GP Spagna, prove sabato–12/05/2012

Lewis Hamilton storms to Spanish Grand Prix pole position

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by a commanding margin over shock front row man Pastor Maldonado’s Williams.

In a session full of surprises, Hamilton was half a second quicker than Maldonado, who had been rapid in final practice, topped Q2, and then held provisional pole for a while.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial benchmark stood until first local hero Fernando Alonso in the much improved Ferrari, then the incredible Maldonado beat him.

But there was still more to come from Hamilton, who produced a 1m21.707s to give McLaren its 150th Formula 1 pole. The Briton then stopped on track on his slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held second ahead of Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez going on to take sixth, but Kamui Kobayashi consigned to 10th as his car expired on the way back to the pits at the end of Q2.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Rosberg’s Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher chose to save tyres and not doing any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth.

The presence of the underdogs in the top 10 inevitably meant some big names were squeezed out in Q2, and it was Jenson Button – who had been uncomfortable with the McLaren’s handling all day – and Mark Webber who found themselves on the wrong side of the cut-off. The McLaren and Red Bull will share row six, double Catalunya polesitter Webber having been sat in the pits at the end of the session as others improved and pushed him backwards.

It was a bad day for Felipe Massa as well, the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season as he qualified behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos in 17th.

While Maldonado stormed towards the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna pushed too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1 and ensuring an instant exit.

Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time as the back-of-the-grid teams lined up in the usual order. Charles Pic was quicker than fellow Marussia man Timo Glock, and HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan will needs stewards’ permission to race as apparent mechanical issues left him a long way from the 107 per cent margin.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s   
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s   + 0.578 
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s   + 0.595 
 4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s   + 0.717 
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s   + 0.780 
 6.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s   + 0.826 
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s   + 1.298 
 8.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time

Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s                                    Gap **
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s   +  0.839
12.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s   +  0.872
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s   +  1.020
14.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s   +  1.072
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s   +  1.160
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s   +  1.337
17.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s   +  1.339
Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s                                    Gap *
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s   + 2.398
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s   + 2.694
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s   + 2.924
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s   + 3.999
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s   + 4.449
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s   + 4.972
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s   + 8.539

Da Autosport.com

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Sebastian Vettel fastest in final Spanish Grand Prix practice

Sebastian Vettel denied Pastor Maldonado a shock timesheet-topping performance in the final seconds of the third practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

Most of the hour had seen a variety of surprise underdog names taking turns on top, before reigning champions Vettel and Red Bull re-established the expecting order with the German’s final lap.

It was Sauber’s Sergio Perez who led the way for most of the morning, setting the quickest time of the first half hour on the harder tyres, then being swiftly usurped by first Nico Rosberg, then Jean-Eric Vergne as the Mercedes and Toro Rosso tried softs.

Once Perez was on softs too, he was swiftly back in front, lapping in 1m23.742s.

That held until the final two minutes, when his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi jumped to the top, followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

But before this pair could get to the pits, they were being usurped as Maldonado came through to put his Williams on top with a 1m23.336s.

The Venezuelan would not stay there, as with seconds left on the clock, Vettel edged him out by 0.168 seconds.

Maldonado, Kobayashi, Webber and Perez found themselves pushed back to second through fifth places, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Vergne, and fastest McLaren driver Jenson Button. The sister McLaren of Lewis Hamilton looked poised to grab first place on the Briton’s soft tyre run, only to encounter heavy traffic in the middle of the chicane, leaving Hamilton an unrepresentative 16th.

Romain Grosjean did not complete any flying laps after a fuel pressure issue stranded his Lotus at Turn 10 early on, while Timo Glock was the other man to park trackside following an apparent issue at the final chicane in the closing minutes. The German stopped his Marussia just past the pit exit.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m23.168             13
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m23.336s  + 0.168   19
 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.350s  + 0.182   19
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m23.578s  + 0.410   16
 5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.742s  + 0.574   22
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m23.807s  + 0.639   15
 7.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m23.833s  + 0.665   14
 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m23.909s  + 0.741   13
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m23.936s  + 0.768   16
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m24.070s  + 0.902   23
11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m24.179s  + 1.011   16
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m24.323s  + 1.155   17
13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m24.331s  + 1.163   15
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m24.409s  + 1.241   18
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m24.599s  + 1.431   15
16.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.778s  + 1.610   15
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m24.825s  + 1.657   17
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m25.911s  + 2.743   20
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m26.587s  + 3.419   20
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.469s  + 4.301   18
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.689s  + 4.521   16
22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m28.207s  + 5.039   24
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m28.373s  + 5.205   13
24.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          no time               2

Da Autosport.com