July 23, 2016
F1 Quals: Hungary 2016
You know things are weird when the first image for your coverage of qualifying is of the Safety Car getting squirrelly in a straight line. And then practically disappearing in the deluge that's befallen the circuit. Yes, it was raining at the Hungaroring, but not the "well that'll be challenging" type of rain we like to see. No, what we had was more along the lines of "grumpy old man builds a boat while his family herds pairs of animals" apocalyptic-style rainfall. It was so bad that Q1 was postponed by first 10, then 20 minutes. Then, just when the cars pulled out on track, the rain apparently ceased but plenty of standing water still around... well, let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2016 Grand Prix of Hungary, shall we?
So Q1 got started in a track still covered in a significant percentage of the Adriatic Sea and everybody wearing full-wet tires. It took almost no time at all, however, for the rains to return in a manner to cause jaws to drop up and down the pit lane. Out came the red flag to stop the session, and somehow everybody made it back to the garage without pranging themselves. After some terrifying visuals of the Safety Car actually drifting through the turns, the rain let up enough for things to get going again.
At which point, Sauber's Sony Ericcson buried himself in a tire barrier, resulting in a red flag stoppage. After the car was cleared, the drivers got the go ahead to continue. At which point, Felipe Not Nasr Massa, who had gambled on Intermediate tires, immediately stuffed his Williams into the barriers, resulting in a red flag stoppage. After the delay getting his car off the circuit, the track was definitely ready for Inters, and away the field went again. At which point, Rio Rainbow Gate buried himself into a tire barrier, resulting in a red flag. This time, however, there wasn't time remaining in the session for cars to turn any more laps once the green flag was thrown, so it was decided to end Q1 there. So, for the record: four red flags, and a Q1 session that was nearly an hour long.
Q2 and Q3 were much less "interesting". In fact, the only excitement came at the end of Q3, when Lewis Hamilton was on a lock-down flying lap, looking for all the world like he was going to blow the doors off his already quick pole time. A few turns ahead of him, Fernando Alonso's McLaren came a-cropper, resulting in yellow flags and Hamilton having to back off. However, by the time Nico Rosberg came charging into the area, the yellows had been cleared. Thus unencumbered, he just barely managed to nip Pole from Hamilton's extant time.
As if that wasn't enough, technically both Red Bulls, both Force Indias, and Valterri Bottas were outside of the 107% rule in Q1 due to the weather conditions. They were just unfortunate on their timings and never managed to turn a so-called "quick lap" due to all the red flags. The strict interpretation of 107% rule would have had those five drivers starting from the back of the grid; the rule has no "inclement weather" addendum: either you're within 107% of the fastest car in Q1 or you're not, and if you're not, its up to the Stewards if you're going to race. If they do, you start from the back. It was decided, though, that the day's circumstances were unusual enough to allow some flexibility.
So that's that. Race is in the morning, F1U!! is along sometime thereafter. See ya there.
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:33.302 | 1:22.806 | 1:19.965 | |
| 2 | 1:34.210 | 1:24.836 | 1:20.108 | |
| 3 | 1:39.968 | 1:23.234 | 1:20.280 | |
| 4 | 1:40.424 | 1:22.660 | 1:20.557 | |
| 5 | 1:35.718 | 1:24.082 | 1:20.874 | |
| 6 | 1:36.115 | 1:24.734 | 1:21.131 | |
| 7 | 1:35.165 | 1:23.816 | 1:21.211 | |
| 8 | 1:37.983 | 1:24.456 | 1:21.597 | |
| 9 | 1:41.471 | 1:23.901 | 1:21.823 | |
| 10 | 1:42.758 | 1:24.506 | 1:22.182 | |
| 11 | 1:35.906 | 1:24.941 | ||
| 12 | 1:36.714 | 1:25.301 | ||
| 13 | 1:41.411 | 1:25.416 | ||
| 14 | 1:36.853 | 1:25.435 | ||
| 15 | 1:38.959 | 1:26.189 | ||
| 16 | Not Massa | 1:37.772 | 1:27.063 | |
| NC | 1:43.965 | |||
| NC | Not Nasr | 1:43.999 | ||
| NC | 1:44.543 | |||
| NC | 1:46.984 | |||
| NC | 1:47.343 | |||
| NC | Rainbow Gate | 1:50.189 |
So Q1 got started in a track still covered in a significant percentage of the Adriatic Sea and everybody wearing full-wet tires. It took almost no time at all, however, for the rains to return in a manner to cause jaws to drop up and down the pit lane. Out came the red flag to stop the session, and somehow everybody made it back to the garage without pranging themselves. After some terrifying visuals of the Safety Car actually drifting through the turns, the rain let up enough for things to get going again.
At which point, Sauber's Sony Ericcson buried himself in a tire barrier, resulting in a red flag stoppage. After the car was cleared, the drivers got the go ahead to continue. At which point, Felipe Not Nasr Massa, who had gambled on Intermediate tires, immediately stuffed his Williams into the barriers, resulting in a red flag stoppage. After the delay getting his car off the circuit, the track was definitely ready for Inters, and away the field went again. At which point, Rio Rainbow Gate buried himself into a tire barrier, resulting in a red flag. This time, however, there wasn't time remaining in the session for cars to turn any more laps once the green flag was thrown, so it was decided to end Q1 there. So, for the record: four red flags, and a Q1 session that was nearly an hour long.
Q2 and Q3 were much less "interesting". In fact, the only excitement came at the end of Q3, when Lewis Hamilton was on a lock-down flying lap, looking for all the world like he was going to blow the doors off his already quick pole time. A few turns ahead of him, Fernando Alonso's McLaren came a-cropper, resulting in yellow flags and Hamilton having to back off. However, by the time Nico Rosberg came charging into the area, the yellows had been cleared. Thus unencumbered, he just barely managed to nip Pole from Hamilton's extant time.
As if that wasn't enough, technically both Red Bulls, both Force Indias, and Valterri Bottas were outside of the 107% rule in Q1 due to the weather conditions. They were just unfortunate on their timings and never managed to turn a so-called "quick lap" due to all the red flags. The strict interpretation of 107% rule would have had those five drivers starting from the back of the grid; the rule has no "inclement weather" addendum: either you're within 107% of the fastest car in Q1 or you're not, and if you're not, its up to the Stewards if you're going to race. If they do, you start from the back. It was decided, though, that the day's circumstances were unusual enough to allow some flexibility.
So that's that. Race is in the morning, F1U!! is along sometime thereafter. See ya there.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
02:51 PM
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