Red Bull ran a thin rear wing to increase straight-line speed

Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying

Qualifying at the Spa Francorchamps circuit was chaotic to say the very least. Sporadic showers alternated between the three distinctly different sectors of the circuit. It was evident that if the lower ranked teams were to find the time they needed to provide an upset they would have to find it in sector two, a sector containing long sweeping high speed corners which essentially make or break a driver’s lap. Caterham and Marussia identified the chance the wet weather conditions were presenting them and took the bold yet expected choice to run on slick tyres on a drying but still significantly damp circuit. The gamble looked far from threatening to the teams running on intermediates as Van Der Garde, Chilton and Bianchi turned in far from adequate laps as they evidently failed to bring the tyres and brakes up to a suitable temperature to produce desired results on the drying racing line. With the session coming to a close, the said drivers brought the tyres into their optimum performance window as all three snuck into the second round of qualifying at the expense of both Toro Rosso drivers, Jean-Eric Vergne and touted Red Bull replacement for Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo. Both Williams also disappointed once again. Pastor Maldonado just missed out on the second round in seventeenth whilst the previous prowess of Bottas in wet weather conditions failed to come to fruition as he could only manage twentieth. Charles Pic and the nomadic and consistently unimpressive Esteban Gutierrez inevitably joined them.

The second round of qualifying was perhaps the most predictable session. The three lower ranked cars that had surprisingly made it through filled the bottom three positions, fourteenth to sixteenth. However, Giedo Van Der Garde’s qualifying performance should be highly commended. The man lovingly referred to as ‘The Flying Dutchman’ placed his Caterham fourteenth on the grid, defeating his teammate by a country mile and leaving both Marussia’s in his wake. The other three drivers to bow out in the second round of qualifying were Sergio Perez, Adrian Sutil and Nico Hülkenberg. The fall of these drivers at this stage in qualifying was far from surprising. Nico Hülkenberg is a driver that should perhaps be weighing up his options for next season as Sauber have looked to have gone backwards since producing a car that saw Perez pick up occasional podiums last season. Yet, out qualifying your teammate by ten grid positions highlights the talents of an unappreciated and underrated racing driver. The fortunes of Mclaren and Force India remain the same. Force India have struggled since Pirelli’s enforced changes to their tyre compounds. The Force India seemed to be a car uniquely light on its tyres compared to other teams and the reinforcement of the tyres with titanium has really damaged their chances of defeating Mclaren in the Constructor’s Championship. Strangely, Jenson Button comfortably made it into the third and final round of qualifying, once again putting his younger and more inexperienced teammate in the shade, leaving no one in any doubt as to who is the number one driver at Mclaren. In a week in which Mclaren openly said they wished to keep Button as part of the team perhaps beyond his driving career, his consistent out performing of his teammate will provide him with the encouragement to push on this season and obtain the team’s goal of at least one podium.

The final part of qualifying was set up to be another tooth and nail fight between Red Bull and Mercedes for pole, with Vettel and Hamilton having comprised the front row of the last three races. However, as the rain began to fall early in the session all cars scrambled to the end of the pit lane on the slick tyre to attempt to post a quick lap at the beginning of the session before the track became to wet and consequently yielded slower lap times. It was immediately evident that the track was far too wet for the slick tyre and all cars came straight back into the pits to change to the intermediate tyre. Interestingly, Paul Di Resta had been keenly watching his race monitor and observed that on the other side of the track multiple umbrellas were going up in the grandstands and that the track looked far too wet in sector two for slick tyres.

With incredible guile and intelligence, Di Resta went straight out on the intermediate tyre posting a time that looked unbeatable in the face of such slippery track conditions. Felipe Massa was also turned around quickly by Ferrari and posted the second time of the session, putting him behind Di Resta but also seemingly giving him a considerable advantage over the remaining eight cars. Indeed, Di Resta went into the pits and waited anxiously for the results. With three minutes of the session remaining the Red Bulls and the Mercedes were still some way off the pace. Rosberg came within half a second of Di Resta’s time but it looked like the Scot was to gain his first career pole. With two minutes of the session left, the second sector of the track was drying out enabling the cars to carry more speed through the fastest sector of the track. Hence, despite slippery conditions in the first and third sectors, the frontrunners were able to collect more overall lap time. Webber, Vettel and Hamilton were the last to cross the line before the chequered flag came out. It was to prove crucial. The track was in the best condition it had been for the entire session and it was at the frontrunners’ mercy. Inevitably Webber crossed the line first to post the quickest time. Vettel improved on his teammate’s time only for Lewis Hamilton to trump him at the last and claim his fourth successive pole. The Mercedes certainly did not have as much pace as the Red Bull but a mixture of supreme driver skill and fortuitous timing granted Hamilton an unexpected pole.

Qualifying Result:

1^st            Lewis Hamilton

2^nd           Sebastian Vettel

3^rd           Mark Webber

4^th           Nico Rosberg

5^th           Paul Di Resta

6^th           Jenson Button

7^th           Romain Grosjean

8^th           Kimi Raikkonen

9^th           Fernando Alonso

10^th        Felipe Massa

11^th        Nico Hülkenberg

12^th        Adrian Sutil

13^th        Sergio Perez

14^th        Giedo Van Der Garde

15^th        Jules Bianchi

16^th        Max Chilton

17^th        Pastor Maldonado

18^th        Jean-Eric Vergne

19^th        Daniel Ricciardo

20^th        Valtteri Bottas

21^st        Esteban Gutierrez

22^nd       Charles Pic