Penalties: Petrov 5 places for crashing out Hulkenberg at Suzuka.
Q1: It was the Force Indias who struggled to qualify today. Heidfeld kept having to pull himself out of danger, but as Liuzzi failed to get a fast-enough lap right at the end of the session, he ended up out in eighteenth. Senna failed to qualify ahead of Yamamoto for the first time, but the Japanese's time was very close to the Virgin of Di Grassi. The two ex-Toyota drivers, Trulli and Glock, were best of the new drivers, with Glock just behind his old teammate, while Kovalainen was further back.
Q2: No real surprises. The BBC commentators predicted that the McLarens, Red Bulls, Ferraris, Mercedes, Barrichello and Kubica would go through, and they were right. Alguersuari outqualifies Buemi for the third race in a row. Petrov qualifies fifteenth, dropping him down to twentieth after the penalty.
Q3: After some tense racing, the two Red Bulls get it together. Vettel, who had in past races been uncomfortable with his car, scrapes P1 by less than a tenth of a second, with Webber next to him on the front row. Alonso is P3 with a disappointed Hamilton in fourth. Button only manages seventh behind Rosberg and Massa.
It might rain tomorrow, so if that happens everything could change. There's also plenty of opportunity for overtaking early in the race.
Showing posts with label race 17. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race 17. Show all posts
22/10/2010
Formula 1 Race Seventeen: Preview
Red Bull can't quite get ahead
The inaugural Korean Grand Prix started today. The initial predicted times of 1 minute 44 seconds turned out to be false, with faster times coming up in practice 1 and 2.
It was hard for the Red Bulls to take advantage of the sectors of the track that really suited their car – the bendy sectors two and three – because they lost out a lot on sector one's two long straights, which suit the McLarens.
Hispania had the worst of the weekend, with Senna out in practice 1 after some kind of car failure that Hispania will not confirm as a suspension failure. Yamamoto also had problems, losing control of his car into a 360 degree spin and stalling in practice 2. The session was red-flagged. However, Hispania did get both cars going again, although Senna only managed a few minutes right at the end of the second practice session.
The track started slippery because of its freshness, but rubbered up over time. There was a lot of dust on the track, and especially in the pit lane, that was making visibility difficult for some teams. Tyres were wearing out quickly on the new tarmac, so if this continues we could see a lot of tyre changes in the race... except for the 60% chance of rain on Sunday thanks to a typhoon heading China's way.
Jenson Button, on this Grand Prix, is now joint with Nigel Mansell as England's most experienced Formula One drivers with 187 races. In the whole of Britain, David Coulthard is the most experienced on 246.
The inaugural Korean Grand Prix started today. The initial predicted times of 1 minute 44 seconds turned out to be false, with faster times coming up in practice 1 and 2.
It was hard for the Red Bulls to take advantage of the sectors of the track that really suited their car – the bendy sectors two and three – because they lost out a lot on sector one's two long straights, which suit the McLarens.
Hispania had the worst of the weekend, with Senna out in practice 1 after some kind of car failure that Hispania will not confirm as a suspension failure. Yamamoto also had problems, losing control of his car into a 360 degree spin and stalling in practice 2. The session was red-flagged. However, Hispania did get both cars going again, although Senna only managed a few minutes right at the end of the second practice session.
The track started slippery because of its freshness, but rubbered up over time. There was a lot of dust on the track, and especially in the pit lane, that was making visibility difficult for some teams. Tyres were wearing out quickly on the new tarmac, so if this continues we could see a lot of tyre changes in the race... except for the 60% chance of rain on Sunday thanks to a typhoon heading China's way.
Jenson Button, on this Grand Prix, is now joint with Nigel Mansell as England's most experienced Formula One drivers with 187 races. In the whole of Britain, David Coulthard is the most experienced on 246.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)