Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado will share the first row of the grid in Spain on Sunday, while the local fans got wild as Fernando Alonso put his Ferrari third on the grid. The Lotuses were fourth and fifth on the grid with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen showing that black is nearly back, while Sergio Perez, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi rounded off the top 10.
Hamilton ended the session stopping out on the grid.
It is a fascinating grid for the first Grand Prix of 2012 in Europe… Sunday is going to be worth watching.
Very droll headline, Mr Saward, very droll.
Hi, Joe. Might Lewis end up be getting a penalty? I’ve heard that if he ran out of fuel, a penalty is likely to follow, and he stated that the car was feeling all right when he stopped.
Greetings from Gran Canaria.
F1 Quali needs changing, With the current rules tyres and cars it is just not working. What do replace it with is going to be tough. A 1 lap dash (I personly do not find that intersting), Quali tyers, a point for pole, Prise money, A free Set of Pirelli tyres for the pole winner. Constuctors points. Something needs to be done, i find it interesting but it is not what saturday arvos are about in F1
Joe, what Williams upgrades do you think made for Maldo’s big surprise?
But tomorrow is a whole different story.
I’m Keeping an eye on Button, Raikkonen and Vettel. They will make up the podium says my chrystal balls but won’t say what order. Webber will be p4 again.
Who says f1 isn’t predictable any more?
Predictable, Max? It seems you could hardly have been more wrong!
Five races & we have learned that 2012 is not very predictable..
you’re right. I give up.
When we could predict to a small degree!! What lovely times they were!
I know it’s exciting now, but….
Great session!
Got rather worried near the end there, when Hamilton stopped out on the circuit and some of the Spanish fans started to try to scale the fence, well known as some of them are for their great love of Lewis.
After Vettel (and presumably others)’s trick in order to keep his tyre choice open for the race, I can see a rule change coming along stating that if you don’t set a time in Q3, then the tyre you set your fastest Q2 time on becomes your race tyre… otherwise, neat little loophole there.
Joe, will Hamilton be penalized for stopping on the grid? I remember him doing something similar in Canada a few years ago but I do not remember if anything came of it.
So good for Williams. And full marks to honest Renault [engines division] for supplying them with apparently equivalent power units. And where doe sthis leave those who were, last season at least, dismissing Maldonaldo as just a pay driver?
I hope Maldonado in P2 is a sign of resurgence at Williams; it’s been a long time coming and nice belated birthday gift for Sir Frank.
Qualifying was truly unusual at least from my perspective.
I can’t rationalize the huge differences between teammates: Hamilton(1)-Button(11), Alonso(3)-Massa(17), Maldonado(2)-Senna(18), Vettel(8)-Webber(12). You can attribute Senna’s poor showing to his spin in Q2 and Massa, well, he’s Massa isn’t he? The Seb-Webber gap might be a talent diff, but the rest are a puzzle to me. Especially when Button says he can’t figure out the car.
Vettel, Schumy, and Koby post no times in Q3? Saving tires?? I can’t believe a three stop (or more) strategy is going to win here, unless you are starting from the front.
Will the stewards allow Karthikayan to start even though he was outside the 107% time? He is driving for HRT and it is Barcelona. I hope not, he’d be another rolling chicane slowing down the field; a three laps down finish is my call if they let him start.
While Pirelli has made F1 interesting due to their tire compounds I’m not sure I’m all in on the concept. If they need to do this to make the racing interesting they may as well go back to refueling as well.
I heard a stat that except for Vettel last year, no one in the last few years has won at Barcelona who didn’t start from pole; and Seb started P2. I do think that hard compound tire drivers may have a shot on the front row guys but it’s all predicated on how many laps the soft’s will last and how large of a gap they can create before pitting.
Unless Lewis screws the pooch on track or in the pits I think it’s his top step on the podium. P2 and P3 are anybody’s to fight for and it should be entertaining.
Oooh, chemistry puns. Nice work Joe.
Always loved the fact tha LP’s first pioneering experiments were, in a very literal sense, the result of staring through the bottom of a wine glass. So very, very French.
Strange indeed I might try and watch it live here in Calif.
Lewis Hamilton may be lower on the grid then previously assumed. He has a meeting with the steward to discuss if he is in breach of the rule he “invented” that is intended to stop cars to stop early to save fuel for the sample FIA needs. 10 cars down may be the penalty, and deservedly so in my view. Pastor for pole!
Any news regarding Hamilton not having enough fuel for FIA?
‘..goes to the chemist”
Groan…
It crossed my mind a week ago to put some money on Pastor for a Monaco pole, guess I should’ve moved faster.
Couldn’t resist: being one of Pastor’s greatest detractors, you are probably a little baffled at this time…
Nope, Lewis is at the back for cheating. Pastor to win, just because we will have yet another different race winner and Williams needs the boost.
Joe, what are you thoughts on the decision to send Lewis to the back? The punishment does not fit the crime in my opinion, 10th place surely should have been the maximum he should have been penalised. I think all this tweaking results afterwards ruins the spectacle for fans!
Hamilton starting from the back of the grid, that’s it I’ve had enough, it’s obviously they only didn’t penalise him in the last race because Rosberg then did the same to Alonso. I’m not even going to watch the race tomorrow, it’s such a farce!
All the more fascinating now with Lewis relegated.
First Williams genuine pole since when?
I don’t know, but to be fair, it precisely wasn’t a genuine pole, was it? Genuine front row though, and congratulations to them for that (and the result that followed).
