After the end of Q1 your usual suspects were dropped with the addition of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne. He was out-qualified by both of the Caterham cars and his teammate; adding to his Qualifying woes this season. He must improve his performances on Saturdays or at least match fellow Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo in order to reduce some of the pressure on him in the notoriously ruthless team.
Vettel topped the timesheets during Q1 and repeated this in Q2; he certainly looked like the man to beat! Alonso and Hamilton were also up there but Hamilton's teammate Button scraped through thanks to an error from Maldonado. The Spanish Grand Prix winner hit the Wall of Champions and spun to effectively end his shot at getting into the top 10. Also into the top 10 was the Force India of Paul Di Resta, who out-qualified his teammate Hulkenberg. An impressive drive from Di Resta saw him qualify in 8th, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button. Button's Qualifying troubles continued in Canada and he was struggling with locking up during the session. Of course, Montreal is a circuit Jenson Button knows well after his great performance in 2011; he moved from 24th to win the race! He may have been helped by the rain at the time but it still required immense driver skill. Let's see what he can do tomorrow from 10th...
Kimi Raikkonen, for the second weekend in a row, was lacklustre in Qualifying. This time, however, he failed to even make it to Q3. Lotus were again strong contenders, many had believed, for a front-row start but they failed to live up to those expectations. Raikkonen qualified 12th with Grosjean performing slightly better to finish 7th.
The star of the day was, however, Sebastian Vettel. Not only was he the fastest man throughout, he was also the only driver to pass the 1 minute 14 seconds barrier. His first Q3 time would have been enough to get him pole position but he only went and improved that meaning it was quite a comfortable session for him. You could tell that he was really pushing for it today and all of his hard work paid off. Pole was really Lewis' to lose after his form in FP1 and FP2. He starts 2nd meaning the front row resembles that of Bahrain and after everyone talking about how exciting that battle at the start will be, it makes you remember how the same was being said then as well. Little came of it with Vettel getting a better start and driving to the chequered flag. Can he replicate this tomorrow? If he does, he'll become the first driver to take two wins this season and return to the top of the Drivers' Championship.
Current leader Fernando Alonso did a great job today by really challenging for pole and many had thought he would get it. Ok I don't know if a lot of you did because I certainly didn't so I'll rephrase... Johnny Herbert on Sky F1 thought he would get it. It's clear that Ferrari have stepped up their game and with a driver like Alonso they can challenge for possibly the win and definitely the podium tomorrow. Felipe Massa also performed well today by qualifying in sixth; he too is improving as Ferrari improve as a team. Could he grab a podium spot tomorrow? Probably not but he can pick up a handful of points...
Here's the top 10 in full:
- Sebastian Vettel
- Lewis Hamilton
- Fernando Alonso
- Mark Webber (who said he was surprised to even qualify in 4th)
- Nico Rosberg (slightly disappointing for him and Merceded)
- Felipe Massa
- Romain Grosjean
- Paul Di Resta
- Michael Schumacher
- Jenson Button
I cannot wait for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix and if previous races in Montreal are anything to go by, we are in for a treat.
Aqsa
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