The qualifying for the Japanese GP was absolutely staggering and eventful indeed. Before the qualifying McLaren had looked quickest but regardless of that it was Sebastian Vettel who snatched pole at the end of Q3 by only 9 thousandths of a second leaving Button 2nd. Hamilton qualified 3rd setting a time 0.1 seconds slower than Vettel.
Some surprises emerged during the qualifying today. Unfortunately Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes was unable to set a time in Q1 due to a hydraulics problem so he´ll face a tough race tomorrow. Otherwise no surprises in Q1. In Q2 we saw some really impressive driving by Sauber´s Kobayashi in front of his home crowd. He managed to set a competitive lap time and made his way to Q3 unlike his team-mate Perez who also suffered from a hydraulics issue. The Renault drivers were back in top ten after Singapore´s disaster as both Petrov and Senna were able to make it through to Q1.
Q3 was absolutely thrilling. After the first runs there was Hamilton in P1, followed by Button and Vettel. For a very short while I was worried that McLaren was going to conquer the front row at Suzuka! But then Vettel came out and made a perfect lap! He was followed by Button who was only 0.009 seconds slower! I´m pretty convinced that Hamilton would have been able to challenge those two for pole but he crossed the line a few seconds after the chequered flag fell so he missed the second run and seemed very disappointed after the qualifying.
There are also a few other things that in my opinion are worth noticing. Massa was able to beat his team-mate Alonso, who went wide during his first attempt and had to abandon the lap. So Massa in P4 and Alonso in P5. Another disappointing qualifying for Webber in his RB7 qualifying 6th alongside Alonso. What also caught my eye was that also Senna was able to beat Petrov although neither of the Renault drivers (in addition to Schumacher and Kobayashi) completed a lap in Q3 so their positions were decided by sector times.
Button seems to have a slight advantage over his team-mate at the moment. I´m sure Button will seriously challenge Vettel at tomorrow´s race, no doubt about it! One one hand I can´t wait for the race tomorrow... On the other hand I love the feeling I´m having at the moment: the feeling that I know Vettel will clinch the title and the anticipation of the highlight of the year... But I definitely know that my world will turn upside down when it really happens, when Vettel will be crowned the youngest-ever double world champion! Last year I couldn´t sleep for two nights after Abu Dhabi GP, which was pretty funny indeed... ;) It´s kind of unbelievable how a person that you don´t know and who you have absolutely nothing to do with in real life can turn your world upside down! But I guess all in all that´s what Formula 1 is all about: create feelings, emotions and experiences for people all over the world!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti