Qualifying was held as usual in the afternoon and evening, with Q1 starting in daylight and Q3 finishing in darkness, under the lights. Webber’s 1m39.957s pole lap, the 13th of his career and his second of this season, means that he equals the pole position record for an Australian, established by Jack Brabham. With Sebastian Vettel qualifying second, this was the fourth Red Bull one-two of the season.
With up to a second and a half lap time difference between the two compounds, strategy was an important consideration right from the start of Q1. The majority of the drivers started on the medium compound, but both Red Bull drivers were straight out on the soft tyres, and did not use the medium at all during qualifying. This then prompted the rest of the field to switch to the soft compound for the rest of Q1, with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton going quickest in the closing seconds.
The top 16 drivers, who went through to Q2, were covered by just six-tenths of a second. They all used soft tyres throughout the session, at the end of which Mercedes was again quickest, this time with Nico Rosberg leading Hamilton.
The final top 10 all started Q3 on soft tyres. Webber set his pole lap right at the end of the session, with track temperature stabilising at 34 degrees. His time was more than half a second faster than last year’s pole from Lewis Hamilton.
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP
1. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:39.957
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:40.075 + 0.118
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:40.419 + 0.462
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:40.505 + 0.544
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:40.542 + 0.585
6. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:40.576 + 0.619
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:40.997 + 1.040
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:41.015 + 1.058
9. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:41.068 + 1.111
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:41.111 + 1.154
Q2 fastest time: Nico Rosberg 1:40.473 Gap
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:41.093 + 0.620
12. Paul di Resta Force India 1:41.133 + 0.660
13. Jenson Button McLaren 1:41.200 + 0.727
14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:41.279 + 0.806
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:41.395 + 0.922
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:41.447 + 0.974
Q1 fastest time: Lewis Hamiltom 1:40.693 Gap
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:41.999 + 1.306
18. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:42.051 + 1.358
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:43.252 + 2.559
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:43.398 + 2.705
21. Charles Pic Caterham 1:43.528 + 2.835
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:44.198 + 3.505
107% Time: 1:47.741
