Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

lauantai 28. maaliskuuta 2015

Malaysia GP / Qualifying: Vettel split the Mercedes duo in thunder-hit qualifying!

Dark clouds were lurking over Sepang International Circuit when Q1 got underway. That meant one thing: everyone rushed out to set a banker lap in case heavens suddenly opened. Tyre strategy varied from team to team: Sauber, McLaren, Force India and Mercedes headed out on mediums whilst Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams made their first run on the orange-marked hard tyres. The sky darkened minute by minute and there were lightnings lighting up the sky. Hamilton and Rosberg topped the time sheets although they made only one run at the beginning of the session. One flyer was enough also for Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of his SF15-T and the German was 3rd fastest of the first session. Both Toro Rossos and Red Bulls came out on the mediums at the end of the session and made their way through to Q2. Sauber´s Nasr was the first driver to be knocked out of Q2. The McLaren duo missed out on Q2 as well: Button ended up in P17 and his team-mate Alonso in P18. A frustrating result for McLaren but at least they didn´t have any reliability issues, which is a good sign. Manor managed to get their car on track in free practice sessions but in the qualifying Stevens was unable to drive due to a fuel system failure and Merhi´s lap time wasn´t within the 107 % rule.

Thunderclaps boomed when Q2 got underway. Sebastian´s Ferrari was the first car in the long queue of drivers who were ready to rush out on track. It was only a matter of time when the rain would start to fall so it was all about the first run! Rosberg nailed it and made it P1. Sebastian set an excellent lap time as well and the German jumped in P2! Bottas at the wheel of his FW36 proved that all his back problems were history and the Finn was 3rd fastest. Kimi on the other hand got stuck behind Sauber´s Ericsson and got hampered by traffic. That´s why Kimi was unable to set a lap time competitive enough but ended up in P11! A massive downpour arrived mid-way through Q2 which meant there was no chance to improve your lap time. Kimi was out of Q3! What a huge disappointment after the staggering pace the Finn showed in all free practice sessions! Kimi had been faster than his team-mate all weekend but when it mattered the most everything went wrong... I was so so gutted for Kimi, I´m sure he would have been there fighting for P3 or even a front row grid spot! Also Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Perez and Sainz were out of the final session.

There were two 15 minutes´ delays to the final shootout for pole due to the heavy rain. Williams, Lotus and Sauber erred in their choice of full wets and quickly had to change rubber. Against all odds the fight for pole got mightily close. Hamilton took provisional pole but Vettel came dangerously close to snatching pole! Sebastian´s lap time was only 7 hundredths of a second off Hamilton´s best! Rosberg on the other hand was unable to pull out a perfect lap and the German couldn´t make his way higher than P3 today. Sebastian showed the potential the new Ferrari have! It was absolutely magnificent to see Sebastian splitting the Mercedes duo! Ricciardo at the wheel of his RB11 qualified 4th and his team-mate Kvyat 5th, which was great work from the Red Bull duo. Red Bull and their engine supplier Renault have had their disagreements lately so an achievement like this makes everything look a bit better at least. Verstappen in his Toro Rosso showed some extraordinarily mature performance by qualifying 6th! Williams´ mistake on tyre choice appeared to cost them: Massa made it P7 and Bottas only P9 today. The wet conditions clearly didn´t suit Williams who had been struggling with the balance of the car whole weekend. Grosjean in his Lotus qualified 8th but the Frenchman was penalised two grid spots for leaving the pit lane out of sequence in Q2. Bottas and Ericsson are the drivers to gain from the penalty. Ericsson´s performance has impressed me: the Swede has made a huge step forward after the setback-filled last season!

Ferrari´s pace on the long runs has been impressive, even better than that of Mercedes. I believe there´s a real chance that Sebastian can challenge the Mercedes team-mates for victory tomorrow! Ferrari has been the smoothest looking car on track this weekend and Mercedes on the other hand has faced some reliability issues. The weather in Malaysia can turn out to be anything but I´m sure Sebastian will be strong in the race, no matter if it´s wet or dry! Kimi has a very difficult starting position: the Iceman will start from P11 with Grosjean ahead and Maldonado behind him... Knowing Grosjean´s and Maldonado´s propensity to get involved in collisions it´s definitely not the best possible place to start to the race. But Kimi has an impressive race pace and I´m sure he can storm his way up in valuable points if only the Iceman makes his way through the first corners without getting hit by anyone. In the hot and humid Malaysia Ferrari is closer to Mercedes than ever before and I´m sure Sebastian will "smell blood" when chasing down Hamilton into the first corner!

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