Saturday, August 28, 2010

Qualifying: Webber conquers Spa weather

Mark Webber celebrated his birthday weekend in style by claiming pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix

The Championship leader, who turned 34 on Friday, not only survived but thrived in the ever-changing weather conditions at Spa, clocking a 1:45.778 to take pole position.

Lewis Hamilton will line-up second on the grid, missing out on the coveted grid slot by 0.085s in what was a much-improved qualifying session for the former World Champion and his McLaren team.

Robert Kubica was another driver relishing the conditions as he put his Renault into third place ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button.

Felipe Massa was the best-placed Ferrari driver in sixth place, qualifying ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil.

Q3 took place in relative dry conditions, however, the same cannot be said of Q1.

There was a great deal of drama when the first of the sessions was red flagged for five minutes when Vitaly Petrov crashed at the 'Corner With No Name', after putting his Renault onto the wet kerbs and spinning across the track.

However, that wasn't the only incident in Q1, as the drivers fought for track position resulting in a few spins and a stewards investigation into an incident between Jarno Trulli and Lucas di Grassi.

Times:

01 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:45.778
02 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.863


03 Robert Kubica Renault 1:46.100

04 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:46.127

05 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.206
06 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:46.314

07 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:46.602
08 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:46.659

09 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:47.053
10 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:47.441

11 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:47.874
12 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:47.885

13 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:48.267
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:48.680

15 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:49.209
16 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:50.980

17 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.049
18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 2:01.491

19 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 2:02.284
20 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 2:03.612

21 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 2:03.941
22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 2:05.294

23 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2:18.754
24 Vitaly Petrov Renault No time

Source: Planet-F1

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