Formula 1 Race Eleven: Qualifying

Several unscheduled changes to cars have resulted in five place drops for Sutil (gearbox) and Di Grassi (same). They had to try especially hard to make it as far as possible through the qualifying. Sutil's gearbox change comes after problems in practice 3, forcing him to spend most of the session in the pits, but after missing most of practice 2, Hamilton did well in practice 3.

With 14'30” left in qualifying 1, the session was red flagged after a terrible smash from Liuzzi on the home straight after going wide into a damp area of the track. He had already set a time, and seems to be fine, but his car front was completely smashed up. However, it benefited Timo Glock, whose car was still being worked on, giving Virgin more time to check things over and get him ready to set a time.

It seemed likely that Liuzzi and the three new teams would go out in Q1, unless something extraordinary happened. After yet another gearbox problem, Di Grassi failed to set a time at all, putting him at the back of the field. However, Sutil's problems seemed to be sorted as he did well and made it into Q2. In the end, only Hispania's Yamamoto failed to make Liuzzi's time set earlier in the race.

In Q2, Schumacher just failed to make it through to Q3 qualifying 11th, thanks to a great lap from Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, fastest-man-in-the-world Barrichello made it through along with Rosberg and Kubica, and Alonso set an incredibly fast time of 1.14.081. All through the practise and qualifying sessions he has been one of the fastest (and often the fastest) drivers, making up for his bad luck in the past three races. Sutil's five place drop from 14th to 19th boosts Kovalainen, Trulli, Buemi, Alguersuari and De La Rosa up a place each.

Q3 was Alonso's until the very end, when the drivers came out to take their final laps. In the end, Webber went wide on his flying lap, losing him time, but Vettel went first, placing Alonso second, but on the front of the grid for the first time this season. Vettel set a lap time of 1.13.791. Meanwhile, Massa was third and the other Red Bull in fourth. Button and Hamilton claim the third row.