Red Bull gives you wings - Sebastian Vettel snatches P1 from Vodafone McLaren's Hamilton

In a very dramatic qualifying session at the China F1 Grand Prix this morning, German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel snatched the pole position ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Marc Webber and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Michael Schumacher only reached 9th position in today's qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel was able to maintain his current dominance among the other F1 teams, by securing himself the pole-position for tomorrow's China F1 GP. This is his fourth pole-position in a row. The way how Vettel was able to pass all the other strong competitors under the existing dry condition was absolutely breath-taking.

It was Vodafone Mclaren driver who was supposed to be one of the main contenders for the pole-position today, as he was dominating the whole weekend during the free practice sessions. But in the most important moment he was not able to push his car and himself to the extreme limit and therefor had to satisfy himself and his Vodafone McLaren team with the sixth position, this although he was leading ahead of Vettel in the second sector of his last round by only nine milliseconds. For Hamilton it must have been a dramatic experience only to get sixth position after all of that.

Vettel however was able to race a superb and faultless magic-round in his last qualifying lap. He achieved best timing in the first and third sector of the Chinese racing circuit, and pushed himself from third to first place in the third qualifying session.

In the end it was a very very close qualifying. Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber was only 0,248 seconds behind him. Like in most of the other racing weekends it looked like Mark Webber was going to win the internal team-competition against Vettel, but in the end it is Vettel who outperforms Marc Webber.

For Vettel himself today's qualifying was not a piece-of-cake at all. He admitted that 'it had been very difficult'. He furthermore said: 'Yesterday i was not very happy, and this morning Mark Webber had been much faster than me. Especially in the first sector I lost a lot of time, but in the last time I drove fastest lap. Great! The first lap was already good and the second one was really great. Now one could really say that no matter what circuit-type we are racing on, we are always fast.'

For team Red Bull this are excellent condition, which might lead them to a one-two victory just like last year especially since Vettel is an acknowledged 'rain-expert'. Last year there were also wet weather conditions just like it is expected for tomorrow.

Third driver on the grid tomorrow will be Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who came only 0,355 seconds behind Vettel and also performed a very impressive last lap on the third qualifying session. Alsonso was understandably not very happy with his position, and said that his race-speed is better than Red Bull but in the qualifying the Red Bull were very much faster. Therefor he was happy with his third place.

The 'internal' Vodafone McLaren race took place between the two F1 World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in the third row, where Jenson Button, in spite of gear-box problems, was able to be 55 milliseconds faster than Hamilton.

Hamilton was not able to explain why he could not achieve a better qualifying position in the third qualifying session, especially after he achieved fastest lap in the first and second session. Probably his car the ground and curbs a few times during his last laps, which inevitably made his car slide a little bit and therefor made it a few milliseconds slower. Hamilton was very upset.

At the Mercedes GP it was again Nico Rosberg who achieved the better result inside the team, as he was almost a three-quarter of a second than his team-mate Michael Schumacher. By this result it now stands 4:0 in favor of Rosberg.

Rosberg was very self-confident and said that this had been a very good improvement for the Mercedes Team. 'It is a very good step into the right direction and I am very satisfied with that. We should definitely be on the podium tomorrow', continued. That wish is not too optimistic if we take into consideration that he was only 0.01 seconds behind Alonso today.

One reason why Rosberg was much faster than Schumacher could be that Schumi used a new back-spoiler while Rosberg kept the old back-spoiler. But the 41-years old racer would not want to take that as an excuse. 'We were too slow and couldn't balance the car correctly. Nico changed back to the old back-spoiler, and we could have done the same', said Schumi. At the end of the day it turned out the Nico Rosberg was also driving the new back-spoiler, just like Shumi had.

Also in the top ten were Felipe Massa (7th / +0.622 sec) who was way of the racing line with his Ferrari in the finish-corner, Robert Kubica (Renault / 8th) and Adrian Sutil (Force India / 10th) who won the team-internal fight against his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi who didn't even make it into the second qualifying session. Sutil is thereby one of only five drivers this season who were able to always make it into the top ten this season. Still, Sutil stated that the Shanghai-circuit is not one of the best circuits for his car.

The second qualifying session Q2 was not a good session for many drivers. Schumi drove only 0.033 seconds faster than is ex-teammate Rubens Barichello, who is now driving for Williams. Neither S?©bastien Buemi (Toro Rosso/13th.), nor the two Sauber drivers were able to pass Q2. Williams-driver Nico Huelkenberg was extremely upset about that. 'I am not really happy with position 16. I am too far behind Rubens despite the driving mistake in the last corner', said Huelkenberg. Then German newcomer was 1 second slower than his experienced Brazilian teammate.

As expected, the six drivers of the new teams could not make it passes the first qualifying session Q1. This time Timo Glock (Virgin F1 Team) was the fastest driver among those six drivers. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus/21.) as well as Karun Chandhok (HRT/24.) managed to make a 360 degrees circle while trying to set a fast lap.

Also Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) managed to leave the track when he underestimated his driving skills and the capabilities of his car.
But the Spanish driver was lucky as he still had time for another round, and therefore was able to pass into Q2.

According to the qualifying result it is Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel and Marc Webber who have the best chances of winning the China F2 GP.But if it really starts to rain as the weather forecast predicts, then everything can happen. Besides, on the long run it is quite possible that Alonso and Hamilton during the complete course of the race.

In all cases it will be a very exciting race which you should not miss.

