Brawn, Williams, Redbull ?
No one may have wildly imagined the dream run that These teams have had in last month. No Ferrari, No McLaren on top and even Renault has inched closer to the Top.
Vettel, who had drive-shaft problems that curbed his running during the weekend’s final practice session, put it all behind him as proved that the Red Bull’s racer is the best of the non-diffuser cars, claiming pole position with a 1:36.184. The German, though, only completed a very short run in qualy three, a clue, maybe, that he is fuelled light.
Fernando Alonso, who is using Renault’s interim ‘double-decker’ diffuser design in Shanghai, was second quickest, 0.192s behind Vettel while Mark Webber ensured that Red Bull’s good fortune continued as he claimed third place.
The Brawn GP cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button are behind Webber on the grid with Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg also finishing ahead of the first Ferrari and McLaren drivers in Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.
Mention also has to be made of Sebastien Buemi who qualified his Toro Rosso in 10th place.
With the sun having warmed the track to 34′C the drivers can expect better grip in Friday’s second practice session. Timo Glock was the first out, followed by Seb Bourdais, Nico Rosberg, Seb Buemi, Nelson Piquet and Jarno Trull. Bourdais, though, got ahead of the Toyota driver on the track and set the afternoon’s first lap time, a 1:40.157. He was quickly overhauled by Fernando Alonso, Trulli and Glock.
A mad rush as drivers put in their opening times of the session saw Adrian Sutil become the next to take the P1 slot as the Force India driver clocked a 1:38.272 while Sebastian Vettel put his Red Bull up into second place ahead of Kazuki Nakajima. Within the first ten minutes of the session 15 drivers had already set lap times with Nakajima and then Bourdais taking a turn at the top of the timesheets.
Rubens Barrichello and then Buemi were the next to lead the way while Felipe Massa could only manage 17th place on his first timed lap with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen going P14. Nakajima went fastest before being passed by his team-mate Rosberg.
Massa, the slowest of all the drivers, ventured back out where he was joined by Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld, the only drivers who had yet to set a time. The Ferrari man moved up to seventh place while Glock, using the softer option tyres, took second place behind Trulli. Heidfeld went eighth on his first timed lap and Hamilton fourth.
Red Bull were the next team to launch a charge with Vettel and Webber going first and second ahead of the Toyotas. Toro Rosso’s Bourdais followed the Red Bulls up the timesheets, taking seventh place with an impressive lap from the Frenchman. He was soon dropped, though, as Hamilton improved his time.
Robert Kubica, having spent over 10 minutes in his garage while his BMW mechanics worked on his car, ventured out on the softer tyres and improved to 17th place leaving the two Renaults at the back of the pack with Fernando Alonso ahead of Piquet.
1 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:36.184
2 F. Alonso Renault 1:36.381
3 M. Webber Red Bull 1:36.466
4 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:36.493
5 J. Button Brawn GP 1:36.532
6 J. Trulli Toyota 1:36.835
7 N. Rosberg Williams 1:37.397
8 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:38.089
9 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:38.595
10 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.321
11 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:35.975
12 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:36.032
13 F. Massa Ferrari 1:36.033
14 T. Glock Toyota 1:36.066
15 K. Nakajima Williams 1:36.193
16 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.906
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:36.908
18 R. Kubica BMW 1:36.966
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:36.669
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:37.672
