Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the first time in his Formula 1 career ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton who qualified in pole, half a second faster than Maldonado, was disqualified from qualifying after he ran out of fuel on his in-lap which breaches the rules, which was compounded by McLaren being very cagy about the fuel issue; Hamilton will start from last on the grid, which some may consider harsh but rules are rules!
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, Saubers’ Sergio Perez and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg will start in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and were the last three drivers to set a time in Q3, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel elected to not set a fast time, pulling into the pits twice before crossing the line to set a time while Michael Schumacher didn’t take to the track at all. the second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi didn’t take part in Q3 at all after stopping out of the track at the end of Q2 with a hydraulic failure. Vettel, Schumacher and Kobayashi will start from 7th, 8th and 9th respectively!
Jenson Button benefited from his team mates disqualification moving into the top 10 after being knocked out in Q2 as he coasted back to the pits after setting his fast lap, Button consistently complained of oversteer and later complained of understeer at the end of Q2. Mark Webber will start in 11th place after being knocked out in Q2 in a last minute reshuffled of positions as he sat in the pit garage. Paul di Resta will start from 12th place right behind Jenson Button; ahead of his Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg. Williams’ Bruno Senna was massively disappointing getting knocked out in Q1 while his team mate finished Q1 in third place. Senna has a lot to prove in the race especially with reserve driver, Valtteri Bottas eager and ready to jump into a race seat!
Given the way this season has panned out thusfar, it’s so hard to predict what will happen in the race, I think that Fernando Alonso has a good chance of claiming a second victory this season, I don’t see Maldonado winning the race, the Williams car isn’t capable of winning a race just yet, a big improvement over last season but I believe wins are out of the question this season, but I’d love to be proved wrong! Lotus have a good chance of winning the race, the Lotus car has great speed this season as proven last race, I suspect that Raikkonen will edge his less experienced team mate. I think that Jenson Button has a great chance of finishing in the top six, his race pace has been much better than qualification pace. Despite starting from stone last, I believe Lewis Hamilton will manage to claim some points because of the McLaren’s inherent speed at this track!
You can read my friend Ewan Marshall‘s view of the Spanish GP Qualifying over at GPFocus.com
