Spanish Grand Prix 2011: 1st Qualifying session – Formula One highlights (part 1)
Bettor.com welcomes you to our 5th edition of the highlights package from the 2011 Formula One season from the Catalunya circuit in Spain. The weather was expected to stay bright and sunny for the duration of the session as the top runners looked
set to break Red Bull's stranglehold on the sharp end of the starting line-up.
The McLarens certainly had a good shot at that, as they were running a major aerodynamic upgrade package for the weekend. Lewis Hamilton was within a tenth of the fastest Red Bull, that of Mark Webber, by the end of the second practice session.
Ferrari and Mercedes looked to be struggling in comparison as they were close to a whole second off the Red Bulls and McLarens so in practice. Ferrari was reported to be trying a new rear wing in practice but the FIA put their foot down and forbade them
from running it citing it as illegal.
Catalunya is a circuit where all the teams have a lot of miles under their belt due to it being used as a test track quite often. It's a very technical track that tests aerodynamic efficiency to the hilt and exposes even the slightest flaw in the setup.
The first qualifying session finally kicked off and the Hispania Racing of Narain Karthikeyan was the first car to head out on track. Vitaly Petrov, Vitantonio Liuzzi and D Ambrosio were also out on track as Karthikeyan began his 1st timed lap
of the session. Things hadn’t been so good for the HRT team based on their showing in the third practice session on the same day – Both cars failed to make the 107 percent rule and had their work cut out heading into competitive qualifying.
Elsewhere on track, Vitaly Petrov seemed to test his Renault to the limit and had to get loose under breaking and had to correct himself – The last thing the Russian wanted was a crash in the first qualifying stint which would’ve meant starting the race
the following day at the back of the grid. A minute later, the Renault improved on its previous best time of the session.
Interestingly, majority of the cars on track were opting for the harder compound tyres instead of the soft ones brought by Pirelli for the weekend.
To be continued in part 2...
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