Everybody is happy with Australian Qualifying Session p.s. Except Ferari!!!
Qualifying session ended and confirmed what we all secretly expecting uncertainty in Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were superior and tomorrow will start from the first row. Hamilton drove a good, quick lap early in the third session, the first lap out on track. Button later managed to get closer, but his time was not enough for pole. Lotus and most Roman Grosjean made the biggest surprise today by finishing third. Renault, which is now called Lotus, also started strong last season, so hopefully it will continue. Unfortunately the mistake of Kimi Raikkonen cost him drop out in the first qualification session, to the dismay of many of his fans.
As expected Mercedes AMG is in better shape than last season, but they have race ahead to verify their performance. Fourth position for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg seventh, he made an error in his last attempt and was deprived of the opportunity to be ahead.
Surprise in the negative sense is Red Bull. Although everyone expected them to fight for pole position today, but things developed not as usual way we used to see (and that is good.) Mark Webber fifth just ahead of the 2011 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, in sixth position. Vettel has already said he is not pleased with themself because he allowed to many errors. However, he was adamant that today McLaren was out of reach.
Pleasant surprise was Williams with Pastor Maldonado at the eighth position. The top 10 closes with Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo with Toro Rosso. Perhaps the biggest disappointment, though hardly be called a surprise, proved Ferrari. Their car just does not want to be on track, we already knew, but today we have confirmed that they have lack of speed. Alonso afford an inglorious way to complete these qualifications, made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, enough for 12 th position. Felipe Massa also has nothing to brag today, only 16th (you believe it, Ferrari's 16th!!!) position for him.
Kimi Raikkonen was the most famous driver who drop out in the first part of qualifying. He failed to catch the curve 12, came off the track in his last fast lap. Then he was very slow in returning, and failed to arrive on time for a new lap. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov good test sessions could not move toward the middle of the order and qualifications completed in the first session. Under them were the cars of Marussia, Timo Glock and Charles Pic and cars of HRT, Narain Kartikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa who failed to cross the border of 107%, and additionally may come under investigation for obstruction of other drivers.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.922
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.074 + 0.152
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:25.302 + 0.380
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:25.336 + 0.414
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:25.651 + 0.729
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:25.668 + 0.746
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.686 + 0.764
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:25.908 + 0.986
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:26.451 + 1.529
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
Q2 FASTEST TIME: Nico Rosberg 1:26.319 Gap
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.429 + 0.960
12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:26.494 + 1.025
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.590 + 1.121
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:26.663 + 1.194
15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:27.086 + 1.617
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.497 + 2.028
17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari No time
Q1 FASTEST TIME: Kamui Kobayashi 1:27.633 Gap
18. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1:27.758 + 1.576
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:28.679 + 2.497
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:29.018 + 2.836
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:30.923 + 4.741
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:31.670 + 5.488
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:33.495 + 7.313
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:33.643 + 7.461
107% time: 1:32.214
