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After the only
wet qualifying session of the year so far, characterised by varying levels
of grip and a red flag that interrupted Q2 for more than an hour and a half,
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso claimed a dramatic first pole position for
Pirelli’s Cinturato Green intermediate tyre.
None of the drivers used their allocation of slick tyres in qualifying,
instead just using the three sets of wets and four sets of intermediates
available to them for Saturday and Sunday as fixed by the Sporting
Regulations. An additional set of intermediates, available only when
Friday’s free practice is declared wet, was returned to Pirelli this morning
before the final free practice session.
With light rain at the start of Q1, all the drivers went straight out on the
Cinturato Green intermediate tyre to set a time early in the session in case
conditions worsened. All 24 cars were running within the first couple of
minutes, meaning that finding a clear lap became the key to a quick time,
with the track changing second by second. Sauber was the only team to try
slicks during a brief dry window, but with more rain falling, both cars
reverted to intermediates.
Heavier rain in Q2 meant that the Cinturato Blue wet was the default option,
although the Ferrari drivers started the session on the intermediate before
an early switch to full wets. With conditions worsening, all the teams chose
to run as much as possible during the session, hoping to find a brief window
of clearer weather and traffic. With six minutes to go, the red flag came
out because of torrential rain and the session was stopped. It re-started at
15:07 local time after conditions eased and track marshals swept away the
worst of the standing water. Most drivers again used the full wet tyre, with
only the two Saubers trying intermediates. Kamui Kobayashi then went back to
full wets while Sergio Perez stuck with the intermediates, ending up 17th.
As the track dried the times came down, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton going
quickest of all on the Cinturato Blue.
The majority of drivers in Q3 moved onto the Cinturato Green intermediates,
with just three drivers starting the session on full wets (McLaren driver
Lewis Hamilton, Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes driver Michael
Schumacher) before changing to the intermediates as well. As the track
continued to dry, Alonso timed his lap to perfection and clinched pole in
the final seconds.
The final free practice session was crucial this morning, as it was the only
opportunity the teams have had to run on the slick tyres. Alonso went
quickest thanks to a time of 1m32.167s on the P Zero Yellow soft: nearly 20
seconds faster than his pole time of 1m51.746s.
The forecast for the race on Sunday is still uncertain, with even a
possibility that all three patterns of tyre – wet, intermediate and slick –
might be used. This makes it very hard for the teams to plan a strategy, but
if conditions remain consistently wet, just one set of full wets could
theoretically last for the whole race. If the
drivers start the race on wet or intermediate tyres (as was the case at
Silverstone last year) they are no longer obliged to use both slick
compounds during the grand prix. It’s more likely though that conditions
will be mixed, which means that the strategy becomes more complex.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “A bit like the
Canadian Grand Prix last year, we had a lengthy stoppage in qualifying at
Silverstone followed by a very exciting finale that was well worth the wait.
Although our full wet tyres disperse 60 litres of water per second, the
quantity of standing water as well as the spray coming from the cars, made
conditions simply too dangerous to continue in Q2. Mixed conditions throw up
so many variables in terms of grip, so tomorrow’s race will come down to
which teams and drivers are able to read and forecast the conditions most
accurately, despite the limited data they have accumulated so far.
Establishing where the crossover point is was key to qualifying, with the
intermediates proving to be fastest in the final session, and this is likely
to be crucial again tomorrow.”
Tyres used by the top ten qualifiers:
Alonso: 1:51.746s - Intermediate
Webber: 1:51.793s - Intermediate
Schumacher: 1:52.020s - Intermediate
Vettel: 1:52.199s - Intermediate
Massa: 1:53.065s - Intermediate
Raikkonen: 1:52.290s - Intermediate
Maldonado: 1:53.539s - Intermediate
Hamilton: 1:53.543s - Intermediate
Hulkenberg: 1:54.382s - Intermediate
Grosjean: No time set - Went off in Q2 |
