The weather forecast for the British GP weekend was simple: rain, rain, rain... more or less! We saw heavy rain yesterday both during the FP1 and FP2. This morning the track was DRY when the last free practice took place but when it was time for qualifying there was more rain pouring from the sky!
The biggest surprise in Q1 was Jenson Button´s performance. He was very much in trouble on the damp circuit, according to his own words he just couldn´t get his tyres warmed up so the unfortunate Briton was out of Q2! Otherwise the Q1 was kind of "the same old story". It was a bit depressing to see that in spite of some significant upgrades Caterham hadn´t managed to improve their performance compared to the midfield teams...
The conditions got worse and worse when Q2 got underway. The rain got heavier and heavier and when there were 8 minutes to go the conditions were considered undriveable and the session was suspended. Before that Mercedes´s Schumacher had run wide a couple of times and Alonso in his Ferrari drove off the track as well but luckily all the drivers managed to keep their cars in one piece! The session was suspended for one and a half hours until the heavy shower was over. Full wets was the right tyre call when the session was re-started. More surprises in Q2: Rosberg in his Mercedes didn´t make his way in to Q3! Perez had topped the standings before the suspension but in the end both Saubers were knocked out of Q3. Grosjean managed to set 5th fastest lap time but he lost the control of his E20 and he got stuck on the gravel so the qualifying was over for him!
The conditions improved lap by lap. Some drivers went out with intermediate tyres, the others had full wets on. The track, however, was drying up surprisingly fast and the intermediates turned out to be the right choice. In mixed conditions Ferrari seems to be extremely strong. So was the case again this time, Alonso conquered the pole first time this season! Red Bull´s Mark Webber completed the first row. Schumi seems to have been able to maintain the momentum from Valencia and in spite of running wide a few times he was able to snatch P3 today! I guess there´s a reason why the 43-year-old German is called a "rain master"... ;) Vettel was 4th, Massa 5th (that´s a surprise indeed!) and Kimi 6th. Kimi had a KERS problem in his car right from the beginning of the qualifying so P6 is a very decent achievement. I just hope the guys manage to fix it for tomorrow´s race!
So the biggest question right now is: will it be a totally rain-hit race tomorrow? Will there be showers in mixed conditions? Light rain, heavy rain or all kinds of rain? All in all the British GP seems to be extremely difficult to predict. Alonso starting on pole will undoubtedly have the best visibility in the race but in mixed conditions the pole doesn´t mean much. You have to make the right tyre choice at the right time... And you have to be able to keep your car in one piece! Which I´m sure not everybody will be able to do...! I would be surprised if there was no safety car tomorrow at some stage! So a lot of variables which are crucial in terms of the outcome of the race... Hamilton qualified 8th today and was disappointed to see he was 2 seconds slower than Alonso. But he´ll have a whole new chance in the race!
Once in my life I have witnessed the British GP live at Silverstone. That happened a looong time ago, back in 1995 when there was neither Kimi nor Sebastian racing there. This time I´ll be watching the race on my home coach but I feel I´ll be there in a figurative sense... as a picture on both RB8s! I took part in the "faces for charity" campaign so I´ll be racing with Sebastian and Mark along with 25 000 other people :) How cool is that! Once again I hope all the very best for both Sebastian and the Iceman! Sebastian can´t afford having another DNF...
Kimi was asked this weekend why his team-mate Grosjean has beaten him in most of the qualifyings this season. Kimi´s answer was simple: Grosjean has been faster than him! I love Kimi´s way of saying how things really are. He doesn´t try to explain why he has made a mistake or why he sometimes isn´t fast enough. I´m sure he will let his driving skills do the talking tomorrow and I really hope we´re going to see the Iceman on the top step of the podium sooner or later!
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