2010 F1 Austrailia Grand Prix

[EJ25RUN]

Autosport ...

Vettel heads all-Red Bull front row

By Ben Anderson Saturday, March 27th 2010, 07:03 GMT

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Australian GPRed Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from the front row after dominating the qualifying battle in Melbourne today.

Adrian Newey's design was the fastest thing around Albert Park throughout the three sessions, and Vettel edged his Australian team-mate by just over a tenth of a second to claim pole position with a 1m23.919s best in the final part of qualifying - the only lap below 1m24s so far this weekend.

The track cooled considerably during the final part of qualifying and for a while it looked as though nobody would get near the Red Bulls, as both leapt to the top of the timesheet early on.

Home hero Webber had a go at toppling his young German team-mate late-on, but lost time in the middle sector of his best lap, having been fastest of all in sectors one and three, and had to settle for second.

Only Ferrari's world championship leader Fernando Alonso hooked together a good enough lap to get close. The Spaniard's late 1m24.111s best put him third, just under two tenths shy of pole.

The rest found themselves a whopping six tenths off the Red Bull pace in final qualifying. Reigning world champion Jenson Button qualified his McLaren-Mercedes fourth, two tenths clear of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Both Mercedes drivers struggled to get the best from the softer tyres, so wound up sixth and seventh, with Nico Rosberg again getting the better of his seven times world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher.

Williams' Rubens Barrichello, Renault's Robert Kubica, and Force India's Adrian Sutil rounded out the top 10, as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton made a shock exit from qualifying in Q2.

The 2008 world champion aborted a quick lap during his first run and sat in the garage last of the 17 runners at the midway point of the session.

Hamilton improved to seventh fastest on his second run with the same set of soft tyres he used for his first, but fell to 11th as others improved, Hamilton's tyres fell away, and the fuel tank began to run dry.

Sutil, Barrichello and Kubica were thus able to join the rest of the drivers from the 'big four' teams for final qualifying, while both Toro Rossos, both Saubers, Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, and Tonio Liuzzi's Force India were all eliminated.

Circuit newcomer Vitaly Petrov was the only runner from the established squads to drop out in first qualifying. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi sat ‘on the bubble' for much of the session, before dropping the Russian into the hot seat with a late improvement.

Petrov looked set to save himself with a minute of running remaining, but suffered a massive oversteering moment through the ultra-fast turn 12 having set two personal best sector times. The Renault man did improve on a last-gasp final lap, but only got within 0.220s of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.

As expected, the six drivers at the three new teams were all eliminated in Q1. HRT again propped up the grid, but encouragingly got within six seconds of the outright pace in Q1 and within a second of Timo Glock's faster Virgin in 21st.

The Lotus drivers finished up fastest of the new teams, with Heikki Kovalainen just over three tenths clear of team-mate Jarno Trulli in 19th, but over two seconds adrift of Petrov's time.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:24.774 1:24.096 1:23.919
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:25.286 1:24.276 1:24.035
3. Alonso Ferrari 1:25.082 1:24.335 1:24.111
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.897 1:24.531 1:24.675
5. Massa Ferrari 1:25.548 1:25.010 1:24.837
6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.788 1:24.788 1:24.884
7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:25.351 1:24.871 1:24.927
8. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:25.702 1:25.085 1:25.217
9. Kubica Renault 1:25.588 1:25.122 1:25.372
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:25.504 1:25.046 1:26.036
11. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.046 1:25.184
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.061 1:25.638
13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:26.170 1:25.743
14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.089 1:25.747
15. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:25.866 1:25.748
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.251 1:25.777
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.095 1:26.089
18. Petrov Renault 1:26.471
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:28.797
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:29.111
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:29.592
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.185
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:30.526
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:30.613

[SeePlusPlus]

Did I hear correctly that Vettel broke a track record in qualifying? I'll be up watching this tonight! Sleep is overrated anyways

[Machado]

im hoping for another Ferrari one two

[cjhutch]

Vettel is winning the championship this year.

[SeePlusPlus]

Vettel is winning the championship this year.

Maybe he'll have a spark plug failure every race

[EJ25RUN]

Did I hear correctly that Vettel broke a track record in qualifying? I'll be up watching this tonight! Sleep is overrated anyways

Yep. Finally a 2.4L V8 beats a 3.0 era V10 lap record.

I'll have to miss the race live as i have a flight in the morning and it wouldn't be a good idea to come fly with almost no sleep.

Go Vettle / Schumi

[SeePlusPlus]

Yep. Finally a 2.4L V8 beats a 3.0 era V10 lap record.

I'll have to miss the race live as i have a flight in the morning and it wouldn't be a good idea to come fly with almost no sleep.

Go Vettle / Schumi

Work better be cancelled in the morning for me or it will be a long day. Worth it though

[Elbow]

I just watched qualifying, I am always late with no cable.

