This has been an absolutely perfect Saturday. After going for an 8-kilometre walk in the forest in the morning I could just sit on the coach and enjoy the Formula 1 entertainment: an hour of the last free practice and then the qualifying. The Marina Bay street circuit is an incredible and mesmerizing venue. When the night falls and the artificial lights light up the venue almost looks like a fantasy world. The shiny F1 cars make the scenery just perfect!
I expected Kimi to have a challenging qualifying as the Iceman hadn´t seemed very competitive in the last practice session. Grosjean was right there in the very top but Kimi´s car seemed unstable and it was sliding in the corners. Right before the qualifying got underway I heard the Finnish ex F1 driver Mika Salo say on TV that Kimi had some back problems in addition to the issues with the car. I knew it was going to be a massively difficult afternoon for the Finn!
Hamilton in his Mercedes set the fastest lap time in Q1. The other Finn, Valtteri Bottas, drove impressively well considering the fact that it was the very first time for him at the Marina Bay circuit. Bottas was 6 tenths of a second faster than his team-mate Maldonado and he was the last man to get into Q2. Di Resta in his Force India was the first one to be knocked out of Q2 followed by Bottas´s team-mate Maldonado. Grosjean and Vettel used the harder tyres in the first session whilst all others set their fastest laps on the supersofts.
Q2 was all about fighting for the place among the top ten. Kimi bravely took part in Q2 as well though every lap must have been very painful for the Iceman. The Marina Bay Circuit with all the bumps must be a killer to drive in back pain! Kimi did his best but he had no chance to make it in to the Q3. Hulkenberg in his Sauber was the first man to be knocked out of the final session, followed by Vergne in P12 and Kimi in P13. Surprisingly Gutierrez managed to beat his team-mate Hulkenberg today and the Mexican made his way through to the top ten! This was the very first time that Gutierrez qualified higher than his team-mate! I was so disappointed for Kimi as Grosjean´s excellent driving (P5 in Q2) clearly showed that there was huge potential in the E21!
In the last session there was almost a fight for the pole! I put it like this because Sebastian was among the first drivers to go out in Q3 and he claimed the initial pole after his first run. When there were two minutes left in the clock Sebastian chose to stay in the garage instead of a second run. And finally Rosberg managed to get very very close being only 91 thousandths of a second slower than Sebastian! Grosjean at the wheel of his E21 made it as high as P3 today, which made me feel even more gutted for Kimi. Webber qualified 4th, Hamilton 5th, Massa 6th, Alonso 7th, Button 8th, Ricciardo 9th and Gutierrez 10th (he didn´t set a lap time in Q3). So Sebastian made it on pole for the 41st time in his career! Only the sky seems to be the limit as far as Sebastian´s success is concerned...! What a performance once again!
On the basis of what we´ve seen during the weekend, Red Bull´s pace has been crushing. If anyone else than Sebastian wins the race tomorrow, I´ll be genuinely surprised! Of course Marina Bay is a circuit where unexpected things can happen and where safety car is often needed. I´m absolutely delighted for Sebastian but worried about Kimi. Just before writing this blog post I read that Kimi´s back pain was caused by a loose seat in his E21 on Friday! I can´t help asking, how this kind of a thing can happen on this level of racing! Recently it was announced that Kimi will move back to Ferrari next season. The silly season is always full of rumours, but when things like this happen, you don´t wonder how all kinds of "conspiracy theories" get started! With wild imagination it would be easy to imagine that somebody not happy with Kimi´s decision to leave Lotus would harm Kimi´s driving on purpose... Which most probably isn´t the case. But a loose seat in a Formula 1 car sounds kind of dangerous and a mistake that shouldn´t happen in any circumstances.
I wish all the very best for Kimi for tomorrow´s race! It´s so admirable that Kimi wants to drive and race even in situations where it would be so much easier to just give up. So hat off for Kimi and no matter what the result will be tomorrow, I´ll always support him. Making your very best in spite of all the set backs and obstacles is what counts. 13 might be the lucky number, who knows :)
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