Red Bull dominiert weiter: Pole f?¼r Vettel!
In a very dramatic qualifying session at the China F1 Grand Prix this morning, German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel snatched the pole position ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Marc Webber and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Michael Schumacher only reached 9th position in today's qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel was able to maintain his current dominance among the other F1 teams, by securing himself the pole-position for tomorrow's China F1 GP. This is his fourth pole-position in a row. The way how Vettel was able to pass all the other strong competitors under the existing dry condition was absolutely breath-taking.

It was Vodafone Mclaren driver who was supposed to be one of the main contenders for the pole-position today, as he was dominating the whole weekend during the free practice sessions. But in the most important moment he was not able to push his car and himself to the extreme limit and therefor had to satisfy himself and his Vodafone McLaren team with the sixth position, this although he was leading ahead of Vettel in the second sector of his last round by only nine milliseconds. For Hamilton it must have been a dramatic experience only to get sixth position after all of that.

Vettel however was able to race a superb and faultless magic-round in his last qualifying lap. He achieved best timing in the first and third sector of the Chinese racing circuit, and pushed himself from third to first place in the third qualifying session.

In the end it was a very very close qualifying. Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber was only 0,248 seconds behind him. Like in most of the other racing weekends it looked like Mark Webber was going to win the internal team-competition against Vettel, but in the end it is Vettel who outperforms Marc Webber.

For Vettel himself today's qualifying was not a piece-of-cake at all. He admitted that 'it had been very difficult'. He furthermore said: 'Yesterday i was not very happy, and this morning Mark Webber had been much faster than me. Especially in the first sector I lost a lot of time, but in the last time I drove fastest lap. Great! The first lap was already good and the second one was really great. Now one could really say that no matter what circuit-type we are racing on, we are always fast.'

For team Red Bull this are excellent condition, which might lead them to a one-two victory just like last year especially since Vettel is an acknowledged 'rain-expert'. Last year there were also wet weather conditions just like it is expected for tomorrow.

Third driver on the grid tomorrow will be Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who came only 0,355 seconds behind Vettel and also performed a very impressive last lap on the third qualifying session. Alsonso was understandably not very happy with his position, and said that his race-speed is better than Red Bull but in the qualifying the Red Bull were very much faster. Therefor he was happy with his third place.

The 'internal' Vodafone McLaren race took place between the two F1 World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in the third row, where Jenson Button, in spite of gear-box problems, was able to be 55 milliseconds faster than Hamilton.

Hamilton was not able to explain why he could not achieve a better qualifying position in the third qualifying session, especially after he achieved fastest lap in the first and second session. Probably his car the ground and curbs a few times during his last laps, which inevitably made his car slide a little bit and therefor made it a few milliseconds slower. Hamilton was very upset.

At the Mercedes GP it was again Nico Rosberg who achieved the better result inside the team, as he was almost a three-quarter of a second than his team-mate Michael Schumacher. By this result it now stands 4:0 in favor of Rosberg.

Rosberg was very self-confident and said that this had been a very good improvement for the Mercedes Team. 'It is a very good step into the right direction and I am very satisfied with that. We should definitely be on the podium tomorrow', continued. That wish is not too optimistic if we take into consideration that he was only 0.01 seconds behind Alonso today.

One reason why Rosberg was much faster than Schumacher could be that Schumi used a new back-spoiler while Rosberg kept the old back-spoiler. But the 41-years old racer would not want to take that as an excuse. 'We were too slow and couldn't balance the car correctly. Nico changed back to the old back-spoiler, and we could have done the same', said Schumi. At the end of the day it turned out the Nico Rosberg was also driving the new back-spoiler, just like Shumi had.

Also in the top ten were Felipe Massa (7th / +0.622 sec) who was way of the racing line with his Ferrari in the finish-corner, Robert Kubica (Renault / 8th) and Adrian Sutil (Force India / 10th) who won the team-internal fight against his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi who didn't even make it into the second qualifying session. Sutil is thereby one of only five drivers this season who were able to always make it into the top ten this season. Still, Sutil stated that the Shanghai-circuit is not one of the best circuits for his car.

The second qualifying session Q2 was not a good session for many drivers. Schumi drove only 0.033 seconds faster than is ex-teammate Rubens Barichello, who is now driving for Williams. Neither S?©bastien Buemi (Toro Rosso/13th.), nor the two Sauber drivers were able to pass Q2. Williams-driver Nico Huelkenberg was extremely upset about that. 'I am not really happy with position 16. I am too far behind Rubens despite the driving mistake in the last corner', said Huelkenberg. Then German newcomer was 1 second slower than his experienced Brazilian teammate.

As expected, the six drivers of the new teams could not make it passes the first qualifying session Q1. This time Timo Glock (Virgin F1 Team) was the fastest driver among those six drivers. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus/21.) as well as Karun Chandhok (HRT/24.) managed to make a 360 degrees circle while trying to set a fast lap.

Also Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) managed to leave the track when he underestimated his driving skills and the capabilities of his car.
But the Spanish driver was lucky as he still had time for another round, and therefore was able to pass into Q2.

According to the qualifying result it is Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel and Marc Webber who have the best chances of winning the China F2 GP.But if it really starts to rain as the weather forecast predicts, then everything can happen. Besides, on the long run it is quite possible that Alonso and Hamilton during the complete course of the race.

In all cases it will be a very exciting race which you should not miss.

MS