by Patrick on March 16, 2013
Qualifying showed the usual Red Bull dominance with Sebastian Vettel taking pole with a 1:27.407, almost 1/2 a second of Mark Webber’s fastest time for second! A front row lockout is a good result for Red Bull, but the real test for tomorrow will no doubt be whether the cars can look after the tyres!!
Hamilton did Mercedes proud for his first official qualifying for them taking 3rd! Something he looked very pleased about!
The boys in red look to be on form for this season with Felipe Massa 4th and Fernando Alonso in 5th! The Ferrari genrally always shows better race than qualifying so hopefully they can pull a good result out of the bag!
Lotus were further down the field than expected, although are tipped as a good bet due to the cars being easier on the tyres. I guess we will have to wait and see!
Force india also look ok!… You can never really tell with them until they race though! 
McLaren don’t look like the car is playing well. Jenson Button described the car as having “Fundamental problems”….. not good :S
The times were:
(click on the image for a bigger version of the table)
by Patrick on March 16, 2013
It’s the first race of the year!
Testing is over (although it didn;t really mean too much in terms of tyre performance intell i’d imagine as there was so much rain!) and it’s time to race!
My “new patented” bullet pointed practice summaries follow:
FP1
- FP1 showed that Ferrari may have got the formula right this year with strong perfomances from both cars with Alonso coming in 3rd fastest in the session and Massa taking second fastest!
- Red Bull also showed that they might be strong as Vettel took the #1 time of the session with a 1:27.211!
- Mercedes must think they also made a good move signing Hamilton as he came 4th fastest with a 1:27.552!
FP2
- Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus were all strong in FP2 with Vettel once again leading the times with a 1:25.908.
- I’m not sure what Ferrari were playing at but a 6th and 8th from Alonso and Massa will not cut the mustard up against the likes of Red Bull.
- Mclaren look to be struggling with this year’s car. Button ended up with a 1:28.294 for 11th fastest and Perez did a 1:28.566 for 13th fastest. This is not good enough for McLaren!
Fp3
- FP3 blew my mind slightly as Lotus’ Romain Grosjean did a 1:26.929 to be fastest! The boy knows how to put in a good time. Let’s hope his race style has improved too to allow him to be competative!
- Ferrari redeemed themselves with Alonso coming 2nd fastest and Massa 3rd! *phew*
- Vettel and Webber’s times were not good… don’t trust this… they will be faster in the race!
The full time chart is below!
(click on the image for a bigger version of the table)
