Formula One: Sebastian Vettel takes pole at Silverstone, Red Bulls on front row
The Red Bull has been able to continue their supremacy at the British Grand Prix yet again. The Saturday morning’s practice session has not only cemented the dominance of the Red Bulls but also has increased the threat and pressure on all the other teams. Friday’s sessions were marked by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, as each was able to make one of the fastest laps in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively. But this time in the Saturday’s morning practice the two ended at the top two places separated only by 0.034s.
The morning was filled with a lot of drama and action. Vettel had been able to make the fastest lap of Saturday’s practice with 1m 30.958s, making it his second fastest practice for this race. However, his RB6 got shacked as the front wing scraped the track. The German rushed into the pits. At the same time, Webber did his best to be able to cross him but was only successful in following his tail with 1m 30.992s.
The third place of the session was taken by Fernando Alonso who ended quite close to the Red Bulls with 1m 31.101s, a difference of only 0.143s from Vettel. Ferrari’s second driver, Felipe Massa was able to end fifth on 1m 31.240s.
Behind Ferrari came the Mercedes’ man marking the fourth fastest finish of the day, Nico Rosberg with 1m 31.188s whereas his teammate Michael Schumacher’s fastest lap of 1m 31.519s brought him to eighth place.
McLaren were not able to make good once again, as they ended at seventh and twelfth place. Lewis Hamilton ended in his MP4-25s in 1:31.549, whereas his teammate Jenson Button was able to end in 1:31.703. After the Friday’s second practice they took off their new blown diffuser but this time got stuck with the new front wing instead.
Sixth place was taken by Robert Kubica of Renault, in 1m 31.519s, whereas Pedro de la Rosa was able to surprise everyone with his ninth place for BMW Sauber in just 1m 31.559s, followed by Rubens Barrichello who ended at tenth place in 1m 31.581s for Williams.
Renault's other driver, Vitaly Petrov of Russia was able capture the eleventh place with 1m 31.698s, and was chased by Button and Nico Hulkenberg of Williams, who ended with 1m 31.867s. Kamui Kobayashi of BMW Sauber, and Adrian Sutil, of Force India, ended with 1m 31.947s and 1m 31.994s respectively.
The sixteenth and seventeenth places were taken by Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. Both the Toro Rosso’s men ended in 1m 32.235s and 1m 32.331s one after the other in order, chased by Tonio Liuzzi, who had a hard time with straight-line speed in his Force India car, and, ended with 1m 32.723s.
Among the new teams, Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus was the fastest with 1m 34.339s while Lucas di Grassi was once again fast enough for Virgin as Timo Glock was successful in doing only six laps with their respective times being 1m 35.479s and 1m 36.640s ending at twentieth and twenty third fastest laps.
After the practice sessions the victory of Red Bull seems evident, whereas the much hyped, McLaren, had not been able to keep the momentum. Ferrari has also made their mark for being one of the strongest competitors after the Red Bulls and another driver who seems promising is Renault’s, Robert Kubica.
The long wait is over; just one night away is one of the most thrilling races of the season at one of the most historic tracks of all times, the Silverstone Circuit.
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