McLaren are done for this year. They’ve given away both titles already. The case can be made that they’ve had the superior car in all race weekends thus far and have absolutely left huge points on the table every weekend. Joe, can you provide any insight into why McLaren have made such unforgivable mistakes by a top tier team this year? It’s tragic, really.
That’s a bit melodramatic. Have you seen the points table?
Mike, I’m not sure if the concept exists in the US but it’s very simple – people make mistakes. McLaren, being staffed by people, made mistakes. To suggest they’ve a) thrown away either title or b) had the better car but failed to capitalise is to posit a theory which you’ve done, only you’ve done it as if it was a fact.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t McLaren 2nd in the tight constructors championship so far? And isn’t Lewis 8 points behind the championship leader?
No, you’re right, it’s all over for them. So long as we’re throwing common sense to the wind, my prediction is a late surge by Caterham and that Karthekiyan will replace Massa next year.
Its refreshing to see williams at the top of the qualifiying times and finalised at 2nd on the grid for sunday. Who knows maybe a williams win tomorrow…..
If I was Lewis I’d be mightily pissed off at being bumped to the back of the grid, especially when he was SO much faster than anyone else – clearly he could have made pole with the full fuel load on.
McLaren are really looking sloppy this year: multiple pit-stop cock-ups, fuelling errors, and whatever was going on with JB’s car – he made it sound like a seesaw.
I really feel for Lewis; he’s had enough hassle from the stewards without this.
You’ve outdone yourself with that headline, Joe. Ouch.
Hi Joe,
Can you tell us what it is that McLaren employs a Sporting Director to do ?
Wow – excluded from the session. I don’t understand how Mclaren can keep letting Lewis down like this if they want him in their car next year.
see ya Hamilton, enjoy the traffic.
A few quid on Kimi, I think…
I don’t know what the joke is mclaren or the stewards…..
yep not enought fuel but didn’t sebvet have an issue when he ran down the pit lane to win, oh I getit , its difo rules if you don’t make it back after a win cause of low fuel (lots of love bernie)…….
Brill race ,,,,aye right…gone gone gone (not a lewis fan boy but a racer fan boy)auld bernie better watch, cause at this rate the next fella will be vince mcmahon. At least he knows showtime, shame I have a hedge to cut tomorrow so will miss the next test session
Groan.
Yes!!!
What’s going on at McLaren?? Hamilton didn’t have enough fuel to return to the pits? There’s something strange going on at Mclaren. Horribly botched pitstops and stupid errors like this! I genuinely wonder if someone from within the team is screwing them over. After witnessing S’pore crashgate and the Ferrari spying scandal not too long ago, it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.
Really astonishing the fact that before the FIA disqualified Lewis from pole no one in the press mentioned the rule about the fuel, although they should well know it as it already happened in 2010 with same team and same driver
Ah I get it, the guy who invented penicillin
Fleming?
No, he invented James Bond, Joe.
OR maybe NOT….,
did you leave too early ?
No, I was doing something that pays me money…
or still partying in Issoire
That’s what I assumed.
Truly awful pun, btw. Love it.
So Senna’s new nickname is “Milk”?
…because he’s been Pastorised??
Joe, spare us the recital of this stuff – you are not value-adding (as they say), and you have better things to be doing with your time.
I don’t come here wondering who got pole, I come here for the background comments and stories we don’t get elsewhere (at least I do). More of that, less of this, please.
Discuss.
(This is to be read as constructive criticism, not having a go at you Joe , I am interested in what other readers have to say, and what you see as your niche in the blodoshere)
.
Autosport report Hamilton will start from the back due to lack of fuel not allowing a return to the pits after Q3. This is all getting to be a bit of a coincidence -it puts a Williams on pole a large turn around from the last few years when their Tech director was a certain SM . He is now at McLaren who have had huge operational issues this year -slow pit stops, cars changing characterisics overnight etc is there a common link ?
A grid that is now a lot less fascinating thanks to the overly harsh intervention of the idiotic stewards.
I’ve only just watched qualifying and checked the news during the press conference. Immediately following that, coverage switches to Martin Whitmarsh being artfully cagey.
Ted Krawitz : Tell us why Lewis stopped on the slow down lap.
Martin Whitmarsh : A technical problem, I don’t know, we’re just going to have a look at that, hopefully it’s nothing too serious but a problem arose where he had to turn off.
TK : With anything other than an engine or a gearbox, they’ll allow you to change whatever’s wrong in parc fermé. Any signs it is an engine or a gearbox, in which case there’s be a grid penalty.
MW : No, there isn’t so we won’t have that.
Not impressed the action today – what a bore, particularly Q3. I can understand the strategic use of tyres from the team’s point of view but it’s a poor show for the fans – at the track or on the tele.
It’s great to mix up the action a bit for the races, and they’ve been good so far, but qualifying needs to be a better spectacle sometimes. Hardly anyone was running at one point in Q3.
Joe,
Maybe we’ll see the headline “Lewis got Passturized by Maldonado!”
Joe, Do you know why drivers can finish the race and stop on track when out of fuel, but the same cannot happen after quali?
Exactly, I don’t see a difference?
Unrelated to this Joe but I hope everybody is safe there – that fire looked to be taking hold quickly and the BBC cut the forum I guess as they had to evacuate.
Latest reports at time of writing (18h30 CET) are 5 injuries, none serious, all in medical centre for checks. I hope you are safe as are the brave team personnel involved. It may have been Williams garage but I saw Force India and Marussia shirts involved also, with Lotus guys running to and fro getting more extinguishers.