Archive for May, 2010
Three on the Trot for Webber in Turkey
May 29th
Mark Webber has bagged a qualifying hatrick by claiming pole postion for the Turkish Grand Prix.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing this weekend for the Aussie. On Friday an engine failure in practice was played down by the team but it did mean less time on track for Mark. The during 3rd practice on Saturday Mark had a issue with the throttle system on the RedBull which saw him crawl back to the pits under idle and not record a time.
Vettel was a step ahead of Mark, recording better times during Q1 and Q2 however Sebastian locked a front wheel in the dying stages of Q3 and lost time, as a result he lost time and only narrowly finished in p3 splitting both the Mclarens. Mark had an excellent final run in Q3, lighting up the middle sector purple. He managed to beat Lewis hamilton to pole by more then .1 of a second.
Fernando Alonso had a dreadful day, making a mistake in Q2 and unable to recover he was knocked out and will start tomorrows race from 12th position. It continues a string of bad luck for Fernando who was forced to start from pitlane in Monaco due to a heavy crash in practice. Filepe Massa however was able to get his Ferrari into the top ten and will start from 8th place for the race.
Hamitlon was 2nd and Button 4th, making it an all RedBUll and Mclaren front two rows. Lewis Hamitlon said he believes they are in a good position tomorrow, claiming he felt the McLaren had very good race pace. Lewis noted it was a boot for the team and that he expects their pace to improve further when more ‘bits’ arrive for the car in the coming races. With Lewis Hamilton notoriously quick off the line it will be a made dash to turn1 with the Briton now doubt expecting he can beat Webber through the first turn.
Sebastian Vettel was upset about the front left wheel of his car. He said he locked the front wheel briefly under brakes, which usually wouldn’t be much of an issue, however the wheel for some reason stayed locked up and as a result he ran wide. Vettel spent some time inspecting the car as it was parked in parc’ ferme and was clearly not happy with his Q3 performance. He was quicker then Mark in the earlier session and no doubt was expecting to claim pole in Turkey, let alone be starting from the 2nd row.
The Big shock of the day was Michael Schumacher who bottom out int he high speed left hander and as a result lost control of his Mercedes. Schumacher had to park the car and is now left with enormous flatspots on his tyres. Michael will have to start the race on his damaged tyres, but since he recorded a time earlier in Q3 before his spin, he will start the race from 5th place just ahead of his team mate Nico.
The complete time sheet from all the sessions is below:
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:27.500 1:26.818 1:26.295 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.667 1:27.013 1:26.433 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.067 1:26.729 1:26.760 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.555 1:27.277 1:26.781 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:27.756 1:27.438 1:26.857 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.649 1:27.141 1:26.952 7. Kubica Renault 1:27.766 1:27.426 1:27.039 8. Massa Ferrari 1:27.993 1:27.200 1:27.082 9. Petrov Renault 1:27.620 1:27.387 1:27.430 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.158 1:27.434 1:28.122 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:27.951 1:27.525 12. Alonso Ferrari 1:27.857 1:27.612 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.147 1:27.879 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.534 1:28.273 15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:28.336 1:28.392 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.460 1:28.540 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.227 1:28.841 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:28.958 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.237 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.519 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.744 22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:31.266 23. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:31.989 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:32.060
Formula1 to Return to USA in 2012
May 26th
Bernie Ecclestone on Tuesday announced via his official website that the USA will host a round of Formula1 again from 2012 in Austin, Texas.
An interesting detail to note straight away is that rather then using an existing race track or building a street circut, a permanent race track specifically designed for Formula1 and other potential support race will be built from scratch.
Tavo Hellmund, from Full Throttle Productions who are the promoters of the event said “For the first time in the history of Formula 1 in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event”. The designer of the circuit is yet to be named, however suspicions obviously point to Hermann Tilke who has created the majority of the recent modern Formula1 circuits.
