Great Britain – Qualifications: Alonso Sings in the Rain!

Q1: here we go for 20 minutes! First information, Kimi Räikkönen is experiencing a failure of the KERS, which must make him angry, for sure, and must « modify the brake balance » on his Lotus.

Under these conditions, the drivers must start as early as possible, and that’s what they’re attempting to do, jostling between Pérez, Grosjean, and Räikkönen. Kobayashi clocked the first interesting time at 1:50.411, but Massa, then Maldonado, Ricciardo, and Hamilton successively took the lead. Massa regained first place with a time of 1:48.499, but Kobayashi improved by going under the 48-minute mark. Maldonado once again took the lead with a time of 1:47.123, Pérez improved by seven tenths.

Button is in trouble in the red zone, while Vettel ranks P1 with a time of 1:46.279. Button takes a gamble on intermediates as the track is slightly less waterlogged in some areas. But it’s a mistake since the last sector is the wettest, and the McLaren driver loses nearly three seconds there. He fails to qualify in the top 17, while Glock’s Marussia is sideways on the pit straight. Pic did not manage to get below the 107% rule but should be allowed to race – quite literally considering the rain falling at Silverstone – since he achieved this time during the free practice sessions.

Eliminated in Q1: Button, Petrov, Kovalainen, Glock, De la Rosa, Karthikeyan, and Pic

Q2: The rain has flooded the Silverstone circuit for this second part of the qualification. Sergio Pérez is the first to go out, on rain tires, under the watch of a man who doesn’t cover the track but could, in the person of Jude Law. Alonso had chosen intermediate tires, very daring, but returns to the pits to switch to rain tires. Schumacher, in these conditions, climbs onto the curb and instantly makes a mistake. The Mercedes is particularly unstable, as the German goes off again. Pérez and Hamilton have taken the lead, the only ones under 2 minutes. Alonso also makes a mistake. It’s very difficult to move on this track.

Hamilton believes that the track is too slippery and explains that he almost collided with a Sauber, which the footage confirms. The red flag is out as the downpour intensifies and water pools on the British circuit. There are 6 minutes and 19 seconds remaining.

And after more than an hour and a half of interruption waiting for an improvement in the weather, it finally arrived and allowed the resumption of the qualifying session at 4:07 PM French time.

The choice obviously leans towards rain tires, even if the gamble on intermediates is being attempted by Kobayashi and Räikkönen, who should quickly change their minds given the state of the circuit. The first driver able to set a time is Romain Grosjean, who is in the red zone. The Franco-Swiss driver is pushing hard, and times are dropping significantly: 1:57.634 for Grosjean, 1:57.661 for Alonso, taking the top two spots while Rosberg is in the gravel but gets back on track. Vettel takes the third time. But Schumacher grabs first place, quickly surpassed by Webber with a 1:55.898. The track improves dramatically with each lap.

Hamilton takes P1 under the checkered flag, ahead of Schumacher and Webber. Alonso is in the danger zone, as are Maldonado and Pérez. Alonso and Maldonado make it into the top 10, but Grosjean, well positioned, is in the gravel and won’t be able to get out on his own! Q3 is already compromised for the Lotus driver.

Eliminated in Q2: Di Resta, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Senna, Vergne and Pérez

Q3: The first driver to take his chance is Pastor Maldonado, the only one willing to hit the track first. This promptness could prove to be advantageous if the weather starts to worsen again. Massa, Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Schumacher also take to the track. Maldonado went out on intermediate tires, while Räikkönen, following him, is on wet tires. First time for Maldonado at 1:58.016. Massa quickly improves, also on intermediates, with 1:55.617. Schumacher then Alonso, respectively on wet and intermediate, take the lead in turn. Vettel positions himself just behind the seven-time world champion. Massa reclaims the lead with 1:53.549, which doesn’t last long as his teammate improves the time by a second.

Schumacher will tackle the second batch of timed laps on intermediate tires, which seem to be the right choice with the track drying despite a very threatening sky. Hamilton is struggling quite a bit, only sixth on intermediates. Webber takes the lead in the session with 1:51.793. Rain falls again in sector 3 where Pastor Maldonado is, who is provisionally fourth, behind the two Ferraris.

Alonso takes the lead at the last moment and is not overtaken by anyone! It’s pole position for the championship leader, who will start ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher. He secures the 21st pole of his career, the first since the Singapore Grand Prix 2010.

Standings of the 2012 British Grand Prix Qualifiers: