Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel takes pole position for Chinese Grand Prix 2011 – Formula 1 news
Sebastian Vettel won his 18th career pole and the third in a row in the 2011 Formula 1 season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Red Bull driver is yet to put a wheel wrong this term. It appeared that the Red Bull was in a class of its own as it was the only car to break the 1 minute 33 second barrier. Vettel’s fastest time was 1 minute 33.706- comfortably quicker than the rest
of the pack.
The McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton qualified behind him in P2 and P3 respectively. Button opted to do 5 laps in the final qualifying session as opposed to Lewis Hamilton who did 3. Button’s time was 1 minute 34.421 seconds while Lewis Hamilton
finished with 1 minute and 34.463 seconds. Nearly four hundredths of a second separated the two McLarens which gives an accurate account of their consistency.
Nico Rosberg qualified in 4th spot ahead of two Ferraris. The Mercedes’ lap time was 1 minute 34.670 seconds. Just like the third practice session again, Fernando Alonso finished above his Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa. However, the difference
in lap times of both the Ferrari drivers was around 0.03 seconds which further proves the fact that both cars are similarly set up.
Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi gave solid performances in their Toro Rosso qualifying in 7th and 9th places respectively; sandwiching an impressive result by the Force India driver Paul di Resta who finished 8th.
Vitaly Petrov rounded the top 10 ahead of his more experienced teammate Nick Heidfeld. The German failed to make it past Q2 by qualifying in P15.
In a surprising turn of events, Webber failed to make it past Q1 by qualifying 18th, which will certainly put him at a disadvantage for Sunday’s race.
Michael Schumacher will be disappointed by failing to make it into Q3 for the third time in a row this season. The seven-time world champion finished in 14th spot- 10 positions lower than his teammate.
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