Just like Monaco, the threat of rain is in the air here. It has been around most of the event so far and it has been dry up to this point. Practice 3 earlier was wet and drying – but it was also cut short due to a heavy crash at turn 11 in a Ferrari support race. Romain Grosjean takes a ten place grid penalty for causing a crash at Monaco when he rear-ended Daniel Ricciardo.
Qualifying head-to-head
Vettel 6 – 0 Webber
Alonso 4 – 2 Massa
Button 4 – 2 Perez
Raikkonen 6 – 0 Grosjean
Rosberg 3 – 3 Hamilton
Hulkenberg 6 – 0 Gutierrez
Di Resta 4 – 2 Sutil
Maldonado 2 – 4 Bottas
Vergne 2 – 4 Ricciardo
Pic 3 – 3 Van der Garde
Bianchi 5 – 1 Chilton
Qualifying 1: A rush onto track is underway as the rain falls right at the start of the first qualifying section. Quite a few drivers are out on slick tyres and are struggling – Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo are straight back into the pits. Intermediates are being used by everyone to set their times in the end. Vergne sets the first time of 1m28.204s, however Felipe Massa instantly improves it to 1m28.093s. Tumbling times continue, 8 minutes in: Nico Rosberg posts a time of 1m28.093s, Sebastian Vettel tops that with 1m26.293s. All 22 cars are on track trying to better their times and create a dryer line on circuit. The light grey of the circuit is beginning to appear now so perhaps the rain is easing a little. Lewis Hamilton is now fastest, going through with 1m24.788s. The times keep going faster by larger margins than normal. Vettel goes quickest with 1m24.788s, which Hamilton beats with a 1m24,544s with 7 minutes to go. Vettel responds to retake the top time, 1m24.083s which Rosberg quickly surpasses with 1m23.840s. Hamilton then responds again by posting a 1m23.801s. The times are still roughly ten seconds slower than normal around this circuit. Four minutes to go and Massa tops the times with 1m23.735s, which is swiftly beaten by Mark Webber’s 1m23.247s. Alonso goes top with 2 minutes to go: 1m23.224s. Vettel takes over with his 1m22.318s. Conditions deteriorate somewhat and this remains the fastest time. Paul di Resta has a hugely disappointing lap right at the end of the session and he won’t be in Qualifying 2 along with Romain Grosjean, Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde. Valtteri Bottas set a stunning time to finish the session 4th fastest.
- Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 1m24.908s
- Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault, 1m25.626s
- Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault, 1m25.716s (plus a ten place grid penalty)
- Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, 1m26.508s
- Max Chilton,Marussia-Cosworth, 1m27.602s
- Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, 1m27.110s
Qualifying 2: No more waiting again as the rain keeps falling. Drivers are rushing out to try and get the best position on track. Intermediates are again needed as rain has fallen throughout the break between sessions. The grey line that had appeared is no longer visible. Vergne sets the first time with 1m30.033s, Webber beats that with a 1m29.672s and Hamilton improves again setting a 1m29.259s. Vettel sets a time which places him 6th – however he didn’t complete the circuit as he cut the chicane at the final corner. He may well lose that time. His second lap without messing up the final chicane is quickest: 1m28.825s. He improves further with 1m28.166s. The track is still wet and not appearing to dry too much. Rosberg has recently put in a lap of 1m28.420s and that moved the Mercedes driver into second place, behind Vettel. Massa clocks 1m31.017s and that’s 11th, he needs more. Webber moves up to the top of the times with 1m28.145s. Bottas has catapulted up the order to third spot – 1m28.419s – a fabulous time. Massa, trying to get out of the bottom 6, tries too hard. Replays show Massa lost the Ferrari under braking for Turn 3 and suffered another sideways smash into the barriers with 1m59s left on the clock – ample time to get around and set another time. All 15 remaining cars will be out on circuit. Hamilton and Button both need to vastly improve their times to be safe. As the cars cross the line, there are many changes to the order. Hamilton goes fastest with a time of 1m27.649s. Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado, Jenson Button, Esteban Gutierrez and Felipa Massa have been eliminated. Replays show Button failing to make the lights by a couple of seconds, eliminating himself in 14th.
- Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m29.435s
- Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m29.761s
- Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault, 1m29.917s
- Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m30.068s
- Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m30.315s
- Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1m30.345s
Qualifying 3: Again, cars are lined up to get the best of the circuit as the rain isn’t currently falling. Here are the 10 drivers that will fight for the best grid positions: Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Valtteri Bottas, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. Vettel gets the ball rolling with a time of 1m25.425s. So we have Vettel at the front with Hamilton second, Rosberg third, Webber fourth and Alonso fifth after one run. Vergne moves up to a solid sixth fastest for the moment as drivers are called to the pits for a final tyre change. Bottas changes that order and moves up to an impressive third spot with 1m25.897s – faster than Rosberg. More rain is falling, which might just finalise this as the grid. With a minute left, no one has improved their time yet. Sutil was the only one to improve (although he did so by missing a chicane and so the time may be under threat), so the grid looks like this.
The grid:
Candian Grand Prix 2013: Grid
Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m25.425s | |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m25.512s | +0.087s |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1m25.897s | +0.472s |
4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m26.008s | +0.583s |
5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m26.208s | +0.783s |
6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m26.504s | +1.079s |
7 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m26.543s | +1.118s |
8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1m27.348s | +1.923s |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m29.432s | +1.786s ** |
10 | Kimi Raikkonen # | Lotus Renault | Penalty | |
11 | Daniel Ricciardo # | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | Penalty | |
12 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m29.761s | +2.112s ** |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1m29.917s | +2.268s ** |
14 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m30.068s | +2.419s ** |
15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m30.315s | +2.666s ** |
16 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1m30.354s | +2.705s ** |
17 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1m24.908s | +2.590s *** |
18 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1m25.626s | +3.308s *** |
19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m26.508s | +3.398s *** |
20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m27.062s | +4.190s *** |
21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1m27.110s | +4.744 *** |
22 | Romain Grosjean * | Lotus-Renault | 1m25.716s | +4.792s *** |
** Gap to quickest in Q2
*** Gap to quickest in Q3
# Two place penalty for failing to leave the pits in the order they arrived at the pit exit during Qualifying 2.
107% time: 1m28.080s
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