The forecast is for a dry race tomorrow but the track is wet and rain is expected during qualifying.
Vettel was fastest in the first practice session, followed by Webber, Hamilton, Button and Kubica; second practice saw a similar line-up with SV fastest again, followed by MW, FA, LH & FM. As for the final practice session it was RK
Remember that AS and SB both have five grid-spot penalties waiting for them after incidents in the Korean Grand Prix.
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
SB first out of the pit lane – he’s on intermediate tyres … as are everyone else as they stream out on to the track
All 24 cars on track
SB 1:22.744
MW 1:21.272
(FM P2)
(VP P2)
NHu 1:21.077
VL slides off track; recovers right in front of his Force India team-mate, spoiling both their laps
MS 1:20.940
NHu 1:20.537
(RB P2)
MW 1:19.950
SV 1:19.855
There’s a reasonable dry line appearing
Pit-car for LH saying rain is expected soon
FA 1:19.842
10mins left of Q1; bottom 7 are AS, TG, JT, HK, LDG, BS, CK
[Christian Klien has replaced Yamamoto for this race]
NR runs wide in turn 4
SV 1:19.160
Pit-car radio for FA tell him the expected rain will be quite light
FA almost loses the tail but keeps his Ferrari on the track
MW 1:19.025
5mins left of Q1; bottom 7 are AS, TG, JT, HK, LDG, BS, CK
Pit-car from LH says his (intermediate) tyres are going off
(AS P16) – that relegates his team-mate
BS spins the HRT
(VL P17) – that pushes AS back to the drop zone
Chequered flag falls on Q1
FA 1:18.987
Back of the grid will be: AS*, TG, JT, HK, LDG, CK, BS
*AS has a 5 grid-spot penalty to be applied
Qualifying session 2 (Q2)
Pit-car radio from RB asking about rain – his engineer says no more rain forecast
SB 1:20.257
RK 1:20.194
LH 1:20.097
FA 1:19.708
MW 1:19.694
(MS P2)
RK 1:19.677
RB 1:19.384 … as you’d expect, he should know his local circuit 🙂
SV 1:19.218
MW 1:18.851 … must be getting close to time to change to dry tyres
(RK P2)
Pit-car for LH says they may want to put dry tyres on before the end of Q2; LH says track won’t dry out enough
SV 1:18.839
LH pits – fresh set of inters
5mins left of Q2; bottom 7 are VP, SB, FM, KK, VL, JA, NHe
(JA P10) – that pushes JB to P11
MW 1:18.516
(FM P8)
(JB P7)
1min left; bottom 7 are KK, FM, NR, JA, SB, NHe, VL
Chequered flag falls on Q2
(FM P10) – that’s pushed JB to P11 and he’s in the pits
Middle of the (provisional) grid will be: P11=JB, KK, NR, JA, SB*, NHe, VL
*SB has a 5 grid-spot penalty to add
Qualifying session 3 (Q3)
Battling for the top 10 spots are: MW, SV, RK, LH, MS, RB, FA, NHu, VP & FM
FA leads the train out of the pit lane
Looks like everyone’s still on inters
Weather radar says no rain for next 30 mins, and Q3 is only 10 mins so it should be a dry session
FA seeking out puddles to cool his tyres
BBC say LH’s pit board says “L6” so he’s fuelled for 6 laps
FA 1:17.794
MW 1:17.482
LH 1:17.212
(SV P2)
(MS P2)
MW & LH pit for dry tyres
Long hold for MS in the pit box – team’s waiting for the right moment to release him
Everyone bar MS on track
3mins left as MS exits the pits; order is LH, MS, SV, FA, MW, NHu, VP, RK, FM, RB
RK runs wide but keeps it out of the wall
LH can’t improve on his P1 time
MW slithers behind FA – touches the grass
NHu 1:16.373 – provisional pole for the Williams
LH 1:16.274
(MW P6)
FA 1:15.989
NHu 1:15.462
Chequered flag – final flying laps are critical
(LH P2)
(MW P2)
(SV P2)F
NHu 1:14.470 – he didn’t need to finish that lap but he’s really made a point – he’s over 1 second faster than SV (P2)
So the front of the grid: P1=NHu, SV, MW, LH, FA, RB, RK, MS, FM, VP
Provisional grid: NHu, SV, MW, LH, FA, RB, RK, MS, FM, VP, JB, KK, NR, JA, [SB*] NHe, VL, [AS*] TG, JT, HK, SB, LDG, CK, AS, BS
*AS & SB each have a 5 grid-spot penalty to be applied
“Armed men have attacked a car carrying British Formula 1 driver Jenson Button in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. Button was unhurt, said a statement from the McLaren F1 team.” [BBC]