Formula One: Vettel takes pole in Suzuka Qualifiers, Japanese GP
The Red Bull driver proved to be in a league of his own in a qualifying postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to the heavy drizzle in Japan. The youngster posted the best lap time of 1 minute 30.785 seconds.
Mark Webber made it a Red Bull 1-2. The Australian finished a mere tenth of a second slower that his team mate, who is on the move to record 2 race wins in 2 consecutive outings.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton did a fantastic job to record third fastest. The British driver did not have much practice as before qualifying. He crashed into the barriers in the first practice session and was only able to take part in the final 8 minutes of
the second practice session. The third practice session was a lukewarm affair thanks to the heavy rain. However, the McLaren Mercedes driver shall start from 8th after being struck with a 5 place grid penalty upon changing his gearbox.
Hamilton’s demotion sets Robert Kubica to line-up just behind the front two Red Bulls to be joined by the man on the move, Fernando Alonso on the 2nd row of the grid. The Ferrari driver trails championship leader Mark Webber by 11 points and will
look to make a lunge as early as turn considering his ambitions for silverware.
The second McLaren featuring Jenson Button shall effectively start behind the Ferrari in 5th place, thanks to his team mate’s grid penalty. Nico Rosberg for Mercedes GP and Rubens Barrichello for Williams shall line up behind in 6th
and 7th spots respectively.
Barichello’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg starts 9th followed by the other Mercedes of Michael Schumacher in 10th. Suzuka fetched ‘Schumi’ a total of 6 race victories in the past and seems a bit of a disappointment for the German not starting
ahead of his team mate.
Elsewhere, Feilipe Massa was easily the shock of the weekend as he managed a mediocre 12th considering his Ferrari’s credentials. This further puts more pressure on Alonso who shall be up against both Red Bulls and McLarens.
As far as the first placed Red Bull is concerned, Vettel arguably deserved his starting advantage after being the most consistent driver this weekend. The qualifying session had no resemblance to the ‘water park’ on Saturday as the lap times got quicker.
This enabled all 24 cars to drive to their utmost potential and it is hoped that similar conditions prevail over the course of the marathon race.
"This track is made for us, especially the first sector, so all in all, after the confusion yesterday with the weather and the horrible conditions, it's good that the sun came out.” commented Sebastian Vettel on the encouraging race conditions and
Red Bull’s overall dominance.
The 2nd Red Bull driver was just as positive as his team mate and reflected on the good mood in the Red Bull camp. He said:
"That was a good tussle with Seb. The changed programme today is a busy day for everyone but we're off to a good start by starting on the front row and we're ready to go from there."
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