Sebastian Vettel took his 13th pole position of the year in India, beating Lewis Hamilton by three-tenths. The English will, in any case, have to drop three places on the grid because of a penalty from Friday. This means that Mark Webber will share the front row with his Red Bull team-mate, while the opposition will be hoping that 13 will be Sebastian’s unlucky number. Fernando Alonso will start third with Jenson Button fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Felipe Massa will be sixth but ended his qualifying with a shunt when his right front suspension broke when he ran over a kerb. Nico Rosberg will be seventh with Adrian Sutil and the two Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari ninth and 10th, although the final three did not run in the Q3 session.
So with 17 Q sessions so far, Vettel has topped 13 of them, Webber three of them and Lewis Hamilton on pole only once, in Korea.
Just watched the Q1-2-3 coverage
Classic from Eddie Jordan on BBC1
(para-phrasing)
EJ: Some of your technology must pass down to Torro Rosso
Christian Horner: We’re not allowed to
EJ: That’s never stopped you!!
CH: <- not impressed
Joe,
Following on from Massa's floppy front wing BBC1 reported a story that Mark Webber's front wing which came off at Monza was never returned to the garage after the race. Do you have any information on this? Did it perchance end up at Marinello as was jokingly suggested on air?
Cheers
Simon
ps Nice to see Hamilton and Massa side by side on the grid, will be an interesting first corner
It is about time that Lewis Hamilton won another race! We all know that Sebastian is a brilliant driver, but what was going on today with the word tricky that both Sebastian and Mark were using? The noun of tricky is trick, so does this mean “trick or treat”, meaning that Red Bull have many more tricks to play before Halloween?
So, Lewis Hamilton maybe the bad boy of motor racing at the moment because he he will have to drop three positions due to his error the other day. We all know that the opposite of bad is good, so well done Lewis for claiming the second place at the Indian Grand Prix today. The question is can Lewis claim the first Grand Prix in India tomorrow. What ever happens, tomorrow is bound to be a brilliant race!
Was there some link between Massa’s car having it’s front suspension disintegrating on a kerb and Ferrari’s attempts to stop the new front wing flexing itself sparkily all over the track asphalt ?
If the car cannot hold itself together any better tomorrow they could get a double DNF, and that is if the FIA let the cheaty rubber wing thing go …
Andy Wallace,
No.
Joe,
Where are we on the number of fresh engines each team has left? Must be getting very close to having used up all the fresh ones. What about the gearboxes?
Which team do you think is in trouble on engines & gearboxes?
Joe: So with Parc Ferme conditions in play, will Ferrari be able to fix Felipe’s F150th and get him to his grid-slot – or does he have to start from pit-exit? Or can Ferrari fix the car, and let Massa run out as per usual on parade lap and grid formation?
With such a major front Left suspesion re-build on their hands – I can’t recall what the FIA gridstart rules are. A long night for Ferrari mechanics either way!
I’d prefer for Filipe to start in his 6th Grid position from the get-go; just to see the possible fireworks between he and Lewis Hamilton starting from his penalised 5th grid spot. Those guys are like track-magnets (or entertaining incident magnets). That would make for a more entetaining Indian GP at the start at least.
I am betting Hammy would rather see an EMPTY 6th grid in the formation. LMAO. JF
Hi Joe
I didn’t watch the Indian GP because I just knew that Seb Vettel would win , Mark Webber would go backwards becasue of his issues with tyres and the Button and Alonso would be in the top 3. It’s getting very predicatable and you wouldn’t believe it but I have started watching NASCAR ( I know i shouldn’t swear) just to get that feeling on who is going to win. I truly hope that next year that F1 can be more exciting than so far!!!. The flip side of a true outstanding gifted driver in any motor sport is boredom……..What do you think?
John