Sebastian Vettel etched his name into Formula One history by winning his 14th pole in the 2011 season, equaling the mark set by Nigel Mansell 20 years ago. Christian Horner, Sporting Director for Red Bull-Renault was aware of the historical significance, "An unbelievable final lap from Sebastian, to get the pole in what was a really exciting final qualifying tonight. It's a remarkable achievement for him to equal Nigel Mansell's 14 poles in a single season, which by coincidence also happened to be achieved in an Adrian Newey designed car back in 1992, with a Renault engine.”
Vettel seemed less thrilled with his own performance,"I'm pretty pleased. Yesterday I wasn't very happy with my own performance and with the car and I didn't feel that comfortable. Today was much better straightaway when we went out this afternoon, but this evening when the sun went down, I had a much better feeling and the car was more together.”
In all 3 practice sessions, and in Q1 and Q2, it looked like it would be Lewis Hamilton who would take pole, in fact, his Q2 time would have been good enough for pole over Vettel. But he timed his best efforts wrong, and Vettel saved his best efforts for last. As usual for Sebastian, he emerged from the final pit gathering in Q3 last, which meant that his car would be the final race car on track at the end of Q3. Hamilton had already laid down a blistering lap, but Vettel's best topped Lewis by .141 seconds.
Hamilton clearly thinks he and his team have turned a corner and is ultra confident, “I feel really good about tomorrow, in fact. I hope I have a good start - I really want to get into Turn One first. But, if I can't, I'll follow Sebastian [Vettel] as closely as I can, I'll try my hardest not to let him get more than a second ahead, and I'll try to get ahead through the DRS zones. Last year I started second but braked early into Turn One and let Sebastian have the corner. I've just told him that's not going to happen tomorrow, though..."
With the driver's title and constructor's championships already wrapped up, attention falls on the race for second spot in the driver's race, with Jenson Button in a comfortable position 13 points in front of Fernando Alonso. Hamilton is a full 23 points behind Alonso, so he will be looking for victories in the last two remaining races for any shot at the second spot.
Publishing Note
My apologies for not posting articles for the Indian Grand Prix, my state was devastated by the untimely Halloween Snowstorm of 2011, knocking my house of the power grid for nearly a week.
Abu Dhabi GP - Saturday - Qualifying Session Results
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
Q3
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:38.481
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.622
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.631
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:38.858
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:39.058
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:39.695
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:39.773
8. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:40.682
9. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:40.768
10. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes No Time
Q2
11. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:40.874
12. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault 1:40.919
13. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:41.009
14. Bruno Senna Brazil Renault 1:41.079
15. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:41.162
16. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.240
17. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Cosworth 1:41.760
Q1
18. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:42.979
19. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault 1:43.884
20. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1:44.515
21. Daniel Ricciardo Australia HRT-Cosworth 1:44.641
22. Jerome d'Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth 1:44.699
23. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy HRT-Cosworth 1:45.159
24. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth No Time
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