens share row three, with Jenson Button acing Lewis Hamilton on their final runs. The former improved to 1m 14.427s, the latter did not improve on 1m 14.566s.

Robert Kubica was seventh for Renault on 1m 15.079s, ahead of Rubens Barrichello on 1m 15.109s for Williams, Nico Rosberg on 1m 15.179s for Mercedes, and Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 15.339s in the second Williams.

Right at the end of Q2, in which Alonso was again fastest with 1m 14.081s, Hulkenberg pushed fellow German - and Mercedes driver - Michael Schumacher out of Q3, leaving the veteran first of the fallers on 1m 15.026s (to Rosberg’s 1m 15.018s). Kamui Kobayashi ran wide in Turn One and thus compromised his chances of getting through, leaving him 12th for BMW Sauber with 1m 15.084s, then came Vitaly Petrov on 1m 15.307s for Renault, Adrian Sutil on 1m 15.467s for Force India, Pedro de la Rosa on 1m 15.550s in the second BMW Sauber and then the Toro Rossos of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi on 1m 15.588s and 1m 15.974s.

In Q1 Vitantonio Liuzzi had just done a 1m 18.952s when he ran wide exiting the final corner, spun and smacked broadside into the pit wall. A front wheel flew off the Force India, and though the Italian was unharmed, the session was red flagged for eight minutes while the debris was cleared up.

When it resumed, Vettel went fastest until he was supplanted by Alonso with 1m 14.808s, and those who didn’t get through were Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen who put Lotus back on top in the newbie stakes with 1m 17.583s and 1m 18.300s respectively; Timo Glock’s Virgin on 1m 18.343s, and Bruno Senna’s HRT on 1m 18.592s. At the back, Liuzzi will start 22nd ahead of Sakon Yamamoto who lapped his HRT in 1m 19.844s and Lucas di Grassi, whose Virgin ran into mechanical problems before he got a timed lap.

Sutil is set to drop five places on Sunday's grid thanks to a gearbox-change penalty following problems in final practice. The German will thus start 19th, with De la Rosa, Alguersuari, Buemi, Trulli and Kovalainen each moving up a place as a result.

Both Virgins will also run new gearboxes in the race, meaning penalties for Glock and Di Grassi. Glock will actually start last on the grid, despite out-qualifying his team mate, as he drops five places for the box change and another five places for an additional gear ratio change.

[Zarkov]

10 poles for Vettel.

Should be a good final race, pity about the time.


Qualifying - Vettel takes vital Yas Marina pole
Qualifying top 3 in parc ferme (L to R): Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren, second; Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing, pole position; Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari, third. Formula One World Championship, Rd 19, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Qual

Sebastian Vettel will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix just where he wants, on pole position after lapping his Red Bull in 1m 39.394s. But the most important qualifying session of the year was a major disappointment for team mate Mark Webber who managed only fifth place in 1m 39.925s and will be separated from Vettel by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Jenson Button.

Earlier, Hamilton had been fortunate to avoid contact with Felipe Massa when, after a big slide on his first lap in Q2, he’d had to back off the pace and resumed just as the Ferrari was alongside. The former champion walloped a camera pole, but his McLaren did not sustain any damage and he recovered his momentum brilliantly to lap second quickest before his time eventually left him fifth in that session.

He already held second place as Q3 drew to its close, but trimmed his time down to 1m 39.425s to demonstrate to Vettel that he may yet have a race on his hands on Sunday. Alonso’s late improvement was bad news for Webber. The Spaniard lapped in 1m 39.792s to jump to third, ahead of Button on 1m 39.823s.

Webber will share row three with Massa, who lapped his F10 in 1m 40.202s, while Williams’ Rubens Barrichello’s 1m 40.203s left him seventh ahead of the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg on 1m 40.516s and 1m 40.589s respectively. Like Massa, both suffered in late-session traffic. Vitaly Petrov was 10th for Renault, with 1m 40.901s.