Mr Tavo said in his official statement ““We are extremely honored and proud to reach an agreement with the F1 Commercial Rights holder. We have been diligently working together for several years to bring this great event to Austin, the State of Texas, and back to the United States. All parties involved have a great amount of trust and confidence in each other and are committed to establishing the F1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas as a prestigious global event.”
The deal will see Austin host the GP through until atleast 2021, making the United states once again a permanent stop in the Formula1 calendar.
Mark Webber wins in Monaco
May 17th
Mark Webber after his greatest victory to date (Photo: AFP)
Mark Webber kept his cool in a thrilling race and became the first Aussie to win in Monaco since Sir Jack Brabham in 1959.
“Absolutely incredible, for sure this is the greatest day of my life today,” He said shortly after the race.
Mark had a good start and was the first man into turn1 and up the hill. From here he built up a very impressive lead until the first of what would be four safety cars periods where he lost all the ground and hard work he had put in building a buffer to his team mate.
Mark kept his cool through safety car period after safety car period and each time was able to get a good break and build up his lead again. Mark was able to stay out of trouble right up til the dying stages of the race when Trulli and Chandhook took each other out just meters infront of Marks car. This crash brought out the fourth and final safety car period of the race and Mark was faced with the potential of having to endure a last lap dash under green to the finish. The safety car however stayed out till the final lap and pulled into the pits as Mark cruised over the finish line.
Sebastian Vettel made a crutial move on Robert Kubica off the start to take 2nd place into turn 2. This move was the turning point of the race for both drivers and ultimately they remained in those positions across the line.
The win was a critical one for RedBull. The team is nowleading the constructors championship and Mark and Sebastian Vetel are now equal first on 78 points each in the drivers championship.
A complete race wrap-up of Monaco will be online soon. In the meantime below is the final standings from the race:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h50:00.000 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 0.448 3. Kubica Renault + 1.600 4. Massa Ferrari + 2.600 5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.300 6. Schumacher Mercedes + 5.700 7. Alonso Ferrari + 6.300 8. Rosberg Mercedes + 6.600 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 6.900 10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 7.300 11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 8.100 12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 9.100 13. Petrov Renault + 4 laps retirements: Driver Team On lap Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 71 Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 71 Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 59 Senna HRT-Cosworth 59 Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 28 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 27 Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 26 Glock Virgin-Cosworth 23 De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 22 Button McLaren-Mercedes 3 Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1
Webber claims Pole in thrilling Monaco Qualifying
May 15th
Mark Webber after Monaco Qualifying (Photo: AFP/Pascal Guyout)
Mark Webber gave RedBull their 6th consecutive pole this season in arguably the most important race of the season. Mark was a bit behind the eight ball in Q1 and Q2, doing enough to stay ahead but it was Q3 where he came alive. After Robert Kubica put in a few astonishing laps taking provisional pole several times in a row it looked like Robert was set to give Renault their first pole of the season, however Mark out of no where smashed Roberts time by more then three tenths of a second. Mark was the only driver to break into the 1:13′s.
Vettel had a good late charge to take P3 ahead of Massa. The top3 finishers in qualifying were all on Renault engines. Sebastian Vettel made a remarks in post race press conference referring to critics of the renault engine this year who may now be atleast for this race be eating humble pie.
Fernando Alonso had a unfortunate crash in the final practice, damaging his car so badly that Ferrari will have to give him the spare car to drive in tomorrows race. Fernando will start from the pit lane but is still hopeful of a points finish.
The big disapointment of the day was Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button who finished 5th and 8th respectively. They are split by the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Nico has made up for the lack of pace he had over Michael in Spain and has been consistently quicker then his team mate over the weekend. Nico in the end just out-qualified Michael by less then 0.04 of a second.
Mark was trying to hide his enthusiasm as much as possible. He noted that it was a long hard race in Monaco and that they will have to navigate their way around many backmarkers on the tight Monaco streets. Mark said that he would use his experience to keep the car out of trouble tomorrow.
