July 21, 2012

F1 Quals: Germany 2012

Well, it started dry.  Here's the provisional grid for the 2012 Grand Prix of Germany:

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1 HWMNBN Ferrari 1:16.073 1:38.521 1:40.621
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:16.393 1:38.309 1:41.026
3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:16.500 1:39.382 1:41.496
4 Slappy Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.686 1:38.010 1:42.459
5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:16.271 1:39.467 1:43.501
6 Rabbi Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:16.181 1:38.731 1:43.950
7 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.507 1:38.659 1:44.113
8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.221 1:37.365 1:44.186
9 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:16.352 1:39.703 1:44.889
10 Mumbles Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:15.693 1:39.729 1:45.811
11 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:16.516 1:39.789
12 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:15.726 1:39.933
13 Gandalf Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.481 1:39.985
14 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.265 1:40.212
15 Lettuce Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:16.685 1:40.574
16 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:16.426 1:40.752
17 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.988 1:41.551
18 Jules Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:16.741

19 Heikki Kovalaineninnie Caterham-Renault 1:17.620

20 The Red Menace
Caterham-Renault 1:18.531

21 Charles ToothPic Marussia-Cosworth 1:19.220

22 Tim  O'Glockenspiel Marussia-Cosworth 1:19.291

23 Pete Rose
HRT-Cosworth 1:19.912

24 Narain Kittylitter HRT-Cosworth 1:20.230


Q1 107% Time
1:20.991

The entirety of Q1 was run in the dry, but just as some of the survivors made their way to the track for Q2, it began to rain.  Inters were the tire of the moment, with everybody thinking they'd have time for one flying lap on the faster of the wet-weather tires before it got too soggy for them. 

They were wrong.  By the time the cars had finished their out-laps and begun their flying laps, the circuit had just crossed the line between Inters and Full Wets... you could still use the Intermediate tires, but the water-pumping abilities of the bigger galoshes were probably the better bet.  The drivers were game, certainly, and struggled to guide their cars around the track on the less-effective tires, but times were... lackluster at best.  Amazingly, nobody managed to end up in the kittylitter or the safety barriers, but only by the greatest of good luck.  Once everybody was on the Full Wets, the rain got even heavier.  It wasn't quite "grumpy old man building a boat in the pit lane" wet, but pretty bad.

Q3 was even worse, with the heavy rain of Q2 mixed with pooling and rivers running cross-track.  At the beginning of the session, HWMNBN was on the radio suggesting that there was too much water for safety and there should be a delay.  Denied, he went out and gained pole by being one of the very last drivers to set a flying lap as the session headed towards an end.  By that time there was a... let's call it less-wet... line on the circuit.  The Ferrari driver took advantage, gaining another pole despite Red Bull's Sebby Vettel getting one final shot at his time.  A quick off-track excursion ended that threat and solidified HWMNBN's pole.

Three drivers will be taking five gridspot penalties for gearbox changes: Lettuce Grosjean, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber.  Yes, that means that Slappy Schumacher will be starting third.  Yes, this makes the F1U! team cry.

The race tomorrow is supposed to be run in the dry.  We'll see... and F1 Update! will be all over it.  See you then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 539 words, total size 16 kb.

1 That time chart is remarkable. HWMNBN was 24 seconds slower in Q3 than in Q1!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at July 21, 2012 11:34 AM (+rSRq)

2 Basically, it's the difference between the 100m dash and the 100m freestyle... which, considering the amount of water on the circuit, seems particularly appropriate.

Posted by: Wonderduck at July 21, 2012 11:50 AM (9ckGE)

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