F1 Quals: China 2016

Practice 3 in China was stupidly wet, with heavy rain lasting through the first 15 minutes.  By the time Quals rolled around, the track was... mostly dry.  There were still some damp spots, though.  Would they have any role to play?  Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of China:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:37.669	1:36.240	1:35.402
2	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:37.672	1:36.815	1:35.917
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:37.347	1:36.118	1:35.972
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:37.001	1:36.183	1:36.246
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:37.537	1:36.831	1:36.296
6	Kid Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:37.719	1:36.948	1:36.399
7	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:38.096	1:37.149	1:36.865
8	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:37.656	1:37.204	1:36.881
9	Embryo Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:38.181	1:37.265	1:37.194
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:38.165	1:37.333	No Time
11	Felipe Not Nasr Massa	Williams	1:38.016	1:37.347
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:38.451	1:38.826
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:37.593	1:39.093
14	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas	1:38.425	1:39.830
15	Sony Ericsson	Sauber	1:38.321	1:40.742
16	Felipe Not Massa Nasr	Sauber	1:38.654	1:42.430
17	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:38.673
18	Esteban!	Haas	1:38.770
19	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:39.528
20	Rio Rainbow Gate	Manor	1:40.264
NC	Turbo Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	DNF
NC	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	DNF

On first glance, you might think that Lewis Hamilton was affected by the rain, but you'd be wrong.  He went out for a trial lap on Intermediates, but came right back in complaining of his engine being down on power.  I mean, every driver complains that their engine isn't powerful enough, but this time it was real: a second attempt at a lap later in the session was also a failure as his energy recovery system wasn't working right.  Since he didn't set a time, he technically races at the whims of the stewards.  No worries there, I'd say.

Manor's Turbo Pascal Wehrlein also races at the allowance of the stewards as he wrecked his car just a couple of minutes into Q1... and this is the only time that the wetness of the circuit may have had an effect. 

As you can see, there's two damp strips across the asphalt, separated (and caused) by a bump in the front straight that runs the width of the track.  Wehrlein splashed through the first damp patch, hit the bump, then nailed the second damp patch... and ended up having a tankslapper that dumped him into the outside wall.  You'll note his DRS is open, as well... the combination of water, bump, and reduced downforce ended his day.  A 20 minute red flag while the track workers recovered his car was the result.

Q2 ended early when Force India sent Nico Hulkenberg out for his final hot lap with a tire poorly attached.  He gave it the old college try, but making it all the way around the track without losing the thing proved to be too much.

Oh dear.
This, too, brought out a red flag.  The clock was stopped with about 90 seconds left in the session... nowhere near enough time to get out from the pits, get around the track, and start a flying lap.  Thus were Felipe Not Nasr Massa, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, all of whom were on or were about to start a flying lap when the flag came out, relegated to not making it to Q3.  Alonso was particularly annoyed by this, making sounds on the radio that were... um... interesting. 

The final session saw a surprise finish when Smiley Ricciardo cranked out a lap from out of nowhere.  Both Ferraris had a great shot at beating him, but both Vettel and Raikkonen screwed up the final hairpin, meaning they could not better the Aussie.  Which left Nico Rosberg up on top of the grid, and his biggest rival at the very far end. 

That promises fireworks.  See ya Sunday!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:37 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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