Full Qualifying results are below:
| Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.035 | 1:14.462 | 1:13.826 |
| 2 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:15.045 | 1:14.549 | 1:14.120 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.110 | 1:14.568 | 1:14.227 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.757 | 1:14.405 | 1:14.283 |
| 5 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.676 | 1:14.527 | 1:14.432 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.188 | 1:14.375 | 1:14.544 |
| 7 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:15.649 | 1:14.691 | 1:14.590 |
| 8 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.623 | 1?15.150 | 1:14.637 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:15.590 | 1:15.083 | 1:14.901 |
| 10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.397 | 1:15.061 | 1:15.170 |
| 11 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:16.030 | 1:15.317 | |
| 12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.445 | 1:15.318 | |
| 13 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:15.961 | 1:15.413 | |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:15.482 | 1:15.576 | |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.908 | 1:15.692 | |
| 16 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.175 | 1:15.992 | |
| 17 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:16.021 | 1:16.176 | |
| 18 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.094 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.134 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.377 | ||
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.864 | ||
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:18.509 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:19.559 | ||
| 24 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
Alonso top of both Thursday practice sessions
May 14th
Alonso in Monaco - Image © 2010 ZumaPress All rights reserved.
Fernando Alonso was in perfect for in Monaco and kept his Ferrari at the top of the time sheet through both practice sessions on Thursday.
The Ferrari looked great around the iconic streets circuit and seemed to have the edge over the RedBulls on the tight slow corners. RedBull may have been struggling with the super softs a little bit, granted not as much as they did last year on slow circuits, however the edge the team had in Spain last weekend doesn’t appear to be there on a street circuit like Monaco.
After finishing Practice1 out of the top 10 and spending a large amount of the practice time out of the car due to repair on a suspension issue, Nico Rosberg went out in Practice2 and put in some incredible laps, quickly smashing Michael’s time and pipping Sebestian Vettel to claim the second fastest time in the session.
Sebastian Vettel clearly had the pace on Thursday, finishing 2nd in Practice1 and 3rd in Practice2, there is every chacne Vettel could find more Pace on Saturday and is obviously a favourite along side Alonso to take Pole. Mark however did not have the same kind of pace his team mate had. Mark looked good in Practice one finishing the session in 4th place, Robert Kubica just splitting the two RedBulls. However in the second practice session he finished 10th just behind Buttons Mclaren.
The McLarens looked pretty low key and also seemed to lack a bit of pace around Monaco. Hamilton and Button came P7 and P8 in practice1 and continued their casual form in the 2nd practice session to record the 7th and 9th fastest times.
Friday is a rest day in Monaco and the circuit will be open again to public traffic.
There is rain predicted for Quali on Saturday and for the race. It appears to be a Vettel-Alonso fight for pole, however we will know more ofter the Final practice session on Saturday just ahead of quali.
