F1 Bahrain Blog: It's the final countdown

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Written by Kate Walker

Saturday, 13 March 2010 13:09

And they're off! Hamilton is first on the track, joined by the two Ferraris. Both prancing horses are trying out the supersofts, and the flying laps have started.

Massa's fastest in sector 1 for the moment, with only six minutes to go. There's talk that some drivers won't even leave the pits for this session, banking on having a fresh set of qualifying tyres to use at the start of the race. There's a risk in qualifying ninth or tenth, in that the cars behind will have fresh tyres and you won't, but I don't like this sitting in the pits malarky. Doesn't seem very sporting.

Only the McLarens and Ferraris have turned up on the track so far – the way things stand right now, Button only needs to post a time to make it to the front few rows of the grid. And he's in the pits for a tyre change – that gives the champ only one lap to set a decent time for position.

And the cars are emerging from the pits at last, with 2.5 minutes to go. This new qualifying tyres for the top ten rule seems to have taken some of the excitement out of Q3, which is disappointing – everyone's sitting in the pits to preserve their tyres, and then hanging all their hopes on one lap at the end of the session.

An exciting lap, but still. Low fuel qualifying should have meant blistering lap times and a real sense of who's fastest, but if today is any indication we're looking at safe strategies this season.

Hamilton and Vettel are on their flying laps now, so this could upset the provisional Ferrari 1-2. Vettel's taken provisional pole, but there are a lot of laps to come in. Chequered flag is down, and the pole is Vettel's,

So the final grid positions are as follows: Sebastian Vettel leads for Red Bull, followed by Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton takes fourth, with Rosberg in fifth, Webber in sixth, and Schumacher in seventh. World champion Button is in eighth, followed by Kubica in ninth and Sutil bringing up the rear. The top ten were split by 2,2 seconds – 1.54.101 was what it took for Vettel to secure pole, while 1.56.309 did it for Sutil in tenth.

Bring on tomorrow – this will be a tussle to savour! Kate Walker Girlracer Magazine http://www.girlracer.co.uk

Comments (2)

|2010-03-13 20:23:36 sophiaw

how about making my year and writing a piece about hamilton driving over button? and then reversing?
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|2010-03-14 09:09:51 Kate

I think the FIA would probably fine/sack Lewis for bringing the reputation of the sport into disrepute - 2010 is the year of road safety round these parts!
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