Chinese GP: Qualifications – Vettel on pole, Webber knocked out in Q1!

As every week, the battle is intense between the smaller teams and the top ones for qualification within 107% of the best Q1 time.

Sergio Perez’s Sauber is the first to head out for this first part, while many drivers have their eyes fixed on the monitors. After a few minutes, many drivers are on track; some drivers might be hindered at this moment for completing a timed lap. We will remember Heidfeld’s misadventure in Australia, stuck in Q1 due to traffic.

The choice of tires is varied, some drivers prefer to keep soft tires for the rest of the qualifying. Midway through the session, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button are the only two drivers to break the 1’36 barrier, equipped with hard tires, while Jaime Alguersuari achieves the fourth-fastest time with soft tires.

The Japanese driver from Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi, sets off as the track is clear, aiming to clock a timed lap to move out of the bottom seven eliminated drivers. Nick Heidfeld records the second fastest time on soft tires, between a Red Bull and a McLaren, although those were on hard tires. Many drivers mimic the German to secure a place in Q2. Fernando Alonso improves his best time to 1’35’389, and his teammate joins him with a second place, less than a tenth behind. But both Ferrari drivers are displaced by several drivers, starting with Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg.

Dramatic turn of events: Mark Webber is eliminated in Q1, taking the 18th position. The Australian did not have the chance to switch to soft tires, his team will surely have to answer for this.

The top spot of this session eludes Sebastian Vettel, as it’s Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes that is the fastest in Q1. No driver is eliminated following this session, and the race will therefore see 24 drivers competing tomorrow.

Eliminated from Q1: Webber, Kovalainen, Trulli, D’Ambrosio, Glock, Liuzzi, Karthikeyan.

Jaime Alguersuari is the first to head out in Q2 directly with the soft tires and sets the fastest time at the start, quickly displaced by Jenson Button. The lesson must have been learned at Red Bull, which sends Sebastian Vettel out with soft tires. Hamilton improves the benchmark time set by Sebastian Vettel this morning by five-tenths, with the soft tires.

At mid-session, Mark Webber announces that the decision not to switch to soft tires on his car was his choice. With 6 minutes remaining in Q2, Barrichello, Buemi, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Maldonado, Petrov, and Heidfeld would be excluded. The two Lotus Renault drivers will make only one run to qualify, while the Mercedes drivers will use soft tires. The Lotus Renault appears to be performing well, with Vitaly Petrov improving on Lewis Hamilton’s first sector time, before setting the fourth fastest time and stopping his car on the track, causing a red flag to appear with two minutes remaining, while his teammate has not completed a single timed lap.

The Russian driver seems to have had a problem with the gearbox.

The last two minutes are catastrophic for all the drivers except for the top four, who stay in the pits while all the other drivers go back out to set a time, except for Toro Rosso, Red Bull, and McLaren. Some drivers are hindered by traffic while others simply miss this single lap, like Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld. The two Toro Rosso remain in the top 10 and will participate in Q3.

Eliminated in Q2: Sutil, Perez, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Barrichello, Heidfeld, and Maldonado.

The McLaren and Red Bull drivers saved soft tires during the two previous sessions and will qualify in two stints, unlike other drivers who wait until later in the session to start. At the beginning of the session, Sebastian Vettel sets a stunning time, clocking the fastest times in each sector, with an extremely fast lap of 1’33’706, seven-tenths quicker than Jenson Button’s time set just seconds earlier. Only these two drivers and the two Toro Rosso have set a time with four minutes remaining. The other five drivers will set their times with just one lap.

The other drivers keep recording lap times, but none manage to beat Jenson Button’s.

Nico Rosberg takes his place on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton, while the first place goes once again to Sebastian Vettel, who delivered an extremely fast lap compared to the competition.

Results of the Qualifications – 2011 Chinese Grand Prix: