By Charles Oladeji.
Red Bull Resume Qualifying Dominance.
There was an old familiar sight at the Qualifying Session of the Australian Grand Prix Albert Park this Saturday morning, with two Red Bulls in 1st and 3rd pole position .You've got to love the way BBC Pundits feigned ignorance while commenting on Sebastian Vettel's radio message to his crew after a lighting lap that saw his Red Bull Car named 'Kinky Kylie' blow away the opposition with astounding pace to take 1st pole.
Vettel's radio message 'We are, who we are' isn't so difficult to decipher considering reported comments attributed to Lewis Hamilton earlier in the week, in which he questioned Red Bull Racings' future intentions, since the company is primarily a 'Drinks Company'. Vettel seized pole with the ridiculously fast time of 1.23.529 on his best qualifying lap. The intensity of Vettel's car handling was palpable to viewers watching his on-board camera while he flew 'flat-out' through each section during his best qualifying lap. What's more, Vettel placed his car on pole without KERS.
Unfortunately, Aussie favourite Mark Webber struggled to keep up with his team mates' pace during this inaugural 2011 qualifying session, but did manage to place his car on the second row of the grid coming in third, 0.866 of a second behind Vettel's best. According to Team Principal Christian Horner, Mark Webber had more difficulty than Vettel going into the final sector of his qualifying laps.
It’s worth noting that Red Bull Racing have been traditionally fast at Qualifying Sessions over past two years, but have at times also struggled to keep consistency going into Grand Prix races; the real test of Red Bull usually comes down to each race, as Qualifying is usually dominated by them of late.
McLaren Shut Doubters Down.
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and McLaren proved doubters wrong including BBC Pundits, one of whom was handed a symbolic piece of humble pie from McLaren after the session. Hamilton grabbed 2nd pole position, with a time of 1.24.501.
Despite a KERS failure during his qualifying lap, there's some doubt whether he’d have had the pace to catch Vettel by making up 0.778 of a second, but considering the negative press McLaren has had to endure lately, 2nd place on the grid is way above expectations. Hamilton's team mate and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button sneaked ahead of Fernando Alonso placing his car in forth position. It's the same grid position Button had in the 2010 Australian Grand Prix which he won by applying a winning pit stop strategy.
Ferrari Baffle With Mediocre Qualifying Performance.
Surprisingly, Fernando Alonso and Filipe Massa of Scuderia Ferrari were in 5th and 8th respectively. During pre-season practice, Ferrari's F150 had looked as aggressive and dangerous as a hungry threatened Cobra. Their grid position has come as a inexplicable shock to many who had thought that Ferrari seemed at the cusp of dethroning Red Bull.
Alonso is just in front of 6th placed Vitaly Petrov in the new livery Renault; the man who effectively blocked Alonso's path to the 2010 championship in Abu Dhabi last year. Massa in particular is having a torrid time at Ferrari, and this qualifying session further demonstrated that when he spun out just coming out of the pits.
Hispania Racing Fail to Make the 107% Grade.
At the other end of the qualifying spectrum, only Hispania Racing fell foul of the 107% FiA rule that prohibits any team more than 107% behind the first qualifier taking part in the race. It’d been predicted by analysts that Virgin Racing could also be disqualified by the 107% rule, but the team managed to sneak through in last place.
Top Ten grid positions and qualifying times:
2. L. Hamilton +0.778
3. W. Webber +0.866
4. J. Button +1.250
5. F. Alonso +1.445
6 V. Petrov +1.718
7. N. Rosberg +1.892
8. F. Massa + 2.070
9. K.Kobayashi +2.097
10. S. Buemi +3.537
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment