Formula 1 Race Ten: Qualifying

Sakon Yamamoto of Japan replaces Bruno Senna for this race, giving him his first time on track this season. The last time he raced was in 2006!

The usual teams went out in the first round of qualifying, along with Alguersuari. He usually qualifies around this position, but finishes higher in the rankings, with an average qualification position of 16, and an average finish position of 12. His best qualification was 12th.

Despite their problems in practice – and having to scrap their new diffusers – MacLaren seem to be doing okay in qualification. They've done well to catch up with Red Bull and the other teams after being a day behind. Sadly, Button qualified quite low, but Hamilton makes 4th.

Liuzzi held up Hulkenberg during a flying lap in Q2. He has been relegated five places down to twentieth, putting him below Glock and Kovalainen. Will this be an issue for the stewards? Neither made it to Q3, but Hulkenberg might have been able to do better if Liuzzi hadn't been there. However, Rubens Barrichello and Pedro De La Rosa both made it through to Q3, which is a nice surprise.

It was also a good qualification for Kobayashi, especially after having been out in Q1 for the past two races. Today he's twelfth.

It's interesting to watch the Formula 1 live timing on their website, because usually they're a few seconds ahead of the BBC. This means that you see who has the fastest lap before it's on the TV.



I'm going to give 'awards' each race: Worst Retirement, Surprisingly Bad Driver, Surprisingly Good Driver, Best of the New Teams, Best of the Rest, Surprisingly Good Qualification and Surprisingly Bad Qualification.

The Surprisingly Bad Qualification goes, indisputably, to Button. He's only managed to make 14, which is far behind his team-mate in a similar car.
The Surprisingly Good Qualification goes to De La Rosa, who has never before made it into Q1, but today makes 9.