Formula One Highlights: Japanese Grand Prix, Qualifying – Part 2
The feature continues with blow by blow from the race at the Suzuka Track in Japan. After a rather lukewarm start, the Red Bull finally began flexing its muscles and justifying its utter dominance in the first two qualifying sessions. Sebastian Vettel went
fastest just as Robert Kubica began his hot lap.
The order at the top featured Vettel for Red Bull, followed by the two Williams, Hulkenberg and Barrichello. Meanwhile, Kubica was able to set the 13th fastest time. He was safely through to Q2.
Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso was effectively in the relegation zone after Kubica’s lap. He was on track as was his team-mate, Alguersuari. It felt like a battle between the two team-mates as one of them looked almost destined to be eliminated in Q1.
But, after Buemi managed an 18th fastest, it looked that Alguersuari was safe for the time being at least. After another bite at the cherry, Kubica went 16th fastest, only a tenth ahead of Alguersuari.
The first qualifying session looked concluded as many cars were setting their final lap times. The big question was whether Buemi could go faster than his team-mate. After a minute later, it was confirmed not to be the case.
At the end of the session, 7 cars had to part ways based on the time they were able to post on the track. The drivers facing elimination included the two Lotus cars, featuring Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. The two HRT cars were also out of the running.
They bore Bruno Senna and Yamamoto. Both Virgin drivers, namely, Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock, had to bid farewell along with Buemi in the Toro Rosso.
The two Force India cars narrowly made it as Adrian Sutil qualified 15th while his team-mate, Liuzzi just scrapped it in the end with a 16th fastest finish.
The classification for Q1 featured:
S.Vettel N. Hukenberg N. Rosberg R. Barrichello M. Webber M. Schumacher F. Alonso J. Button F. Massa K. Kobayashi R. Kubica L. Hamilton V. Petrov N. Heidfeld A. Sutil V. Liuzzi J. Alguersuari S. Buemi J. Trulli H. Kovalainen L. di Grassi T. Glock B. Senna S. Yamamoto
It looked to be a case of mixed emotions for the locals as they were able to see one of their Home Boy Hero in the form of Kamyui Kobayashi qualifying 10th fastest with a lap time of 1 minute and 32.783 seconds and much in contention for the next
qualifying session. It was however, the end of the line for Yamamto.
Realistically, it wasn’t much of a shock seeing the HRT not making it out of the first qualification. However, from an idealistic frame of mind, it might have been pleasing to see the driver being more of a competitor to his bottom of the table rivals. As
both HRT’s finished at the bottom, Yamamoto was classified as the driver with the slowest time for the period. He lapped at around 1 minute and 37.365 seconds.
Looking at life on the top of the table, Vettel’s performance could be appreciated based on two factors. Firstly, the driver looked way ahead of the rest with a lap time of 1 minute and 32.035 seconds. While it is accepted that there is no substitute for
sheer speed in motorsport, one of the prime good things about the Red Bull driver’s performance was seeing the number of laps that he took to achieve that feat.
The German went 6 times around the Suzuka track compared to 10 laps a piece for both drivers behind. The only driver with a similar, rather conservative figure was Renault’s Kubica who also put in 6 laps in Q1. However, unlike Vettel, he was unable to deliver
the speed that goes with it.
(To be continued in Part 3)
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