Chinese Grand Prix 2011: 1st Qualifying session – Formula One highlights (part 3)
The big boys had joined the party, yet the likes of Toro Rosso and Mercedes were making their presence felt. The timesheets were changing like a volatile stock market, making it extremely hard to place a safe bet. Who would survive the first qualifying spell?
Meanwhile, Jarno Trulli in his Lotus headed the relegation zone. Would the Italian be able to use his experience to slingshot into the elite top 17 club to fare in the second qualifying period?
Virtually, half of the first qualifying session had passed. 10 minutes still remained. Jenson Button had another bite at the Shanghai cherry. The Briton was the first to enter the 1 minute 35 second zone to go top of the charts. As seen before, the moment of joy was temporary. Sebastian Vettel was present yet again to gatecrash the McLaren party. The current world champion surpassed Button’s time immediately to overtake him and go top – Not an unfamiliar environment for the German these days.
Switching to the harder compound Pirellis after his first stint in the softer rubber, Vettel managed to go even faster – two tenths under his own best time. Was it inclination that the hard Pirellis were a much better option on the Shanghai circuit or the fact that the Red Bull was finally beginning to spread its wings?
However, little of the same could be said about Mark Webber who continued to struggle with life in his Red Bull. The Australian was down in 7th spot which, given the credentials of the Red Bull, is quite a poor position to be in. With that said, it could also be argued that since Webber’s car was operating without the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), he was at a slight disadvantage.
On the contrary, it also enabled him to shed the weight of the device to ensure better cornering in a lighter car. Also, since it was the first of the three qualifying periods, the Australian might have been conserving his machinery to go full out in the remaining two qualifying periods and the race on the following day.
Heikki Kovalainen headed the relegation zone in his Lotus. With nearly two thirds of the qualifying session already gone, could he do better based on the machinery at his disposal?
Continued in part 4...
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