April 20, 2013

Mercedes on Pole in Bahrain



Nico Rosberg saved his best for last and surprised everyone setting the fastest time of the week end when it counted, in Q3 today.  This is the second race in a row with a Mercedes leading the field.

Next to Rosberg will be Sebastian Vettel,  two and a half tenths down.  Fernando Alonso made some mistakes on his final hot lap is in P3.   Next to him will be Felipe Massa, starting unlike everyone else in the top ten, on the harder Pirelli compound.

Lewis Hamilton had the fourth fastest time but had to take a five spot penalty for changing his gearbox, he will start P9 next to his old team mate Jenson Button.  Webber was behind Hamilton on the time sheets but has three spot penalty left over from China so he will be P8 on the grid, next to Kimi Raikkonen.

Webber and Hamilton's penalties move the two Force India to the third row, a great result for them.


Pos  Driver               Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m32.330s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m32.584s  + 0.254s
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m32.667s  + 0.337s
 4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m32.762s  + 0.432s +5
 5.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m33.078s  + 0.748s +3
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m33.207s  + 0.877s
 7.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.235s  + 0.905s
 8.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m33.246s  + 0.916s
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m33.327s  + 0.997s
10.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes
Q2 cut-off time: 1m33.702s                                      Gap **
11.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m33.762s  + 1.016s
12.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.914s  + 1.168s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.974s  + 1.228s
14.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.976s  + 1.230s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m34.105s  + 1.359s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.284s  + 1.538s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m34.425s                                      Gap *
17.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m34.425s  + 1.547s
18.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.730s  + 1.852s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m35.283s  + 2.405s
20.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.178s  + 3.300s
21.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m36.304s  + 3.426s
22.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.476s  + 3.598s

107% time: 1m39.379s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2

4 comments:

  1. I was surprised at all the surprise... Goes to show how ignorant commentators and journos are.

    Nico is one of the fastest out there. And clean, and consistent. If better results haven't come up, where because he took the smart choice, was held back by team/teammate etc.

    Today he had the right stage to play. He was fastest. Good. About time.

    Hope he wins tomorrow. He deserves one. Maybe that will make him 'count' again to the 'expert' eyes...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Try to find a screen grab of vettle crossing the line with his visor up, looking at the timing screens in disbelief. Priceless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! I noticed that as well! Sorry Seb, not this week.

      Delete

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