Vettel redefined the ante in Q2 with the fastest lap of the weekend thus far in 1m 39.874s, ahead of the revitalised Button, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton. Further back, Robert Kubica surprisingly failed to make Q3, taking 11th place behind team mate Petrov with 1m 40.780s in a Renault that still seemed not to be running as well as it did on Friday.

Kamui Kobayashi improved late on but still didn’t make it beyond 12th on 1m 40.783s for BMW Sauber, ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil on 1m 40.914s, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld on 1m 41.113s, Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 41.418s, Tonio Liuzzi whose Force India didn’t look as good as it had on Friday on 1m 41.642s and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 41.738s.

As the sun began to set, Alonso headed Q1 with 1m 40.170s as Sebastien Buemi led those who failed to make the cut after lapping his Toro Rosso in 1m 41.824s. Behind him, Lotus took the new team honours with Jarno Trulli 19th on 1m 43.516s ahead of team mate Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 43.712s.

Timo Glock was close for Virgin but not close enough on 1m 44.095s, which put him ahead of team mate Lucas di Grassi who lapped in 1m 44.510s. Bruno Senna won the intra-team battle at HRT, with 1m 45.085s to Christian Klien’s 1m 45.296s.

[Spork]

Bloody Webber, no chance now.

[Quasikomodo]

GG Vettel

Good job Alonso misses out ... and Fernando it was not Petrov's fault that you couldn't pass him!!

[Speakman]

i feel sorry for webber

[Spork]

=( So do I, but it is his fault for being an idiot in Korea.

Hopefully he will still be good for next year.

[Zarkov]

i feel sorry for webber

Vettel's better.

End of story.

[Spork]

^True, Webber needs more consistency.

Vettel could easily become close to the next Schuey, however he will never be quite as good.

[kilabee]

i feel sorry for webber

Vettel's better.

End of story.

Yes you must realise when you are #2

Edit: I can see why Webber started to throw his toys.Labeled a journey man,then suddenly in a quick car and looking at his only chance to win a world title,and then not getting any favours from his team.He will have to suck it up now and make nice with Vettel because whats his next option? Becoming the number 1 at force India or some other crap team? All the major teams have the drivers locked in next session.He should kiss and make up and then make up the numbers.Not quick enough or consistant enough to be World champ IMO.

[Speakman]

i feel sorry for webber

Vettel's better.

End of story.

but his name is sebastian





plus webber is as close to local as we get

[Thetruereddevil]

^^ now that Brendon Hartley got dropped by Red Bull... he is yeah

better either of them than Alonso however

[Spork]

^Glory hunter.

I disagree that Webber is not WC worthy, he could easily have won it this year.

[Speakman]

im glad he's staying on with Red Bull, but it'l definitely be a #2 slot now

[Spork]

Only as expected, he can not expect anything better really.

[kilabee]

Only as expected, he can not expect anything better really.

The best he can now hope for is for Vettels session to fall apart early in the year because if they are close to each other in points mid year Webber is going to be the bum boy every time.

[Thetruereddevil]

^Glory hunter.

I disagree that Webber is not WC worthy, he could easily have won it this year.

we COULD somehow claim him as a Kiwi.....but no countries do that sorta thing:)

I think he could have won too, was reasonably consistant and fast too. Noone really grabbed the Championship this year, so its unfair to say some deserved it more than others,

[kilabee]

Yea fair enough.I maybe being a little harsh on Webber. First time ever I think 4 drivers have been in the hunt late in the championship. A good finish.
F1 needs more passing.

[Speakman]

ferrari car unveiled today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9378005.stm

[nzjeebs]

The Williams looks awesome as is, too bad this isnt their final livery, seriously i think this is the best looking car on the track right now.


Renault aint looking too bad either:

[Spork]

Yea that Williams looks sweet as! Although they'd probably be royally stuffed if they went with such little amount of sponsorship such as what BAR or Earth Honda or what ever they were called back then did for a year or two.