Red Bull’s Mark Webber took yet another pole, qualifying fastest for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps Saturday. This marks the twelfth Red Bull pole out of fourteen races this season.
“We knew that the first lap was going to be pretty important as around here it is just so unpredictable. The weather yesterday and today has been very unique even for Spa to be honest, as it has been so on and off,” Webber told SPEED-TV.
“First lap for me I was very happy with it but you just never know in this company if it is enough. But I pushed to the limit and it was enough for me to have pole half-way through the session.”
Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren beat a late rain shower, advancing from fourth to second as the session ended.
“It was such a tricky qualifying session where the weather conditions were changing drastically,” Hamilton said. “I was the first one out and it wasn’t a particularly great lap.
“There was one corner, I think turn 14 which was drying up, but I was the first one to get there and I didn’t really know how much I could push there, so I lost a little bit of time on the first run.
“The second run was a good lap except for turn one. We lost three and a half tenths or so there. The positive thing is that we are up there and in for the fight, so it is good.”
Robert Kubica of Renault qualified third.
“It has been a good qualifying for us. We have been quite competitive in all conditions and also in qualifying when the track was drying up, mixed conditions,” said Kubica.
“We had a bit of a black moment in Q3 when the car just stopped running approaching the last corner, the last chicane on the in-lap, so we knew that we would not be able to do a second attempt in Q3 as there was no time, and I was just praying for rain.”
Webber’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, and both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, were caught by the rain and couldn’t advance on their final fast laps.
Vettel ended up in fourth, Massa in 6th, and Alonso tenth. Jenson Button qualified sixth, Rubens Barrichello in the Williams in eighth, Nico Hulkenberg in the other Williams ninth, and Adrian Sutil in the Force India, ninth.
Spa-Francorchamps is legendary for swiftly changing weather, and this year has proven the tale. On Friday, rain flooded the first practice session, stopped, and returned for half the second session
Rain also interrupted the first qualifying session Saturday, leading to numerous spins and shunts, including one five-car mess set off by contact between Timo Glock and Alex Di Grassi. Both Saubers went off in unrelated incidents.
Renault driver Vassili Petrov started the session by hitting the Armco hard and bringing out a red flag.
The track dried throughout the second session, and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button put their McLarens into the top two spots, followed by the two Red Bulls and the two Ferraris.
Both Mercedes were bumped in session 2. Because of Schumacher’s penalty from last race, he will start 21st. Nico Rosberg earned a five-spot penalty for changing his transmission. He will start 17th.
One issue raised by all the rain is tires. Most teams completely burned out a set of intermediates Friday, and used another set today. This means most teams might be down to two sets of intermediate tires for the race. If the intermittent precipitation continues, teams could be running out of tires by the end of the race.
The 2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix starts at 8 a.m. EDT on Sunday, August 29. Tickets are available through the Formula1.com Tickets and Travel web page.
The race will be broadcast on SPEED-TV in the United States.
“We knew that the first lap was going to be pretty important as around here it is just so unpredictable. The weather yesterday and today has been very unique even for Spa to be honest, as it has been so on and off,” Webber told SPEED-TV.
“First lap for me I was very happy with it but you just never know in this company if it is enough. But I pushed to the limit and it was enough for me to have pole half-way through the session.”
Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren beat a late rain shower, advancing from fourth to second as the session ended.
“It was such a tricky qualifying session where the weather conditions were changing drastically,” Hamilton said. “I was the first one out and it wasn’t a particularly great lap.
“There was one corner, I think turn 14 which was drying up, but I was the first one to get there and I didn’t really know how much I could push there, so I lost a little bit of time on the first run.
“The second run was a good lap except for turn one. We lost three and a half tenths or so there. The positive thing is that we are up there and in for the fight, so it is good.”
Robert Kubica of Renault qualified third.
“It has been a good qualifying for us. We have been quite competitive in all conditions and also in qualifying when the track was drying up, mixed conditions,” said Kubica.
“We had a bit of a black moment in Q3 when the car just stopped running approaching the last corner, the last chicane on the in-lap, so we knew that we would not be able to do a second attempt in Q3 as there was no time, and I was just praying for rain.”
Webber’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, and both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, were caught by the rain and couldn’t advance on their final fast laps.
Vettel ended up in fourth, Massa in 6th, and Alonso tenth. Jenson Button qualified sixth, Rubens Barrichello in the Williams in eighth, Nico Hulkenberg in the other Williams ninth, and Adrian Sutil in the Force India, ninth.
Spa-Francorchamps is legendary for swiftly changing weather, and this year has proven the tale. On Friday, rain flooded the first practice session, stopped, and returned for half the second session
Rain also interrupted the first qualifying session Saturday, leading to numerous spins and shunts, including one five-car mess set off by contact between Timo Glock and Alex Di Grassi. Both Saubers went off in unrelated incidents.
Renault driver Vassili Petrov started the session by hitting the Armco hard and bringing out a red flag.
The track dried throughout the second session, and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button put their McLarens into the top two spots, followed by the two Red Bulls and the two Ferraris.
Both Mercedes were bumped in session 2. Because of Schumacher’s penalty from last race, he will start 21st. Nico Rosberg earned a five-spot penalty for changing his transmission. He will start 17th.
One issue raised by all the rain is tires. Most teams completely burned out a set of intermediates Friday, and used another set today. This means most teams might be down to two sets of intermediate tires for the race. If the intermittent precipitation continues, teams could be running out of tires by the end of the race.
The 2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix starts at 8 a.m. EDT on Sunday, August 29. Tickets are available through the Formula1.com Tickets and Travel web page.
The race will be broadcast on SPEED-TV in the United States.
