Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel took pole position by 0.8 secs from Lewis Hamilton; the Red Bull looked like it was on rails in the hands of the German while team mate Mark Webber seemed to be struggling; almost 0.9 seconds off Vettel in the same car to qualify in third place in a McLaren sandwich. The second McLaren of Jenson Button was 1.2 seconds off the pace; that’s like a country mile in F1 terms. Fernando Alonso could only manage fifth place on the grid with a time 1.4 seconds off Vettel’s time, while team mate Felipe Massa could only manage eighth with a time over two seconds slower than Vettel. It really puts Vettel’s pole lap in perspective when positions two through six is covered by less that one second and Vettel is 0.8 seconds out in front. Vitaly Petrov did excellently to qualify in sixth place in the Renault while his more experienced team mate Nick Heidfeld was knocked out in Q1; not a good start for ‘quick’ Nick. My favourite driver of the moment Kamui Kobayashi qualified his Sauber in ninth place which is a respectable position given the teams position in the pecking order. The Japanese’s team mate Sergio Perez didn’t look too shabby either qualifying in 13th place to be best of the rookies. The Mercedes’ teams impressive form in the last test session hasn’t come to fruition with Nico Rosberg qualifying in seventh and Michael Schumacher in 11th. Real surprise in the top 10 was Sebastien Buemi who qualified some 3.6 seconds off the pole sitter but impressed in Q2 to keep seven time world champion Schumacher out of the top 10. As expected; neither HRT made it within the 107% qualifying rule that was reintroduced this season after an absence of eight years. I question whether HRT should have even been allowed to compete as they hadn’t turned a wheel before free practice 2 in Melbourne, they were looking like mobile chicanes out there, teams could vote to allow HRT to race but as far outside the 107% rule they were; I can’t see the teams allowing them to compete. I’m looking forward to the race; with the KERS system which seems to be fragile in many of the top cars and the DRS (drag reduction system) or moveable rear wing as many know it; on top of the new Pirelli tyres which are a complete unknown in race conditions; will they favour drivers like Jenson Button who are super smooth; some rumours have been flying that smoother drivers could do one less pitstop than the more aggressive drivers. There is a lot of unknowns going into the race, its either going to be spectacular or complete carnage. We have already seen a number of drivers going off the road or spinning because of the moveable rear wing implementation, if that happens at the start of the race; a massive pile up with ensue.
