This has been an absolutely perfect Saturday! My morning began with watching three hours of Formula 1 action and after those entertaining hours I headed to a spa hotel with my twin sister. I'm sitting in our hotel room at the moment. Before going to a restaurant having something to eat I've just enough time to write a few words on today's qualifying :-)
The majority of the drivers started to the first session with the medium tyres. What was interesting to see was that many drivers, like Nico Rosberg didn't even try to avoid getting all four wheels off track! The stewards didn't give any reprimands on that action, which I found very peculiar indeed. On the other hand some other top drivers like Kimi at the wheel of his Lotus seemed to pay attention to his driving at the corners to keep at least one wheel inside the track lines. Vettel in his RB9 set his fastest lap time with the primes and made his way easily in to the Q2. Grosjean at the wheel of his E21 made a similar tyre choice, which turned out to be a wrong call! The Frenchman was the first one to be knocked out of Q2! What a mistake by the driver and the team! If I'm asked, I would say that Grosjean's decision seemed a bit arrogant move: Red Bull can afford making decisions like that but not any other team at the moment! Once again I was delighted to see Bottas in his Williams making his way through to the Q2 whilst his team-mate Maldonado qualified 18th and was out of the second session.
Q2 didn't hold any major surprises. A slight surprise though was to see McLaren's Button topping the timesheets in Q2. Kimi's performance made me extremely happy as well. The Iceman managed to set a 4th fastest lap time. I was confident that after many tricky GP weekends Kimi could finally succeed in the qualifying! Both Toro Rossos were out of the final session as well as the both Force India drivers. Bottas qualified in P15 right ahead of Sauber's Gutierrez.
In Q3 we saw different tyre strategies. Webber, Alonso and Button made their first run with the medium tyres whilst Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg started to the decisive final session with the option tyres. Once again Kimi made only one attempt with the softer compound. Q3 was pretty much business as usual: Sebastian was utterly phenomenal and totally flawless! The German snatched pole at the Buddh International Circuit for the 3rd time in-a-row! Rosberg completed the front row and his team-mate Hamilton qualified 3rd. Webber was 4th fastest with the prime tyres. Massa was 5th, Kimi 6th and Hulkenberg 7th. The last three of the top ten also set their fastest lap times with the primes: Alonso 8th, Perez 9th and Button 10th.
Tomorrow's race will be nerve-wrecking! Sebastian definitely has a convincing history on the soil of India: two races, two pole positions and two victories. And this man needs only 5th place in the race go secure his fourth drivers' championship! The different tyre choices will make the race extremely interesting. The soft tyres will only last about ten laps before they get blistered... And let's see if the stewards interfere with leaving the track with all four wheels. It certainly benefits some drivers! And what will Kimi be capable of tomorrow? P6 gives a lot of hope. But he mustn't get stuck behind Webber, who has the hard tyres! An impressive start is needed as well.
I actually won't see the race live because I'm coming back home a bit later. I'm gutted if I don't see Sebastian clinching his title live... But I'll definitely watch the race when I get home! Meanwhile here at the spa hotel... I'll have a glass (or two...) of vanilla cognac just to wish good luck for my two favourite drivers, hahaha ;-)
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