below are the times for both Thursday sessions:
Practice1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:15.927 31 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.000 + 0.073 26 3. Kubica Renault 1:16.016 + 0.089 28 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.382 + 0.455 24 5. Massa Ferrari 1:16.517 + 0.590 29 6. Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.589 + 0.662 21 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.647 + 0.720 32 8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.692 + 0.765 29 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:16.805 + 0.878 23 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.857 + 0.930 30 11. Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.149 + 1.222 14 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.331 + 1.404 28 13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:17.704 + 1.777 26 14. Petrov Renault 1:17.718 + 1.791 38 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.991 + 2.064 36 16. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:18.397 + 2.470 39 17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.434 + 2.507 37 18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.547 + 2.620 32 19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.527 + 3.600 23 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.606 + 3.679 31 21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.902 + 3.975 30 22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:20.566 + 4.639 18 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:21.688 + 5.761 27 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:21.853 + 5.926 6
Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:14.904 36 2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.013 + 0.109 39 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:15.099 + 0.195 47 4. Massa Ferrari 1:15.120 + 0.216 44 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:15.143 + 0.239 38 6. Kubica Renault 1:15.192 + 0.288 38 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.249 + 0.345 32 8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:15.460 + 0.556 42 9. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.619 + 0.715 37 10. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:15.620 + 0.716 28 11. Petrov Renault 1:15.746 + 0.842 44 12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.276 + 1.372 46 13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:16.348 + 1.444 48 14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:16.522 + 1.618 37 15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:16.528 + 1.624 42 16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.599 + 1.695 36 17. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.818 + 1.914 45 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.023 + 2.119 28 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.184 + 3.280 47 20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.478 + 3.574 38 21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.667 + 3.763 13 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.721 + 3.817 41 23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:20.313 + 5.409 35 24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:22.148 + 7.244 11 All Timing Unofficial
New curbs for Monaco
May 13th
New raised yellow curbing similliar to the raised curbing now seen at other tracks, like Monza has now been installed near the swimming pool in Monaco. The raised yellow curbing will cause issues for many drivers used to running their wheels over the inside of the ripple strips. There is no way an F1 car will clear the new raised curbing.
On a track that’s already very tight and slow, additional raised curbing will only force many drivers to slow down more in order to avoid damaging their car.
With practice now only around 9-10 hours away it won’t be long before we see how the drivers react to this new feature at the swimming pool.
Webber wins Spanish GP
May 10th
Mark Webber on the podium in Spain. Photo: AFP
Mark Webber won his first F1 race of the season in Spain. Mark lead a brilliant race from Start to finish. Right from the start Mark came under threat from his team mate on one side and Lewis Hamilton on the other side. Mark managed to hold both off to exit turn1 ahead.
For the first part of the race it looked to be a bit of a procession with the order of the top5 grid positions not changing for several laps. The turning point of the race happened when a slow pit stop for Vettel cost him vital time to Hamilton and he exited the pits into the path of the McLaren driver and a backmarker. Vettel was pushed wide at turn1 and lost position as a result, putting Hamilton into P2.
“We knew it was along run to the 1st croner here” said Webber “..it was very tight into turn 1 but then just settled down into a rythm”.
Alonso put in a very solid drive but in the end hand 2nd place handed to him on the final lap when a front left puncture forced lewis hamilton into the tyre barriers and out of the race. Alonso was extatic in front of his home crowd who were all on their feet cheering him on as he crossed the line to claim second.
Lewis Hamiltons crash was also good news for Sebastian Vetel who caught a lucky break to nurse his car home and claim the final spot on the podium.
Vettel was not happy post race “A lot of things went wrong today.” he said. “we had to wait in the pit box for the Ferrari to drive past so we lost a lot of ground then a possition.”
Vettel’s day went from bad to worse with less then 15 laps remaining int he race he lost his breaks and was forced to pit. His brake problem only got worse and in the end he was not braking at all, instead he was using the aero of the car and downshifting to slow him. He was very lucky to even finish the race and the fact he was able to come away with a podium place was an astonishing effort.
Rubins however had the un-sung drive of the day by making up 9 spot. Rubins started the race down in 18th place after a dismal qualifying, however he fought hard to finish the race in an impressive 9th place.
Back markers proved to be an issue in this race with several incidents involving lap traffic threatened the positions of some lead drivers.
Mark Webber now enters the title race and gave RedBull the Vital points boost it needs in the constructors race.
