Up bright and early to blog about the events at Albert Park. I’ve mentioned before about how excited I am about this!
Saturday, 16th March 2013
5:50am. I’m downstairs, ready with a mug of coffee and an excited cat – I think Kit is more excited about being up early than I am.
Qualifying is delayed for 10 minutes due to the adverse track conditions caused by what appears to be a ridiculous amount of rain.
6:08am Qualifying is delayed a further 10 minutes after a quick track inspection reveals a lot of standing water in traction areas throughout the second half of the lap.
6:19am Another delay of 10 minutes, putting it back to at least 6:30 now. More time playing with Kit!
6:25am Alan van der Merwe goes out on track in the Medical Car once more to see if there’s a chance of starting yet.
6:28am Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg appear at the end of the pit lane before the result of the last inspection is revealed. It is assumed that it will be under way at 6:30am. At last!
6:30am. Half an hour late, it begins.
6:42am Seven and a half minutes left and this session has seen many cars spinning off the track, including Lewis Hamilton. Jean-Eric Vergne was top of the times for a good long while. Two drivers, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta, are now attempting to use the intermediate tyres designed for less surface water. This could be very interesting if they then fly around the track – everyone else will have to go and change their tyres too.
6:49am Two accidents by Charles Pic and Esteban Gutiérrez bring the session to a close. Imagine how it would have been half an hour earlier… The six drivers to be eliminated are:
- Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault, 1m47.614s
- Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m47.776s
- Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, 1m48.147s
- Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth, 1m48.909s
- Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, 1m49.519s
- Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault 1m50.626s.
6:56am Qualifying 2 is delayed by 10 minutes as heavy rain hits the circuit again.
7:08am A further 20 minute delay now. Most drivers leave their cockpits.
7:29am Another 20 minute delay announced. This means that it’s getting ever closer to sunset. Could be a Sunday morning qualifying by the end of all this.
7:36am The Japanese Grands Prix of 2004 and 2010 had Sunday qualifying. In 2004, a typhoon passing across the circuit caused the delay, and in 2010 wet weather stopped the sessions.
7:43am Today hasn’t looked as bad as the above image to me. Some teams are preparing their drivers to go back out, however the wind and the rain, not to mention the light, that scares me.
7:48am The decision has been made. Qualifying sessions 2 and 3 will take place tomorrow morning (11am Australian time, midnight here).
23:45pm The coverage of sessions 2 and 3 begin on Sky F1 HD. Hopefully we’ll get through them this time… after all, the race is due to start in 6 and a bit hours’ time.
23:55pm Qualifying 2: The official F1 titles appear once more as the world feed kicks in.
23:57pm Rain is apparently on its way once more, according to Ted Kravitz. That might make for an interesting race… although if the grid is mixed up as I think it will be, then the race should be fairly exciting anyway!
00:01am Some of the cars are out. The track isn’t dry, but is at least safe enough for this session. I just hope it can get completed.
00:07am 7 minutes left and Vettel is top of the times after improving his own time by nearly a second. The second half of the lap is far damper than the first. No one has attempted dry tyres yet.
00:09am Sergio Perez is the first person to go onto slick dry tyres. His opening lap is scrappy with a fair bit of sliding around.
00:12am Jenson Button’s only slick lap was not good. He comes back in to go back on to intermediate tyres. Rosberg goes fastest with 1m36.194s.
00:15am The final few laps are under way in Qualifying 2.
00:16am Perez’ laps on slicks haven’t been great. He ends the session in 15th. His team mate, Button, switched back to intermediates and finished 4th, A case of the right tyre at the right time, or experience?
The flag drops and Qualifying 2 ends. The next six drivers to be eliminated are:
- Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m38.067s
- Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, 1m38.134s
- Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1m38.778s
- Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1m39.042s
- Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m39.900s
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault, 1m40.290s.
00:22am The drivers into the top ten shoot out of Qualifying 3 are: Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Paul di Resta.
00:23am Session 3 begins.
00:27am The times so far are only a couple of seconds away from normal dry times. However, the latter half of the track is still quite damp. Vettel is shown struggling to hold on to his rear end which had previously (in practice) been very solid.
00:29am Slick tyres are once again on the cars.
00:30am Jenson Button posts the first slick tyre lap: 1m 32.485s. I wonder if he’s gone too early and people around him will end up getting the advantage of a slightly drier track.
00:32am Hamilton posts a time 3 seconds quicker than Button’s previous best of 1m29.184s.
00:33am Veettel pushes the best time a further 1.7s quicker.
00:35am The session finishes with a bit of an anti climax. Vettel’s time remains the fastest as other cars fail to beat him.
The final times look like:
- Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1m27.407s
- Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1m27.827s
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m28.087ss
- Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1m28.490s
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m28.493s
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m28.523s
- Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, 1m28.738s
- Romain Grosjean, Lotus Renault, 1m29.013s
- Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 1m29.305s
- Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m30.357s
A bit of a mixed grid overall. I’m looking forward to the race in a little while!
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