2011 Canadian Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Vettel takes Pole, yet again

Sebastian Vettel has done it again! He clinched pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal with a scintillatingly fast lap at the start of the third and final qualifying session. Ferrari occupy the next two positions as Fernando Alonso took P2 ahead of Felipe Massa in P3.

Mark Webber starts in P4 with Lewis Hamilton P5, Nico Rosberg P6, Jenson Button P7 and Michael Schumacher in P8 ahead of the two Renaults of Nick Heidfeld in P9 and Vitaly Petrov rounding off the top ten.

Ferrari had topped the timesheets in Q1 and Q2 as the less than usual dependence on low downforce at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and also the reliance on Pirelli’s soft and super soft tyres suited their car better than others. But when it mattered, Vettel pulled out a quick lap which neither of the scarlet cars could overhaul and they had to make do with the second and third places on the grid.

McLaren will be disappointed at their performance with them now being the third fastest team, ahead of Mercedes and Renault. Hamilton has a good record in Montreal but fifth fastest was the best he could manage with Button sandwiched between the two Mercedes’.

2010 Chinese Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Red Bull Lock Front Row, Vettel on Pole

Red Bull’s red hot Qualifying streak continued as they qualified at the top of the pile for the Chinese Grand Prix and locked out the front row – Sebastian Vettel on pole position with Mark Webber on P2. Fernando Alonso’s on P3 with Nico Rosberg P4, Jenson Button P5 and Lewis Hamilton managing only P6 after dominating the practice and earlier qualifying sessions. Felipe Massa qualified on P7 with Robert Kubica P8, Michael Schumacher P9 and Adrian Sutil rounds off the top ten.

It was a rather surprising result, given McLaren had dominated the practice sessions – Button fastest in FP1 & Hamilton in FP2. The signs were there in FP3 as Mark Webber clocked the fastest time. However, as the initial two qualifying sessions showed, McLaren were back on top as Hamilton edged out their rivals in both the sessions. But right when it mattered, the Red Bulls pulled out fastest times outta the bags! Mark Webber was almost celebrating as he was on P1 as the chequered flag waved but Vettel was still some way behind and as expected, clocked the fastest time – a 1:34.558 as compared to 1:34.806 for Webber.

Q1 started with Renault racing against time to get their second driver Vitaly Petrov out on track after he destroyed his car after a shunt in this morning’s third practice session but eventually they did get him up and running. McLaren and Lewis Hamilton showed that their practice pace was no flash in the pan as they were fastest in the first session. Nico Rosberg was second fastest for Mercedes with Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso & Felipe Massa following closely. It was a bad day at the office for Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi as he failed to make the cut into Q2 for the first time this season. Joining him at the back of the grid were the two Virgins of Timo Glock and Lucas Di Grassi, the two Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli and the two Hispanias of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok.