I think Webber's half-joke about missing Quali to have all new tyres is semi serious. The stats guys will do overtime to assess the margin required on prime and option in Q1 to be faster than the last 7. Then can they use the same tyre or not in Q2 to get into the final 10? Remember they are starting with 3 sets of each tyre. A really serious 2 lap run early with few cars out in each of Q1 and Q2 might give a good enough time? Then they either miss out on Q3 to keep new tyres finishing say 11th or 12th but have the choice of which tyre to start the race with. If it works out they get into the top 10 with minimum effort. Just might be one of the possible tactics next time?
Bergkamp: you raise a good point (as ever). The way things are looking at the moment, tyre preservation is considerably more important than a few places on the grid - apart from Vettel perhaps who really seems to need clear air and no fight. This is something all teams are going to have to study very carefully and may result in some changes to the regulations (with regard to qualifying). But for now of course - and the rest of this season at least - it should be obvious that qualifying has become far less important with so many variables and lots more overtaking. This is an over-simplification but what we saw today was the best car being beaten by a real fighter. Red Bull's strategy (for Vettel) was immediately compromised by his poor start. If he had done as expected and retained P1 from the start, their strategy would almost certainly have proven to be correct.
Tyre's are the critical issue this year not doubt about it, Lewis Hamilton understands the importance of this as demonstrated by his intelligent driving behaviour over the weekend as does a certain Aussie, outstanding brilliant drives by both, also nice to see Massa believing in himself once more. Jenson showed us some confused grey matter, long suspected he suffered from this problem on occasion, concentration not his strongest asset.
