Not gloating here, but if anyone's interested, the last time Vettel qualified this low was at the 2010 Italian GP, which coincidentally, was when Red Bull really started to abuse the EBDs.
I agree AG. It's a quick car but at the moment it's also like trying to balance a pencil on its point. As Mifune has said: this car has a tiny sweet-spot. Harsh! However, ultimately, it's very difficult to argue a case for Massa. With performances like this, not only would it seem he is unlikely to contribute much to sorting the car out, but one wonders if he will still be with Ferrari as the season draws to a close. One thing is virtually written in stone: he will not be driving for Ferrari next season.
Surely now is the time to replace Massa with Kubica? Just so he can get some experience with it and actually be good for next season.
an interesting point is that raikonnen was out in the first part of qualifying but said that it was because he made a mistake and no one told him that he was running out of time to get another lap in. if this is true and he still has goo pace, do you think that the lotus couldf have been a more serious threat for the pole position? and i was just wondering, was hamiltons time on a used set of softs, i heared david coulthard say something like that?
He had new Options, it was Nicole and Michael who had the used ones. But seeing his lap, it looked like a really easy lap to put in.
Assuming Kubica's ready to race by mid season I'd get him in as soon as he's fit. According to Ted Kravitz the McLarens and Red Bull both went out on fresh sets, it was Mercedes who had to do their first run on used.
Did Lewis abandon his last timed run as Jenson didn't beat it? Or has the lack of sleep affected my judgement again?
Fantastic result, couldn't be happier Glad to see a lot of surprises in there. We could be in for an interesting season...
If anybody has the timing app, can you tell me what Lewis' times were, before he abandoned it of course. Thank you.
No? There's the time game and then there's the points game. You could pull a gap of 50+ seconds but only pull away from your nearest rival by a few points in the end if he finishes 2nd. Or your nearest rival for the season could only finish 5 seconds behind, but would only finish 6th so the points gap would be bigger. Don't all F1 fans clutch straws? Think I could call half the posters here hypocrites if they suggested they weren't.
Vettel made a mistake, and webber did not have Kers wheras both VMM put in tidy laps 2011 Vettel had the best car (with an ebd that teams could not copy) that was quick on all tracks with no challenge from his team mate + team orders 2012 VMM have no team orders, and a slim advantage (compared to the benefits of a rb ebd) that may or may not be quick (dominant) over race distance, with RB yet to really show their hand imo. From what I have read in pre-season Merc are not too kind on their tires, and could well lose their drs activated front wing stalling device. + I highly doubt romain will keep qualifying 3rd. So theres a few places. However you look at it, one swallow does not make a summer. Nobody wants a run-away winner, and with 2x VMM drivers at the front, that's unllikely.
A good chance for him to prove to people he can ruff it and overtake from lower down and still do well like Jenson and Alonso, rather than just winning from the front by having outright pace early on and then "managing his race" for 50-60 laps. Could still enhance his rep this year even if he doesn't win the WDC.
As a Caterham fan, there's already alarm bells ringing for me! If you discount Raikkonen's time as being a duff lap, then Kovalainen was 2 seconds off the next car in Q1, and has a 2 and a half second margin back to Glock. Seems like they're in for another season stuck in no-mans land. I've not seen quali yet, but I'm told Karthikeyan held Kovalainen up a bit in the final sector, but that isn't going to give 2 seconds in lap time, and his fastest lap from FP3 was only 3 tenths faster. Hopefully the car has good race pace though! Quali would suggest they can get ahead of the Marussia and HRT's quite easily, and Kovalainen was usually a fast starter last season, so hopefully he can make some good positions early on and have the pace to hold onto them.
I don't agree, Silver. A lot of F1 fans watch the sport impartially and don't feel the need to clutch at straws the way specific team or driver fans do. I think today was a disappointing day for Ferrari fans, a bit of a 'meh' day for Vettel fans, a good day for Mercedes and McLaren fans, and a bit of a mixed bag for Lotus fans. Beneath all that, though, it's a great day because F1's back and the grinding predictability of last season has, for a weekend at least, been upset a little. It's impossible to extrapolate anything from a single qualifying session, especially one in Melbourne. If you do then you also have to consider the possibility that Lotus and Mercedes simply have fundamentally strong cars and that Red Bull's recent advantage was entirely due to exploiting the EBD better than anyone else and we'll now see them slip back into the midfield. It's just one possibility in a myriad of variation. For me, today proves nothing in terms of a 2012 McLaren/Red Bull battle. What it does is hint at the possibility that this season may be a classic. Rejoice, therefore.
