A lot of teams brought big updates for this weekend. Red Bull have revised the way they manage the tyres after their temper tantrum with Pirelli failed to get compounds changed to work in their favour. You're no Ferrari guys! McLaren stated after Australia where the dismal pace of the car shocked us all that they were expecting their first big upgrades of the season in Spain. The only thing that can pick them out from the shuck is a miracle. Further down the grid, Caterham revealed that this is to be the first round where they run an all 2013 spec car. Is is enough to seize back 'best of the rest' from Marussia?
Watching live BBC coverage today made me realise that they do an awful lot of features with drivers from the back of the grid, particularly with Max Chilton. This doesn't really look good when all you can get is a rookie driver from a struggling team every round. I suppose though an F1 driver is an F1 driver.
That being said, they managed to secure a chance interview with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. When asked about the calendar next year he replied "I haven't got one together yet but there will be 20 races." Bernie confirmed that the developing Sochi Circuit in Russia will definitely feature next year, but then asked in place of what he replied with a very serious manner: "Silverstone." The shock in both Suzi Perry's eyes and Eddie Jordan's was evident. He refused to confirm which one but he mentioned Spa, one of the Germany's and the outright exclusion of Valencia. In the end, he admitted he was joking about Silverstone and mentioned that a decision on the New Jersey street circuit will not be made for "another few months."
I would also like to wish Pat Fry to get all the better very soon after being rushed to hospital with kidney stones.
Q1 - In modern F1 fashion, we expect the usual suspects will bow out straight away, what was also becoming a staple was a Williams would join them, followed by F1 danger man Esteban Gutierrez. This time last year, Pastor Maldonado stormed to pole, but this year he joined his Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas in slipping out of the action early. Maldonado's woes may get worse as he is under investigation for holding up Jenson Button.
It looked to me as an offence and I accept that, but Jenson Button does not get to decide when and who gets a penalty. All he should have said was "Pastor held me up, tell the stewards." Not; "that's a definite penalty." I am disliking Jenson more and more every race weekend, his attitude has gotten severely worse since Sergio Perez out paced him in Bahrain, and his bitchy whiny attitude is not helping the situation at McLaren.
OUT - BOT, MAL, VDG, BIA, CHI, PIC
Q2 - After Gutierrez held up Kimi Raikkonen in Q1, he would have needed to up his game to minimise the damage inflicted by his impending grid penalty. But once again the boy has let himself down by a poor showing. I reckon someone should find this boy a plane home because he's taking up a place that should be held by a competent driver. Not a lot of on screen action but one thing I did take away was the tyre degradation in terms of used tyres. Kimi only used the hard tyres in Q1, but Sebastian Vettel used a set for 1 lap (out lap, time lap, in lap) and then used that tyre for the first run in Q2. The drop in performance was huge compared to what it should be. Issue is, is that Red Bull's updates failing or Pirelli failing to make a decent tyre?
Huge disappointment for McLaren, baby Button as his updated car just flopped. His first time wasn't quicker than anybody else's, his second one only lifted him up two places. Perhaps the biggest blow was the fact that Perez looks as if he made some progress.
OUT - RIC, VER, SUT, BUT, HUL, GUT
Q3 - It looks as though the deciding factor for a good lap is sector 3, and the only team to be able to make the most out of it was Mercedes. I predicted before the session that Fernando Alonso would be quickest. Midway through Q2 I stated Rosberg could be a good shout. Then as soon as Q3 begun I said a Mercedes lockout looks on.
Even though my initial prediction was wrong, my foresight came through and Mercedes secured positions 1 and 2 with Nico Rosberg on top. I can only hope they have fixed that issue of lack of race pace. They'll need it considering Kimi starts in P4 and Alonso starts in P5, the two best starts in Formula 1 at the minute.
What Mercedes will be glad of is that statistics are on their side. For the last 16 years, the winner has started on the front row. However, the massive scrap from Alonso and Raikkonen will be enough to shake the stats, it looks like it will be a classic race, but something tells me the top of the podium will be very icy tomorrow.
FINAL STANDINGS (AUTOSPORT):
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.718s 2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.972s + 0.254s 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.054s + 0.336s 4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.177s + 0.459s 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.218s + 0.500s 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.219s + 0.501s 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.308s + 0.590s 8. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.570s + 0.852s 9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.069s + 1.351s 10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.233s + 1.515s Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.019s Gap ** 11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.127s + 1.126s 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.166s + 1.165s 13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m22.346s + 1.345s 14. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.166s + 2.165s 15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.389s + 1.388s 16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.793s + 1.792s Q1 cut-off time: 1m23.218s Gap * 17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m23.260s + 1.532s 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.318s + 1.590s 19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m24.661s + 2.933s 20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.713s + 2.985s 21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.996s + 3.268s 22. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m25.070s + 3.342s
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