Mark Webber Sets Pace in What Promises To Be a Great Belgian Grand Prix

What can you say about Spa, eh?

What a brilliant restart to the season we were treated to today.  For the first time in 2010, Q1 was actually worth watching, Q2 provided shocks, and although Q3 was a little flat, it has produced a tantalizing grid! 

Qualifying One

Di Grassi opened the session, followed by almost all the other drivers.  Belgium’s weather has been as unpredictable as ever this weekend and although the track was dryish when the light went green, black clouds loomed over the circuit. 

It didn’t take long for the wet areas of the track (practice three had been wet) to cause havoc! 

Petrov’s Renault went slightly wide and hit a damp patch sending his car spinning out.  The Renault was finished, and I thought so too was Q1...how wrong I was!

The session had to be red flagged as Petrov’s bumble bee car was in a difficult place to salvage.

When the session did restart a few minutes later, Buemi led out the pack as the rain began to fall!

There were spins galore at Turn 14 as many drivers struggled with the dangerous conditions.  These spins will be investigated later today.

Times were set, but everyone darted into the pits for more sensible tyres.

With 11 minutes to go here were the positions:

Hamilton, Button, Massa, Barichello, Rosberg, Webber, Liuzzi, Schumacher, Alonso, Glock, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Yamamoto, Kubica, Rosberg, Sutil, Vettel, Senna, Buemi, Alguersuari, Kovalainen, di Grassi, Trulli, Petrov.

As you’ll probably notice, at this point there were new teams in the safe zone!  In fact, at one point, four new cars were safe!

As the session returned to normality, the bigger drivers found crucial speed, and the newer drivers slipped down.  Nevertheless, Spa’s Q1 had been a thrill and most importantly of all...Glock and Kovalainen had made it through!

Some may argue that they were only there thanks to the misfortune of the Saubers and Petrov (all of whom had spun out), but I’d like to think that on previous performances, if any of the new teams were going to make it to Q2, Kovalainen and Glock would be the guys to do it for them. 

Q1 Top Three

Rosberg
Hulkenberg
Barrichello

Out in Q1

Trulli, Kobayashi, Senna, Yamamoto, de la Rossa, di Grassi, Petrov.

 
Qualifying Two

More rain was expected for this session so all of the drivers were keen to get a lap in.  Hamilton led the pack out and set the first time of 1:50:794.

Ten minutes in the positions were as follows:

Hamilton, Webber, Kubica, Rosberg, Button, Massa, Hulkenberg, Barrichello, Alguersuari, Schumacher, Buemi, Alonso, Vettel, Sutil, Glock, Liuzzi, Kovalainen.

Neither Alonso nor Vettel looked particularly fast throughout qualifying but both men managed to claw their way up the standings to safe positions.

The drivers to watch were the struggling Mercedes who yet again looked to be exiting far earlier that they would like!

With six minutes left, we had seen no rain, but spins from Massa and Liuzzi.  It was nice to see Glock lapping in P15, but the real action was a little higher with Button, Rosberg, and Barrichello all in the knockout zone.

The last few minutes were brilliant.  Button hit about a much traffic as a busy day in Manhattan, but still got up to P1, the Ferraris threatened a drop out but found speed, Webber pulled some time out of the bag, and Barrichello did enough to stay safe.  

However, all this came at a heavy and embarrassing price for the Mercedes who just couldn’t find the speed.

I still don’t understand Schumacher’s comeback or Mercedes’s purchase of Honda/Brawn and I think there will be some serious head scratching going on in the silver garage.  

Q2 Top Three

Hamilton
Button
Vettel 

Out in Q2

Scumacher, Rosberg, Alguarsuari, Liuzzi, Buemi, Kovalainen, Glock.

 
Qualifying Three

Unfortunately, Q3 was a bit flat.  Hamilton again led the snake of cars out and set the first time of 1:46:203.

After all drivers had set a time the grid was as follows:

Webber, Kubica, Vettel, Hamilton, Massa, Button, Sutil, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Alonso.

Not a lot changed after this.  Alonso just couldn’t find any speed and stayed down, Hamilton and Kubica did great jobs to finish well, and Button put in a strong performance too.

The Ferraris don’t look good in Spa, so I think tomorrow will be a fight between McLaren and Red Bull.  I hope that Kubica will be able to mix things up a bit as well.

All in all, Spa produced a great qualifying session today and an exciting grid.  Sure we ended up with yet another Red Bull pole, but you just never know what to expect at Spa!

FYI I’d just like to say that it will be difficult for me to get to my computer today so thanks in advance to any editors or commenters!

Provisional Grid

Webber
Hamilton
Kubica
Vettel
Button
Massa
Barrichello
Sutil
Hulkenberg
Alonso
Schumacher
Rosberg
Alguersuari
Liuzzi
Buemi
Kovalainen
Glock
Trulli
Kobayashi
Senna
Yamamoto
de la Rossa
di Grassi
Petrov