Turkish Grand Prix 2011: 3rd Qualifying session – Formula One highlights (Part 2)
Five minutes were already up in the ten minute session. Sebastian Vettel looked to be on a flyer. The German was already faster than his teammate. Soon after, as the world champion crossed the finish line, the timesheet registered a new P1. This effectively meant a Red Bull 1 – 2. The only question was, was it a sustainable advantage?
Moments later, all the cars dived into the pits. The Mercedes crew was getting ready to put Nico Rosberg on track. The idea was simple: make full use of the empty track.
Alonso made his way out of the pits with a fresh set of Pirellis. The Spaniard was joined by Button and Hamilton and both Renault drivers.
Meanwhile, Rosberg started his flying lap. However, the cameras turned their attention to the Red Bull garage where Sebastian Vettel was spotted climbing out of his car; signalling the end of his involvement in the final stint – Was it a ploy to conserve the machinery after his blistering 1 minute 25.049 second lap that looked competitive enough to book a place in the front row or was the Red Bull experiencing some technical problems? Mark Webber looked to do the same – Perhaps the former then?
Turning our attention to the action on track, Rosberg and Schumacher were driving to the limit as they tried to get the last bit of grip and pace out of their soft Pirellis and ultimately earn themselves a good launch-pad for the race. Soon after, Rosberg went third fastest while Schumacher had to settle for 8th. While it would’ve been disappointing for the latter to be so far off the pace as compared to his younger teammate, he would no doubt take solace in ‘actually’ making it to the final qualifying round for the first time this season.
Elsewhere, Jenson Button failed to improve on his time. However, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton jumped up to 4th fastest – Perhaps it was safe to say now that Turkey wasn’t the McLaren’s favourite racing destination but a lot could still change during 57 lap race.
Vitaly Petrov in the Renault improved his time to 7th fastest while Fernando Alonso had to settle for 5th fastest. Felipe Massa was classified tenth after the Brazilian failed to set a single timed lap. Nick Heidfeld’s 1 minute 26.659 second lap was effectively the slowest lap of the session and the German was set to start from 9th position.
It promised to be an exciting race the following day. Stay tuned.
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