GP Abu Dhabi, prove sabato–03/11/2012

Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton beats Mark Webber to pole position

Lewis Hamilton halted Red Bull’s run of qualifying dominance with a commanding run to pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It was a disappointing qualifying session for both Formula 1’s title contenders, with Sebastian Vettel only third behind Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber – but far better off than his Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso, who lines up only seventh.

McLaren driver Hamilton had been quickest in two of the three Yas Marina practice sessions, led Q1 and Q2, then produced a 1m40.630s early in Q3 to immediately put himself 0.4 seconds clear of his opposition.

A second pole shot might have been faster still, but once it became clear that Hamilton’s rivals had no answer to his pace, the Briton backed off and pitted.

Webber’s 1m40.978s pushed Vettel off the front row. The points leader, hampered by a substantial loss of practice mileage, had pushed hard throughout qualifying – brushing a barrier in Q1, flying over kerbs in Q2, and then stopping on track after his unsuccessful final flying lap in Q3.

Pastor Maldonado delivered the strong Williams qualifying result he had promised by grabbing fourth on the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen improved to fifth for Lotus on his second Q3 run, with Jenson Button making similar gains to take sixth. Button had been as low as ninth at one stage, but a five-place and 0.6s gap to McLaren team-mate Hamilton will not please the 2009 champion.

Alonso held fourth after the early Q3 runs, only to be shoved down to a potentially costly seventh as others improved. His team-mate Felipe Massa starts ninth, ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

Nico Rosberg made just one run in Q3 and initially held fifth, before falling to eighth when his rivals came out again. Rosberg’s performance was a boost for Mercedes on what had looked like being another disappointing weekend. His team-mate Michael Schumacher was only 14th, amid mutual apologies from team to driver over the radio.

Force India and Sauber could not reach the top 10 this time. Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez filled row six, with Paul di Resta 13th in his new chassis and Kamui Kobayashi six tenths down on Perez in 16th after locking up on his last lap.

Bruno Senna’s run of tepid qualifying performances continued with 15th, 0.4s slower than Williams team-mate Maldonado in Q2.

Having appeared to conquer his qualifying problems in the summer, Jean-Eric Vergne notched up his second straight Q1 exit – and his eighth of the year – in Abu Dhabi. The recently re-signed Toro Rosso driver was on course to make the cut before spinning. He pushed on for another lap, but his abused tyres had no more pace to offer. Vergne’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo brought up the rear of the Q2 field in 17th.

Marussia pushed Caterham hard in the battle at the tail of the field. Although Heikki Kovalainen emerged in front again, he was only a tenth ahead of Charles Pic.

Vitaly Petrov was right in the fight in the second Caterham too, but Timo Glock was puzzled by a relative lack of speed from his Marussia as he beat only the back-row dwelling HRTs.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time          Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m40.630s
 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m40.978s  + 0.348
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m41.073s  + 0.443
 4.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m41.226s  + 0.596
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m41.260s  + 0.630
 6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m41.290s  + 0.660
 7.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m41.582s  + 0.952
 8.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m41.603s  + 0.973
 9.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m41.723s  + 1.093
10.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m41.778s  + 1.148  
Q2 cut-off time: 1m41.907s                                   Gap **
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m42.019s  + 1.118
12.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m42.084s  + 1.183
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m42.218s  + 1.317
14.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m42.289s  + 1.388
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m42.330s  + 1.429
16.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m42.606s  + 1.705
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m42.765s  + 1.864
Q1 cut-off time: 1m43.582s                                    Gap *
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m44.058s  + 2.561
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m44.956s  + 3.459
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m45.089s  + 3.592
21.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m45.151s  + 3.654
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m45.426s  + 3.929
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m45.766s  + 4.269
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m46.382s  + 4.885

Da Autosport.com

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Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton on top as Sebastian Vettel hits trouble

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix while Formula 1 world championship leader Sebastian Vettel’s preparations were severely hampered by a brake problem.

Hamilton sailed to the top of the timesheets on his first flying lap of the Yas Marina circuit in 1m44.264s, and continued to bring his marker down, the McLaren driver ending up on 1m42.130s.

That time, which came on soft-compound Pirelli tyres, was significantly only 0.148 seconds faster than he managed on medium rubber.

While Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button and Red Bull’s Mark Webber were going second and third fastest, 0.290s and 0.613s adrift of the 2008 world champion respectively, Vettel was sat in the pits and looking unlikely to take to the track.

The double world champion’s Red Bull mechanics were seen working busily on his RB8’s braking system during the session, and completed the job to allow Vettel to take to the track with a little under five minutes of the hour remaining.

The German’s only true flying lap – completed after the chequered flag had flown – put him third on the timesheets, 0.4s behind Hamilton. Significantly, he also managed to set the best time in sector two.

His lap knocked Webber back to fourth with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg fifth and Romain Grosjean sixth in the best of the Lotus cars, the Frenchman losing track time late on as his front brakes were bled in the pits.

Pastor Maldonado had a brief stint at the head of the times, but slipped back to seventh for Williams. Fernando Alonso, Vettel’s closest threat for the world title, Kimi Raikkonen and Paul di Resta completed the top 10.

Raikkonen nearly collided with Webber right at the end of the session as the Red Bull, travelling slowly, turned sharply into the pits as the Lotus was closing in rapidly before the final corner.

The only other incidents of note came when Hamilton locked his right-front wheel with a few minutes remaining and ran off the track, missing Turns 4-5, and when Narain Karthikeyan ran wide at Turn 16 earlier on.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m42.130s            18
 2.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m42.420s  + 0.290s  17
 3.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m42.614s  + 0.484s  7
 4.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m42.743s  + 0.613s  18
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m42.750s  + 0.620s  19
 6.  Romain Grosjean     Lotus-Renault         1m43.015s  + 0.885s  18
 7.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m43.064s  + 0.934s  19
 8.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m43.133s  + 1.003s  15
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m43.184s  + 1.054s  22
10.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m43.338s  + 1.208s  19
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m43.480s  + 1.350s  17
12.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m43.571s  + 1.441s  20
13.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m43.593s  + 1.463s  20
14.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m43.635s  + 1.505s  19
15.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m44.010s  + 1.880s  22
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.025s  + 1.895s  18
17.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m44.071s  + 1.941s  19
18.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.149s  + 2.019s  19
19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m45.301s  + 3.171s  22
20.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m45.879s  + 3.749s  19
21.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m46.036s  + 3.906s  19
22.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m46.261s  + 4.131s  22
23.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m46.554s  + 4.424s  20
24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m47.032s  + 4.902s  2

Da Autosport.com