F1 qualifying ( spolier alert )
 

Vettel........Massa........Alonso with Schumi 7th. Interesting year this will be.

Backmarkers are as much as 9 seconds adrift of Vettel's qualy time. What a mess this is going to be.

Todt is already talking about the 107% rule for next year.

He'd better be doing something.

Man, what is with the new official F1 timing graphics? How about letting the fans, ie viewers know what's happening? I had no idea who was getting bumped in Q2, which is by far the most important session this season. That needs fixing STAT!

But, on a positive note, it's F1 again. Yay!

Fun positive note! Good to see the Lotus colors again, and the team at least kind of knows what it's doing.

red cow has proved they can run fast when light, let's see how they run with a full load of fuel.
Ferrari has been testing with heavy fuel loads the entire pre-season.
I predict one of the ferraris will be in the lead by lap 10.

Please enlighten me.:confused:

In Formula One, the 107% rule was a Sporting Regulation that affected qualifying sessions from the beginning of the 1996 season until the end of the 2002 season.
It stipulated that a driver who did not lap within 107% of the pole position time during the hour-long session the day before the race would not be eligible to compete in the race, subject to the discretion of the stewards.

Thanks sammy. Know can you save me from doing the math? I am guessing most likely HRT and the rest would be greater than 107%?

Next year will be too late. Having cars on the course almost 10 seconds off the pace is really a safety issue.

The backmarkers are going to need to step up their game and quickly.





Tim

Looks like 107% of Vettel's pole would be about 2:02, which covers the whole field except the last 2 positions, one of which didn't turn a lap prior to qualifying.

Too late for the 107% rule this year as all the teams will have to agree to the change. It was controversial the first time around but I can not remember a lot of people affected by it back then. I would not worry about it until it happens next year. I am sure Todt just wants to make the back markers step up their game.

Michael quals 7th... ironically the same position he qualified in in his first ever F1 race at Spa.

I was half asleep watching this last night....have to say the commentary wasn't helping (no-one had taken their personality pills and the guys seemed kinda 'lack-lustre')....

So I missed the 'thing' about the tyres - I could go read up on it but too lazy (it's Sunday morning here ;))...what's the deal? Those who didn't make the cut for Q3 get a choice of tyres to start on yet those who made Q3 must start on the tyres they posted fastest time on? Is that right?

I think this track exacerbates the times problem. It's looooonnnnng. I wasn't all that surprised to see such a time differential across the field seeing as it's the first race of the season. I agree they should reconsider the 107% rule though.

Very happy to see Vettel get pole and even though I am not a Ferrari fan also very happy to see Massa take second spot. Here's hoping for a good race....

Roll on Melbourne! Two weeks to go - yey! And before that we have the Phillip Island Historics next weekend which is going to be a sensational meet (as usual)....lots of motorsport spectating for us over the next couple of weeks.

Vettels future is now and Adrian Newey is the aero god. The race will be won by the driver that manages his tyres the best and aero saves tyres.

As for the Ferraris, All I care about is that Massa puts Fred (Cry Baby) Alonzo in his place.

Yes, that's correct.

JR

+1 to that.

...and he's only the third fastest German in this qualifying.

Vettel would have easily have won the title last year but for the car/engine letting him down on numerous occasions.

Moving chicane newcomers notwithstanding, this has to be one of the most competitive grids, top to bottom, in many years.

This should be a great season.







Tim

gotta give Schumacher credit...3 years retirement, half the competition is half his age... yet he qualified 6th out of 23

not sure why y'all think he qualified 7th... the list i'm looking at , at f1today.com says 6th
And make that 2nd fastest German

Bahrain Grand Prix 2010
Qualifying
Driver Teams Time
1 F Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1'54.242
2 F Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1'54.608
3 LC Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 1'55.217 N Rosberg (GER) Mercedes 1'55.241
5 M Webber (AUS) Red Bull 1'55.284
6 M Schumacher (GER) Mercedes 1'55.524
7 J Button (GBR) McLaren 1'55.672
8 R Kubica (POL) Renault 1'55.885
9 A Sutil (GER) Force India 1'56.309
10 RG Barrichello (BRA) Williams 1'55.330
11 V Liuzzi (ITA) Force India 1'55.653
12 N Hulkenberg (GER) Williams 1'55.857
13 PM de la Rosa (ESP) BMW Sauber 1'56.237
14 S Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 1'56.265
15 K Kobayashi (JPN) BMW Sauber 1'56.270
16 V Petrov (RUS) Renault 1'56.619
17 J Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso 1'57.071
18 T Glock (GER) Virgin 1'59.728
19 J Trulli (ITA) Lotus 1'59.852
20 H Kovalainen (FIN) Lotus 2'00.313
21 L di Grassi (BRA) Virgin 2'00.587
22 B Senna (BRA) HRT F1 2'03.240
23 K Chandhok (IND) HRT F1 2'04.904




EDIT, nevermind, F1today got a bad list... they forgot Vettel completely...7th is still not bad for a first race qualifying, for the old timer who took 3 years sabatical..

Your list is missing Vettel. This is from the F1 site.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1268526228.jpg

It should be a great race.

Ian

Not disagreeing about Alonso, but I bet he finishes the race ahead of Massa.

I'll take that bet. Massa is an easy target when he feels the race is lost, but when he's contending for the front, he's tough.
Fred will find a reason to complain and ultimately blame someone else for his failure.

The wild card is Mercedes. Ross brawn is the quintescential tactitian so you can't count either of the Germans Nico or Schumi out.
I would not be surprised to see either of them second, behind Vettel of course. :)

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I know there are a lot of laps -- & tire degradation questions -- to go, but so far I am winning the bet! Didn't take long -- what, 2 corners? -- for Alonso to make a good, clean, smart pass on Massa.

Too bad about Vettel. I like him a LOT. I like what Hobbs said about him, "An old head on a very young body". Alonso still ahead of Massa...& Alonso is flying.

Interesting to see Nico ahead of Schumy. Can Schumy press Nico into a mistake? You know how much Rosberg wants to beat him. Will that cause him to make a mistake?

You owe me a beer.

after what Massa has been thru its a delight to see him competing at all.

SmileWavy

Looks like I missed on every point.
Massa didn't beat Fred & Fred didn't get a chance to cry: give it some time
Ross Brawn didn't have a magic strategy
Vettel wasn't the best driver..... oh wait Vettel didn't win.
Oh well. Maybe next time?
I will be back making more predictions based on hopes and dreams.
I must say, calling Vettel ahead of Fred with all the book makers calling Vettel third took some stones. I'll bet on Vettel again.

It was pretty much a given, long before the first corner, given the relative performance off of the line for the two cars. Don't forget that Allonso started on the clean side of the track and Massa on the dirty side. You may have noticed during the race the huge cloud of sand and dust raised by any car verturing off of the clean line. That's the nature of a track like this, which is one good reason F1 shouldn't go to tracks built in the desert, that sledom get used. Anyway, Alonso got a great start and was able to get alongside Massa, something that wouldnt have happened had Massa gotten a normal start. It may have been a moot point, as Massa's car had a problem halfway through the race that crippled his pace, but the pass was more to do with the track than the drivers.

Boring race. Eliminating refueling was a stupid move. Of course, nearly every change in F1 in the last few years had made things worse, so what's new?

JR

Can't totally agree with that. Knockout qualifying rocks though it was more interesting when they had to factor in fuel loads in Q3.

For the record, I never said Alonso isn't a complainer. I just said he would beat Massa. I like Massa, but I just think Alonso is a better driver. I think Massa is a very good driver in a great car, but Alonso is a great driver in a great car.

I actually do think Vettel drove the best race. He is an amazing talent & will definitely be world champ some year, very possibly this year. His car let him down today -- he had everyone covered.

You still owe me a beer.

Not disagreeing that Alonso had the clean side, but he is a great starter, & I think he would have gotten Massa regardless. As I said, I just think he is a better racer. If the Ferraris continue to be fast, he could be world champ this year. In my mind there is no doubt that Alonso will finish the season with more points than Massa.

But it is very early. You can't count McLaren out -- they will get faster. And Schumy will get faster too.

I think the intra-team battles are very interesting this year. After round one:

Nico 1 -- Michael 0 (You know Nico is happy to both outqualify & beat Michael in the race)

Lewis 1 -- Jenson 0 (Jenson can't be happy)

Fernando 1 -- Felipe 0 (Glad to see Massa back, but I think Alonso is just better)

I love F1 but this was Boring with a capital WTF

So with the new rules we'll never see low fuel / fresh tyres again. Just save your tyres for the finish?

Oh ya, of course Doug, IOU a beer, but only a light beer.:)

Uggggh, it appears that the F1 management has found another way to keep any racing from breaking out in one of their parades. This no refueling rule means that nobody dares RACE during the first few laps, choosing instead to protect the tires and avoid flying off the course in the overweight cars. Aint gonna be any late braking into a corner now.

By the time the fuel loads are down to the point that they can actually race, the cars are spread out too much and there is nobody to race. Seriously, what was the most exciting pass....17th on 16th 3/4 the way through the race?

Was refilling in the pits that dangerous? Was it more dangerous than all these drivers cruising around in a bathtub full of fuel?

6 seconds off the pace with full fuel load! What about the tight tracks, like Monaco? These pigs will barely be able to get away from the Casino.

They need to open up engine development again. It's the only way to put some lipstick on the pigs.