Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

sunnuntai 18. marraskuuta 2012

United States GP / Qualifying: Sebastian conquered pole under the Texas sun!

There was definitely magic in the air when the F1 circus arrived in Austin Texas for the very first time. This inaugural venue is possibly going to be the venue where Sebastian Vettel might secure his third world title... It was a historical moment when the first free practice session got underway on Friday morning. The F1 cars were the very first ones ever to drive on the Circuit of the Americas! No wonder the circuit was more slippery than any other track this season! Right from the beginning it became clear that there was something absolutely magical about Sebastian´s driving at Austin... The German topped the standings in all practice sessions so there was no doubt he was the quickest guy under the Texas sun!

The first surprise in terms of qualifying was that in Q1 Caterham´s Heikki Kovalainen was beaten not only by his team-mate Petrov but also by both Marussia drivers! That can´t be a good thing for Heikki who still hasn´t got a contract for next year. Caterham haven´t been able to develop their car whilst Marussia have been able to take a significant leap forward! I really do hope that Heikki gets a chance to continue at Caterham because replacing a hugely talented driver like Heikki with a pay-driver would be a howling injustice!

Q2 held some surprises as well. Sebastian topped the standings both in Q1 and in Q2 and Hamilton in his McLaren was impressively quick as well. His team-mate Button instead had a technical issue at the end of the Q2 when he lost all power in his car and couldn´t make it in to the final session of the qualifying. These technical issues have haunted McLaren throughout the entire season! At Abu Dhabi it was Hamilton who had to retire the race when he had a comfortable lead over his rivals! Lotus seemed to have found some more speed as well. Grosjean made it easily among top ten but Kimi made it only just by being 10th fastest. Without Button facing the technical problem the Iceman could have been knocked out of the final session... Schumacher was a positive surprise being 7th fastest. His team-mate Rosberg instead qualified 17th so he faced a lousy qualifying session.

In Q3 Hamilton managed to challenge Sebastian but there wasn´t any real doubt about who was the fastest man on the track. Throughout the weekend almost every driver has had difficulties to get their tyres warmed up so in Q3 we saw the majority of drivers making one attempt with several flying laps. Sebastian´s pole lap was far from perfect: the German made a few mistakes but still the lap was quick enough to conquer pole. Hamilton was only a tenth of a second slower than Sebastian. Webber made it 3rd and was followed by the Lotus duo Grosjean and Räikkönen. Grosjean, though, has been handed a five-place grid penalty for a gear box change so he will start in P9 on Sunday. Kimi will start alongside Webber on the dirty side of the track. Kimi has taken some impressive starts this season but at Austin it may be a bit more challenging task because the dirty side there is much more slippery than on the other tracks... Schumacher will start in P5 and Massa in P6. Alonso qualified only 9th but due to Grosjean´s penalty he will be 8th on the grid. Once again Ferrari´s pace wasn´t very convincing in the qualifying but like we know, the race will be a whole new story...!

I have to say all looks very good for Sebastian at the moment. He has been enormously quick the whole weekend. Topping the timesheets in all free practice sessions and in every session of the qualifying... What more could you possibly hope for? On the other hand I know that anything can happen in the race. A technical failure in this race could possibly be a disaster! And Alonso is always a dangerous opponent no matter how far back he will start! Sebastian showed at Abu Dhabi that it was possible to make his way through from the back of the grid up to 3rd. And Alonso is only down in 8th place. And like Sebastian himself said after the qualfying: no points have been scored yet this weekend! I have to admit I´m dead excited!! Everything looks soooo good... But I know that this feeling can be taken away within a blink of an eye. But I do hope from the bottom of my heart that everything goes well for Sebastian today because if the fight for the championship goes on to Brazil the weather conditions are more unpredictable there and we all remember how the wet races have favoured Alonso this year... But like I said, I have a good feeling about today´s race :) I trust in you, Sebastian!

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