The full race results are below:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1h35:44.101 |
| 2. | Alonso | Ferrari | + 24.065 |
| 3. | Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | + 51.338 |
| 4. | Schumacher | Mercedes | + 1:02.195 |
| 5. | Button | McLaren-Mercedes | + 1:03.728 |
| 6. | Massa | Ferrari | + 1:05.767 |
| 7. | Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | + 1:12.941 |
| 8. | Kubica | Renault | + 1:13.677 |
| 9. | Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 10. | Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 11. | Petrov | Renault | + 1 lap |
| 12. | Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 13. | Rosberg | Mercedes | + 1 lap |
| 14. | Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | + 2 laps |
| 15. | Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | + 2 laps |
| 16. | Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 17. | Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
| 18. | Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
| 19. | Di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | + 4 laps |
| DNF | Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 43 |
| DNF | Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 28 |
| DNF | De la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 19 |
| DNF | Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1 |
| DNF | Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1 |
Both RedBulls on front row for Spanish GP
May 9th
Webber claims his second pole of this season
Mark webber got one-up on team mate Vettel during Qualifying by pipping his German teammate to pole by two tenths of a second, Mark was the only man in qualifying to break into the 1’19′s when he set an incredible 1:19.995.
RedBull dominated final practice three on Saturday as well as all 3 periods of Qualifying, finishing 1-2 in every session.
Q1 saw the usual suspects securing the bottom 6 places, however the Lotus’s were showing very impressive pace, Trulli was only 1.5 seconds behind the Williams of Rubins Barichello who according to the team was caught in lap traffic. As a result he was unable to record a quick lap which saw him finish in 18th place and unable to proceed to Q2.
Michaeal Schumacher has had his most positive weekend of the season so far. His car has a new setup that he helped the team develop . The new car suits Michaels driving style very well and he has been faster then Rosberg all weekend. Michael put in some very impressive quali times and was consistently in the top 5 runners. In the end he was edged out of the top 5 qualifiers by Jensen Button. However, starting alongside the reigning world champion on the 3rd row of the grid put Schumacher in a great position to bag a bunch of points tomorrow.
Massa has been a lot slower then his team-mate this weekend. Massa qualified in 9th place just ahead of Kobayashi who put in a brilliant drive in the Sauber to claim the tenth spot. Kobayashi put in a brilliant drive in the dying seconds of Q3 and managed to push the Force india of Adrian Sutil just out of the top 10.
Hometown hero Fernando Alonso has been performing well infront of his fans this weekend. Alonso drove a brilliant lap which drove a thorn between the McLarens of Hamilton and Button. Alosno recorded a 1:20.937 which put him on the second row of the grid next to Lewis Hamilton. Alonso is in a very good position to claim a podium tomorrow infront of his home crowd if he can keep ahead of the McLarens.
The day however belonged to Mark Webber who recorded his second pole of the season and is in a very good position to claim his first win of the season. If Mark can remain ahead of his team mate through the first corner, there is every chance he will remain in front. However Vettel is on a points charge and knows if he wants a crack at the championship he needs to bag every point possible. Lew Hamilton is also a good starter and if Mark doesn’t get away well tomorrow he might very well have Hamilton and Vettel ahead of him before turn1.
The complete qualifying results are below:
| Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1?21.412 | 1?20.655 | 1?19.995 |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1?21.680 | 1?20.772 | 1?20.101 |
| 3 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1?21.723 | 1?21.415 | 1?20.829 |
| 4 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1?21.957 | 1?21.549 | 1?20.937 |
| 5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1?21.915 | 1?21.168 | 1?20.991 |
| 6 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1?22.528 | 1?21.557 | 1?21.294 |
| 7 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1?22.488 | 1?21.599 | 1?21.353 |
| 8 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1?22.419 | 1?21.867 | 1?21.408 |
| 9 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1?22.564 | 1?21.841 | 1?21.585 |
| 10 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1?22.577 | 1?21.725 | 1?21.984 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1?22.628 | 1?21.985 | |
| 12 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1?22.211 | 1?22.026 | |
| 13 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1?22.857 | 1?22.131 | |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1?22.976 | 1?22.139 | |
| 15 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1?22.699 | 1?22.191 | |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1?22.593 | 1?22.207 | |
| 17 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1?23.084 | 1?22.854 | |
| 18 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1?23.125 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1?24.674 | ||
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1?24.748 | ||
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1?25.475 | ||
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1?25.556 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1?26.750 | ||
| 24 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1?27.122 |
