Sebastian Vettel Pole in Monaco After Yet Another Flat Qualifying

Patrick AllenMay 28, 2011

The qualifying sessions in the 2011 season have, frankly, been pretty appalling so far. With the new degrading tyres, it has become so important to save them that drivers don’t seem to fight right down to the wire anymore.

This has led to generally flat opening sessions and very poor final "shootouts," as, more often than not, the teams who fail to set the bar in their first hot laps tend to bow out for fear of wasting crucial strategic tyre wear for Sunday’s race.

There was a blip of excitement when a red flag set the scene for a potential "one lap to rule them all scenario" in the final two minutes of qualifying. But even then the teams were so preoccupied with preserving tyres that the final seconds turned into a glorified out lap.

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I know many people see these new tyres as a positive, but the more I watch 2011 unfold, the more I believe we should return to the years of tyre competition!

What the hell is F1 thinking? Pirelli turn up to weekends saying, "This tyre will degrade at this pace. We’ve created them to do this."

I want to see a team turn up with Michelin saying "our tyres will outlast that team’s Bridgestones, or Goodyears or whatever!"

Stop trying to fabricate the show!

Qualifying 1

Many of the teams were worried about high levels of traffic in Q1 and McLaren Team Principle Martin Whitmarsh even described the slower cars as mobile chicanes!

However, as the session opened, it looked as if there might have been as many as three cars missing!

Narain Karthikeyan had suspension failure and never took part in qualifying, whilst his teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, had a crash in final practice, which his team was unable to fix in time.

Nico Rosberg also had a big final practice crash at Turn 10, but he was lucky not to pile straight into the barrier and no doubt owes his team a huge crate of beer for the hard work they put in rebuilding his Mercedes.

The session was opened by Jerome D’Ambrosio with a 1:23:192, but he was quickly toppled by the front runners.

The early signs showed that McLaren were going to be the team to beat. Mark Webber was off pace for the whole first session, but Sebastian Vettel put up a strong fight for Red Bull. Vettel traded pole position with the two McLarens for a few laps, but he simply wasn’t fast enough.

The big shock of the session was the relative slowness of Ferrari. Felipe Massa had not exactly set the world on fire in free practice and wasn’t doing much in Q1 either, but Fernando Alonso had been a real force in practice and so his failure to make any sort of impact on Q1 was a bit of a surprise.

When Nico Rosberg took to the track about three minutes in, he did a fantastic job to stick his car in P5! (Remember Rosberg had only done one lap in final practice and so to come out and do so well, especially after a nasty crash was quite an achievement!)

Rosberg was far faster than his teammate, and I really think it’s now time for Mercedes to give Nico the lead position in the team.

There was some drama when Jamie Alguersuari bumped into the back of Kamui Kobayashi (effectively ending the Torro Rosso man’s session), but other than that, I’d say Q1 was pretty formulaic.

Q1 Top Three:

Lewis Hamilton

Jenson Button

Sebastian Vettel

Out:

Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Jamie Alguersuari, Timo Glock Jerome D’Ambrosio, Narain Karthikeyan, Vitantonio Luizzi

Qualifying 2

Qualifying 2 felt like a continuation of Q1 to be honest.

Sebastien Buemi set the first time of 1:16:735, but McLaren quickly moved into a dominant position.

Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso were much stronger in Q2, but neither man spent long in the Top 3.

Felipe Massa had a couple of "offs" which hampered his session, and neither Mercedes looked particularly confident.

I think the big shock in Q2 was the drop out of Renault, who expected big things from the Monaco GP.

Sebastien Vettel ominously found some pace and was able to finish the session in between the McLarens, but Q2 was Lewis Hamilton’s.

Q2 Top Three:

Lewis Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel

Jenson Button

Out:

Vitaly Petrov, Rubens Barrichello, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul Di Resta, Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld, Sebastien Buemi

Qualifying 3

Qualifying 3 was overshadowed by a huge crash by Sergio Perez at Turn 10.

Thankfully, the Sauber driver seems to be okay, but I think it’s well worth mentioning what a great performance the rookie had put in to even get into Q3!

Michael Schumacher opened the session with a 1:15:020, but he was quickly beaten back by Massa (the first man into the 1:14s) and Button (the first man into the 1:13s).

Mark Webber was unable to make much of an impression and could only manage P2. Similarly, Fernando Alonso was unabel to deliver on his early promise and only slotted in P3.

I think most team’s hearts sank when Sebastian Vettel stormed across the line and into P1. The only man who looked as if he could stop Vettel was Lewis Hamilton who struggled to find any clear track during his crucial charge.

Then, with just two minutes left, Perez pilled into the barrier at Turn 10, having exited the tunnel on the wrong line. It looks as if Perez found himself on a dirty bit of track and simply lost control. Thankfully the Sauber driver was alright, but it took 35 minutes for the Stewards to decide whether or not to restart the session.

It was decided that the final two minutes would go ahead. Every driver would have one lap to prove themselves, the potential was eye watering…

Lewis Hamilton jumped first and left his pit box a full minute before the session re-started to get that crucial track position.

Commentators up and down the paddock were on the edge of there seats…. And what did we get?

Nothing! Nobody's tyres were warm enough and I don’t think anyone completed a hot lap. What a disappointment, but that epitomises qualifying at the moment!

I do realise that I have written a pretty gloomy report, but I still believe the race has great potential.

Monaco rarely disappoints, and many drivers have expressed concerns about the narrowing racing line as more crap is thrown off of the degrading tyres as the race develops.

There are big drivers out of position, and everyone knows that Vettel has to be stopped before he runs away with the title… Will this lead to some great action? I sure hope so!

Provisional Result

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:13.556

2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.997

3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:14.019

4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:14.483

5 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:14.682

6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:14.877

7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.280

8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:15.766

9 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1:16.528

10 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:15.482

11 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:15.815