Another relatively early Saturday morning for qualifying – it begins at 8 am here. Like yesterday, it is still snowing. Malaysia is well-known for its sporadic showers and some may well be due during the sessions. However, the heat there means that it takes a lot of rain to fall before it isn’t simply burnt away.
Qualifying 1:
A 20 minute session as always. One of the most impressive drives so far has been from Adrian Sutil in his Force India. Sutil blasted his way to the top of the pile on medium tyres with a lap of 1m36.809s. The Pirelli rubber has been the subject of much talk recently, with a new design for this season being introduced which teams are finding hard to get to grips with (Ha! Get to grips…)
They had the same problems last year though – tyres were part of the equation that lead to having so many winners at the beginning of last season – but things eventually settled down and people stopped moaning about them. Hopefully that added element of unpredictability will provide good racing. Isn’t that what it’s all about?!
The Red Bulls were struggling to get things sorted. At one point Mark Webber set the 15th best time for instance, Vettel was 13th at that point. Many people had tipped him for Pole.
However, they recovered to set reasonable times (Vettel finished 15th, Webber 9th) meaning nothing too scandalous happened during this session and the following drivers failed to set a time quick enough to get themselves out of the bottom 6:
- Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m38.157s
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault, 1m38.207s
- Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, 1m38.434s
- Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault, 1m39.314s
- Maz Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth, 1m39.672s
- Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, 1m39.932s
Qualifying 2:
The skies are beginning to darken somewhat leading to speculation of rain but whether it will arrive in this 15 minute session, no one knows.
The first flying lap was set by Esteban Gutierrez, 1m39.221s. However Sutil quickly sets a much faster time of 1m36.834s. Paul di Resta has been told over the team radio that rain is on the way. Nico Rosberg then goes fastest with 1m36.190s. The onboard cameras show dark skies in the distance, Lewis Hamilton confirms that rain is falling at turns 5 and 6 and there are spots of rain on Jenson Button‘s McLaren camera.
If rain does begin falling, those who set times early on may well find themselves in a very good position compared to those who have left it late to come onto the track.
Paul di Resta catches a kerb or a white line at turn 4 which is clearly damp as it throws him off the track. Di Resta sits 8 seconds off Rosberg’s fastest time.
With only 4 minutes left of the session now, it looks like that’s it for fast times as di Resta spins at the same point again. Romain Grosjean is struggling to improve his 11th best time as well. This is pretty much confirmed with 2 minutes left as no cars are on track now.
This leads to odd grids where the top 10 may set times slower than the rest of the grid.
- Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault, 1m37.636s
- Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m38.125s
- Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1m38.822s
- Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m39.221s
- Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 1m44.509s
- Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault, no time set
Qualifying 3:
So, we enter the top 10 shoot out for pole. 10 minutes to decide the last section of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
All ten drivers out instantly as the rain continues. Plenty of spray from the cars which are all on intermediate tyres.
With 4 minutes left, Button is 13 seconds slower than Vettel’s fastest time of 1m52.576s. Although as cars keep circulating, the times get faster and Button improves to being just 2 seconds slower.
The drivers are coming in for new sets of intermediate tyres for their final push – not all of them though and it will be interesting to see who gains. Hamilton, Webber, Button and Perez have all stayed out. Webber then goes fastest (1m52.244s) but Hamilton just pips him (1m51.699s).
The drivers who changed are now completing their only timed lap on them. Many changes in the final seconds with three drivers holding pole in the last moments, but Vettel claims pole position for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
- Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1m49.674s
- Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1m50.587s
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m50.727s
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m51.699s
- Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1m52.244s
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m52.519s
- Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, 1m52.970s
- Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m53.175s
- Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, 1m53.439s
- Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m54.136s
There’s still a chance of rain for the race though which always creates good racing!
Related articles
Day 82: Snowy Sunday | ThomasJPitts' Blog
23rd March 2013 @ 9:45 pm
[…] Malaysian Grand Prix 2013: Qualifying Saturday, March 23 2013 […]