Formula One Highlights: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Qualifying. Part 4
The 2nd qualifying session was in for a dramatic end. With the chequered flag already waved at the end of the 15 minute limit, drivers were driving the wheels of their respective machines in order to make their mark before the classification window
drew to a close.
Jenson Button set the 2nd fastest time, going one up on his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The McLarens were indeed a powerful combo on the day. Robert Kubica on the other hand, was struggling down in 11th and needed to improve with his
final roll of the dice. Nico Rosberg was 10th and was on his hot lap too.
The young German in the Mercedes managed to go 3rd quickest a minute later. The big news however for the session was Robert Kubica failing to make it to Q3 – It was the first time this season that the Polish driver failed to make it through to
Q3. Owing to the regulations for the season, the Renault driver was rather hard done by as he couldn’t tinker with his fueling to give him a relative advantage in the race – No refueling, only tire change for 2010, remember?
Both the Mercedes cars made it through though. Vitally Petrov set the 10th quickest time, just scraping through to round 3. This was again a phenomenon Formula One fans aren’t used to since the advent of the season – How could Petrov ‘possibly’
out qualify his team mate Kubica? Interestingly though, this was the second time this season that he managed to do that.
The top 10 cars effectively going through to the final qualifying session were:
1. S. Vettel – Red Bull – 1 minute 39.874 seconds
2. J. Button – McLaren Mercedes – 1 minute 40.014 seconds
3. N. Rosberg – Mercedes GP – 1 minute 40.060 seconds
4. M. Webber – Red Bull – 1 minute 40.074 seconds
5. L. Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes – 1 minute 40.119 seconds
6. F. Alonso – Ferrari – 1 minute 40.311 seconds
7. F. Massa – Ferrari – 1 minute 40.323 seconds
8. M. Schumacher – Mercedes GP – 1 minute 40.452 seconds
9. R. Barrichello – Williams – 1 minute 40.476 seconds
10. V. Petrov – Renault – 1 minute 40.658 seconds
The drivers effectively eliminated at the end of the session were:
1. R. Kubica – Renault – 1 minute 40.780 seconds
2. K. Kobayashi – BMW Sauber F1 – 1 minute 40.783 seconds
3. Sutil – Force India – 1 minute 40.914 seconds
4. N. Heidfeld – BMW Sauber F1 – 1 minute 41.113 seconds
5. N. Hulkenberg – Williams – 1 minute 41.418 seconds
6. V. Liuzzi – Force India – 1 minute 41.642 seconds
7. J. Alguersuari – Toro Rosso – 1 minute 41.738 seconds
It is worth pointing out the level of competitiveness in the multimillion dollar business as the drivers that managed to survive the Q2 test were separated by less than a full second. The top 5 classified drivers on the other hand, were even closer with
a difference of less than 2 and a half tenths of a second, or a quarter of a second in lay man’s terms.
The highlight of the session was Sebastian Vettel’s dominance backed by the first ever 1 minute 39 this race weekend. It all looked rather too easy for the young driver and with his no nonsense performance, the Red Bull driver literally graced us all with
his company, which did come a little later than expected; he came, he saw... and he conquered the 2ndqualifying session and safely headed back to the pits, basking in the glory of his ‘well timed’ act.
It might also be rather relevant to remind that since this was not the final qualifying session; the top ranked drivers had some margin to relax. Fernando Alonso could arguably be accused of doing just that. Some might call it smart while others might regard
it as a touch unsporty!
Coming up next: The highlights of the 3rd and final qualifying session – A dash for the top 10 starting places for the last race of the season.
Stay tuned to bettor.com...
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