Formula One: Korean Grand Prix, Qualifying Session 2
As track conditions continued to be a handful irrespective of the credentials of the cars, things were heating up as the second qualifying session began. The top end drivers, with an eye on Q3, looked to clear the test as safely as possible. It was important
to conserve their machinery for the final showdown.
The 15 minute second qualifying session got underway. A dozen drivers were already on track including Hamilton, Webber and Vettel. Within minutes, all the cars were out on track barring the two Saubers of Heidfeld and Kobayashi. Hulkenberg, Hamilton and
Sutil began their hot laps.
At the end of his flying lap, Hulkenberg managed a competative time in the 1 minute 38’s. Elsewhere on track, Hamilton had an off track moment on his timed lap. Moments later though, Fernando Alonso went quickest with a time of 1 minute 37.096 seconds, followed
by Sebastian Vettel with a 1 minute 37.224. Felipe Massa improved by nearly half a second on his team mate as he reminded the front runners that Alonso wasn’t the only threat for the front row of the grid.
With 7 minutes remaining, the two Saubers had still not made their presence felt on track. The order at the top was Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Massa and Hamilton. At the lower end of the table, the drivers effectively in relegation were Petrov, Hulkenberg,
Aguersuari, Sutil, Buemi and the two Saubers of Heidfeld and Kobayashi.
With 5 minutes to spare, the Saubers finally headed out to track to set their first timed run. The rest of the field, after slapping on a fresh set of Bridgestones, were preparing for their second run.
Heidfeld set the 16th fastest time which was by no means, a reflection of the credentials of his car.
2 minutes remained... The drivers began their final hot laps. Things were heating up as there was an overall scamper to make it to the final qualifying stint. Michael Schumacher and former Ferrari team mate, Rubens Barrichello were dangerously close to the
relegation zone in 9th and 10th respectively.
The chequered flag was out as the crowd awaited the barrage of times! Massa and Alonso looked to be quickest at the time. However, a minute later, the Red Bulls went quickest in the order of Webber and Vettel.
Barrichello scrapped it through with 10th quickest while his team mate Hulkenberg was eliminated as he could only manage 11th fastest.
Those eliminated in Q2 were:
Hulkenberg Kobayashi Heidfeld Sutil Petrov Alguersuari Buemi
The top 5 drivers for Q2 read:
Webber Vettel Massa Hamilton Alonso
Interestingly, the top 5 drivers were merely 2 tenths of a second apart. Red Bull appeared to be the car to beat come the final qualifying session and the race itself on the next day. Importantly for Ferrari, Felipe Massa found himself in contention to be
able to help out his team mate. Lewis Hamilton, after a strong finish looked as much as in contention as his Red Bull and Ferrari rivals. Jenson Button was a touch disappointing as he was nearly a second over his team mate and could only manage 7th
fastest with Rosberg just above him. Michael Schumacher, Robert Kubica and Rubens Barrichello rounded up the top 10.
However, since it was evident that the drivers from the top 3 teams were vary of the final qualifying stint; it was rather naive to set the times for Q2 as benchmark for the final grid positions for the race. With the 10 most worthy cars left to fight it
out for their starting places on the track in Q3, Korea braced itself for an exciting end to qualifying – Who would start the race on the first row?
Stay tuned to find out...
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