Saturday, 26 March 2011

2011 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying

What a start to the season! The grid wasn't as unpredictable as some people had hoped for, but many people could not have guessed the time gaps. Sebastian Vettel takes his first pole as World Champion, he beat Lewis Hamilton by 0.7 seconds. That sounds even better when at a press conference he mentioned that he did not use KERS. Like he did for most of last year, Sebastian dominated the session, taking first place in all three segments of qualifying. He left his teammate, and the McLarens miles behind him.

Lewis Hamilton managed to be "the best of the rest", by leapfrogging Mark Webber at the end of Q3. Jenson Button took fourth to make it a relatively successful days work for McLaren, considering their winter practice sessions. Ferrari will be disappointed with their pace, with Alonso taking 5th, and Felipe way back in 8th after spinning while coming out of the pits.

The surprise of the day was Vitaly Petrov. He out-qualified his more experienced teammate by 12 grid slots, taking 6th place. Nico Rosberg, Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastian Buemi completed the Top 10. Further down the grid, Rubens Barrichello made a silly mistake to be stuck in 17th, alongside the poor Nick Heidfeld. Right at the back, Hispania failed qualify with the 107% rule. Team's will be deciding soon their fate for tomorrow.

The Grid for tomorrows race.
1 - Sebastain Vettel (2nd)
2 - Lewis Hamilton (1st)
3 - Mark Webber (3rd)
4 - Jenson Button (6th)
5 - Fernando Alonso (4th)
6 - Vitaly Petrov (25th)
7 - Nico Rosberg (10th)
8 - Felipe Massa (5th)
9 - Kamui Kobayashi (24th)
10 - Sebastian Buemi (18th)
11 - Michael Schumacher (19th)
12 - Jaime Alguersuari (22nd)
13 - Sergio Perez (New)
14 - Paul DiResta (N)
15 - Pastor Maldonado (N)
16 - Adrian Sutil (15th)
17 - Rubens Barrichello (9th)
18 - Nick Heidfeld (12th)
19 - Heikki Kovalainen (11th)
20 - Jarno Trulli (13th)
21 - Timo Glock (14th)
22 - Jerome D'Amborsio (N)
DNQ - Vitantonio Liuzzi (26th)
DNQ - Narain Karthikeyan (N)

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