New rules, new names in the top ten. Huge day for Red Bull, not just with Daniel Ricciardo's P2 after many thought they would never make the top ten, but also with their young driver program: Ricciardo, Kvyat, Vergne all in the top ten.
Ron Dennis too was beaming at Magnussen's row 2 result, it's like he saw another young Lewis.Not so good for some of the "old guys", Vettel not making Q3 is shocking. Seb can claim it was a software issue all he wants but when your teammate gets on the front row, that's just not going to wash with the fans. I'm sure with new quiet engines, Vettel heard how the crowd felt about it in Melbourne.
Alonso and Ferrari made yet another inexplicable tire choice in Q3, going out on intermediates on a clearly flooded track. Raikkonen, put it in the wall at the end of Q2 but he did not look to have the speed anyway. Button also failed to make the final session.
For anyone thinking Newey blew it with the RB10, Ricciardo set his time on intermediates while Hamilton and Rosberg were on full wets. That car has grip, if the engine runs, look out.
Tomorrow we;ll find out how much fuel consumption will play into this year's F1.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m44.231s 2. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m44.548s +0.317s 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m44.595s +0.364s 4. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m45.745s +1.514s 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m45.819s +1.588s 6. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m45.864s +1.633s 7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m46.030s +1.799s 8. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m47.360s +3.129s 9. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m48.079s +3.848s 10. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m48.147s +3.916s* Q3 cut-off: 1m44.331s 11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.437s +2.173s 12. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m44.494s +2.230s 13. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m44.668s +2.404s 14. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m45.655s +3.391s 15. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m45.867s +3.603s 16. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m47.293s +5.029s Q2 cut-off: 1m34.274s 17. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m34.293s +4.118s 18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m34.794s +4.619s 19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.117s +4.942s 20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m35.157s +4.982s 21. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.993s +6.818s 22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault
Of course you guys realize that Seb is sandbagging? You realize that right? Don't you? He's letting the young Aussie have his day at his home GP. Its a gift. This is clearly a RBR publicity stunt. I could be wrong, but seems in recent years that these early races up to Spain you get a mix of winners, but come Monaco RBR and Seb put aside the BS and pretty much dominate the rest of the season. Of course this is a new season, with new rules, new tech etc., so we'll have to see if history repeats itself.
ReplyDeleteThe crowd roaring both when Seb didn't make it through and then with Ricciardo getting up on podium was awesome.
ReplyDeleteMost excited I've been during a qualifying round in a long time.
yeah, you must be delusional....
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