Vettel once again amazing performance. Go Vettel, Rosberg, and Schumacher. Not in any particular order. Red Bull has the cars to beat it looks like from qualifying, Ferrari won't get one two mark my words. If it rains we know what Vettel can do. I think Schumacher is becoming more comfortable and will start to shine. I can feel it. Plus he has the best attitude in the paddock.

[EJ25RUN]

I just watched qualifying, I am always late with no cable.

Vettel once again amazing performance. Go Vettel, Rosberg, and Schumacher. Not in any particular order. Red Bull has the cars to beat it looks like from qualifying, Ferrari won't get one two mark my words. If it rains we know what Vettel can do. I think Schumacher is becoming more comfortable and will start to shine. I can feel it. Plus he has the best attitude in the paddock.

Did you read about Hamilton's car being taken? The more i read about Aussie police the more they seem like they are really strict on things that don't mean much.

I know Johnny O'Connell tries to go crazy in the French country side every June for the Police's fun.

[Machado]

Did you read about Hamilton's car being taken? The more i read about Aussie police the more they seem like they are really strict on things that don't mean much.

I know Johnny O'Connell tries to go crazy in the French country side every June for the Police's fun.

I thought it was dumb that they impounded the car for doing a burnout, a bit overkill.

[Machado]

Great race!!!!

Thank god Webber took out Hamilton, Alonso was going to get passed.

[SeePlusPlus]

I'm equally glad for Webber clipping Hamilton. That way Rosberg was able to steal away a few more points. Great drive by Button for sure. The overtaking in this race was superb

[Elbow]

Hamilton is a washed up cry baby that really lacks overall skill in my opinion. I say he drives for a shit team and I bet he wouldn't impress anyone. He complains way too much and thinks too highly of himself. I wanted to see Webber do good but damn am I happy he knocked that sorry driver off the track. Especially since Hamilton was talking smack about Webber for being old. Kind of stupid when you're starting eleventh and the old man is second.

Schumacher would of done good but DAMN he had a nasty race.

Poor Vettel, he is by far the best driver out there, now only if that car will work right. Ferrari you suck. Button I like as a driver even though I despise McLaren, congrats to him he drove a great race and made the right call for tires.

I can't wait for next week.

[SeePlusPlus]

Anyone gonna try that fantasy f1 thing?

[Elbow]

What is it and where?

[SeePlusPlus]

It's on speed's website. I can set up an IA league if anyone wants in. It starts next week for the Malaysian GP

[Elbow]

Dooo ittt! I watch all the races from BBC not SPEED. More in depth and they're at the event.

[SeePlusPlus]

pm me your email, anyone else interested in the league do the same!

[Elbow]

Done!

[SeePlusPlus]

Done!

Sent, everyone that wants to play pm me your email asap, it starts friday

[Machado]

You have mail

[SeePlusPlus]

You have mail

You have mail in return

[EJ25RUN]

Dooo ittt! I watch all the races from BBC not SPEED. More in depth and they're at the event.

More in depth? All i hear is Jonathan Legard riding Lewis' balls. The reason i've always liked speed's commentators is they are not biased toward any driver or any country. BBC's coverage makes you feel Lewis and Jenson are the only two drivers out there.

[EJ25RUN]

Drive of the race for me goes to Kubica.

He fought off the 'and got his position through work and not a lucky call on the tires.

[Elbow]

More in depth? All i hear is Jonathan Legard riding Lewis' balls. The reason i've always liked speed's commentators is they are not biased toward any driver or any country. BBC's coverage makes you feel Lewis and Jenson are the only two drivers out there.

Eh sometimes but this year IMO it's not that bad. Plus they interview most drivers, go in the garages, etc.

[SeePlusPlus]

The interviews the speed reporter did were absolutely retarded. It had me chuckling.

[Elbow]

What happened?

[Machado]

The interviews the speed reporter did were absolutely retarded. It had me chuckling.

lol yea, i like the other guy better.

[SeePlusPlus]

What happened?

Just stuff like interviewing the grid girls. His comments were painfully redundant as well.

[Elbow]

Who does it now? Is Peter Windsor not around anymore? I'm guessing it'd be a little embarrassing...lol

[EJ25RUN]

Who does it now? Is Peter Windsor not around anymore? I'm guessing it'd be a little embarrassing...lol

He couldn't even be the post race interviews after it was announced he was to have an F1 team. I think Peter and Ken are locked somewhere praying Bernie's lawsuit isn't gonna be as bad as we all expect.

[dazn]

He couldn't even be the post race interviews after it was announced he was to have an F1 team. I think Peter and Ken are locked somewhere praying Bernie's lawsuit isn't gonna be as bad as we all expect.

lol.

I think the guy's name is Westbury gilllette or something. Apparently he is a temp, someone else is supposed to replace him soon. He tries, but you can tell he is just not a F1 reporter.