European GP – Qualifying: Vettel and Red Bull Still in Front!

The qualifying session began this afternoon in very hot conditions, and the session promises to be competitive due to the regulatory change regarding engine mappings, which will have to be the same in qualifying and in the race.

Q1: Nick Heidfeld is the first to go for a timed lap which is quite slow compared to the times from this morning, but as with any street circuit, you need to feel confident to push, especially since the high temperature can alter the behavior of the tires. The two Red Bull drivers quickly position themselves at the top, and Sebastian Vettel is the first to break the 1’40 barrier, while Fernando Alonso slots in between the two energy drink team drivers. But Jenson Button sets the fastest time in the second sector to improve the best time, before the reigning world champion takes his lead back. However, the Briton’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, just improved the fastest time by a small tenth faster than Sebastian Vettel, to take first place. But the German continues to push to reclaim the top time.

Five minutes before the end, soft tires make their appearance and the Toro Rosso and Sauber drivers are able to play with the big boys, surpassing Fernando Alonso’s time and his Ferrari. Times drop in the final minutes and Felipe Massa clocks the best time on soft tires to qualify.

Eliminated in Q1: Alguersuari, Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Liuzzi, d’Ambrosio, Karthikeyan.

Q2: Felipe Massa is the first to set a time, slightly slower than his time in Q1, while Fernando Alonso, then Sebastian Vettel set the fastest times, with the German being five-tenths faster than the Spaniard and four-tenths faster than the McLaren drivers who interpose between them. A red flag occurs halfway through the session after a technical problem on Pastor Maldonado’s Williams, which stops his car in the middle of the track.

After a few minutes, the session restarts and several drivers will have to go back out to hope to reach Q3. Vitaly Petrov places himself in the top 10 while Michael Schumacher also attacks very strongly to achieve the sixth fastest time, three-tenths behind Mark Webber. Only the Russian is now in danger concerning Adrian Sutil, who places himself ahead of the LRGP driver, who does not qualify for Q3.

Eliminated in Q2: Petrov, di Resta, Barrichello, Kobayashi, Maldonado, Perez, Buemi.

Q3: Fernando Alonso is the first to go out and sets a blistering time of 1’37’454 before being edged out by Lewis Hamilton by a tenth. But the world champion stuns everyone by going under the 1’37 mark, with a remarkable time of 1’36’975, despite making a small error in the last corner. Nico Rosberg then sets the 7th fastest time behind the six drivers from the Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari teams, with his teammate following him.

In the last two minutes, Mark Webber moves into second position after a very good lap and his main opponents’ errors, while Sebastian Vettel returned to the pits while he was improving his best lap.

Thus, we will see a 100% Red Bull Renault front row tomorrow with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso lurking behind.

Results of the 2011 European Grand Prix qualifying: