In my last post I predicted Hamilton or Vettel for pole. I also predicted how I thought Ferrari would struggle to get in Q1.
Well it seems I was talking rubbish. Both Hamilton and Vettel were knocked out in Q1, whilst Fisichella helped me keep at least a bit of face by spinning coming out of the Senna S and bringing out the red flag after 1 lap.
Q3 was then delayed as the safety car took to track to judge how dangerous the track conditions were.
The lights turned green with 17 minutes remaining on the clock.
The driver realised that it was likely to be a spin fest, and the teams filled up the cars so they could do 17 minutes of continuous running. The first lap times dropped from the 1min 40's to 1min 20s. The Williams were really on the pace, along with Raikkonen. Hamilton and Vettel were struggling though, and both pitted for new tires.
It didn't help, with Hamilton spinning and Vettel aborting his final lap.
Vettel being knocked out in the first session pretty much bought his title chances to an end. As he parked in front of the FIA Steward garage he threw his steering wheel out in digust, and seemed really angry about his performance. He could, of course, be running a dry weather set up, but why would he be so annoyed? He would understand why he was so slow. So I am getting mixed feelings from him.
Kovalainen was also knocked out, but as usual, no one cares. I don't think I saw him on screen once. He did out qualify Hamilton though. Hamilton has confirmed he is running a dry weather set up though. Which will help if it's dry tomorrow, obviously, but it's pretty redundant since he is starting in 18th.
Button and Barrichello made it through with minimal drama, and Alonso made it through by the skin of his teeth in 15th position.
The drivers knocked out are:
20 Fisichella 1:40.70319 Heidfeld 1:25.51518 Hamilton 1:25.19217 Kovalainen 1:25.05216 Vettel 1:24.009
At this point, with the safety car circulating to test track conditions, it started to rain over Bangkok. So I lost signal. When the signal returned, Liuzzi was heading backwards into the tyre barriers at turn 1.Q2 was red flagged as quickly as it began. It was a big crash caused by aquaplaning. He hit the inside wall on the straight, and carried on and hit the wall on the outside of turn 1. Luckily, he stepped out the car unaided, and waved to the crowd.
The safety car came out. Again. Restart will be delayed until conditions continue announced race control. At this point I nearly decided to head to bed, but my love for F1 kept me up. The safety car came out at 15:30 local time, the Star Sports commentators starting to plugging new shows and their books. The safety car was announced to come out again at 15:45. The Star Sports started talking about Raikkonen and Ice Creams. F1 is a hard sport to follow.
Finally! It was announced that Q2 will resume at 16:10. This is longer than the qualifying at Suzuka, which was pretty long. Actually, this qualifying is longer than races are allowed to run for.
Nico Rosberg was the first to head out, and was pushing hard. His first lap was 2 seconds quicker than his lap in Q1: 1:21.815. Barrichello crossed the line to take 4th, and Button followed to take 10th. Raikkonen put in a stunner of a lap to take first, with a 1:21.378.
Kobayashi took the escape road, whilst Nico Rosberg headed into the pits to strap on a pair of inters. Webber upped the pace to take 1st, and Raikkonen dived into pit for inters too. The grid waited to see if the Inters would work for Rosberg.
They didn't. Rosberg's first lap was 1.2 seconds slower than Webber, and it seemed he jumped the gun.
Rosberg's inter gambled paid off as he took P1. Button stayed out on track on wets. His last chance to get into the final session, but he failed to make the cut. Sutil moved into P2 with an amazing lap, he always impresses in the rain.
Barrichello made into the shootout, which is a blow to Button. Kobayashi just misses out on Q3 after a moment in turn 3. Overall a solid debut for the young Japanese driver.
Drivers out of Q2 are:
15 Liuzzi No Time
14 Button 1:22.504
13 Grosjean 1:22.477
12 Alguersuari 1:22.231
11 Kobayashi 1:21.960
This was Barrichello's shot at putting a good amount of space between him, and his team mate. Would Barrichello's Interlagos curse end here? As Q3 started, the entire grid headed out onto track except for Sutil.
Buemi stole P1 from Webber during the first few laps, whilst Barrichello took 4th. Raikkonen went 3rd, and put in a purple sector immediately afterwards. Kubica's BMW put in an incredible 3rd sector took put his BMW in 2nd place.
The second laps begin, and Barrichello took pole. The crowd errupted, but it was premature as Kubica took it straight back off him by 0.512 seconds. Webber couldn't beat Kubica, and neither could Raikkonen. The qualifying specialist Trulli took pole, but only for a few seconds as Rosberg took it straight back off him.
The times were tumbling as track conditions improved. Trulli took pole back, then Barrichello snatched it off him. Webber put in the fastest 2nd sector of anyone, and took pole again. Raikkonen took 4th, as Barrichello made a mistake in the 2nd sector.
Everyone had 1 last lap left. Webber was in first with 1:20.109, but would it stand? Webber improved his time by half a second. Barrichello crossed the line, and took pole away. The crowd erupted. No one else could beat that time, and Barrichello claimed pole for the 3rd time in his career.
With 13 positions between him and his championship contenders, Barrichello must be feeling optimistic about his title chances.
Top 10 qualifiers:
1. Barrichello 1:19.576
2. Webber 1:19.668
3. Sutil 1:19.912
4. Trulli 1:20.097
5. Raikkonen 1:20.168
6. Buemi 1:20.250
7. Rosberg 1:20.326
8. Kubica 1:20.631
9. Nakajima 1:20.674
10. Alonso 1:21.422
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