How Hulkenberg snatched pole position

47 comments on “How Hulkenberg snatched pole position”

1. 

   Icthyes (@icthyes)
   6th November 2010, 22:08

   More twists in the tale, a number of weather sources are giving mixed predictions for the race tomorrow.
   1. 

      Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
      6th November 2010, 22:14

      Another poll sans pole position?
   2. 

      David BR
      6th November 2010, 22:15

      Depends if you check São Paulo weather (clear, sunny) or Interlagos (showers). Presumably the teams wouldn’t be daft enough to google São Paulo…
      1. 

         Icthyes (@icthyes)
         7th November 2010, 9:32

         I always check for Interlagos specifically.
         1. 

            David BR
            7th November 2010, 10:22

            Sorry Icthyes, wasn’t implying you weren’t – I did look up SP first! Hopefully there will be a few showers to mix things up, no heavy rain at the start though please! Can’t stand safety car starts, they take away one of the best elements of Formula 1.
            1. 

               Icthyes (@icthyes)
               7th November 2010, 12:15

               Oh no, I didn’t take it that way at all. Thankfully(?) it looks like a dry race.
2. 

   Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
   6th November 2010, 22:12

   I fell asleep and missed it all :( But when I saw Hulk had gotten pole I was sure it was the timing of his pole lap on the track.

   I like the Q2 vs Q3 side by side comparisons. A car that is a second a lap slower on pole… who ever gets around the Hulk first is going to run away from the pack.
   1. 

      US_Peter
      6th November 2010, 23:37

      If Vettel gets the jump into the first corner he could be off into the sunset before Webber/Hamilton/Alonso can get past the Hulk. It’ll be a gripping start in any case.
      1. 

         Luib
         7th November 2010, 5:12

         Agree,it is going to be tough for all three of them particularly for Alonso.
         I think his luck is going to run out…unless the RBR screw up again
3. 

   SoerenKaae (@soerenkaae)
   6th November 2010, 22:12

   Alguersuari is the first inside 107% of Hulks time. Imagine an 16 car grid :(
   1. 

      Enigma
      6th November 2010, 22:28

      But that’s not what counts in the 107% rule. It’s the Q1 times, in which the track was wetter and everyone was slower.
   2. 

      Red Andy (@red-andy)
      6th November 2010, 22:28

      If that were the case I think everyone outside of 107% would be allowed to start, given the changing conditions. Such force majeure was used in the 1999 French GP, for example, because four or five drivers were all outside of the 107% limit.

      Besides, won’t the 107% limit apply only to Q1 times, not to Q3?
      1. 

         PJ
         6th November 2010, 23:11

         I imagine those that did not make Q2 would be assessed for 107% only.
4. 

   Rafa
   6th November 2010, 22:17

   How sure we are Williams is not using a wet set up for today’s qualification? We will see this tomorrow during the race in the first three laps…
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      6th November 2010, 22:27

      Like I said on the article, if he is, why wasn’t he quicker in Q1 and Q2 where it would have helped him more? Also, you’d expect his speed trap figure to be lower than it is. So I’m not convinced.
   2. 

      Ads21 (@ads21)
      6th November 2010, 22:35

      Patrick Head also said Hulkenberg was on a fully dry set-up
   3. 

      d-d
      6th November 2010, 23:40

      Kubica was saying that Renault had very low downforce setup for Q session and race to benefit from f-duct, which made dificulties on slick while the track was not fully dry, hence poorer times in Q3 after the tyre change.
      So perhaps it was the same case for other top teams, and contrary by Williams – bigger downforce and higher grip means they drove better than others in slick tyres.
      1. 

         Ayo
         6th November 2010, 23:54

         So are you guys saying his pace was genuine?
         1. 

            d-d
            7th November 2010, 0:14

            I am saying Williams had setup for more grip than top teams that seek the speed on the straight (mostly by f-duct) so when track was drying but still not fully dried, the higher grip Williams had on slicks gave them advantage.
            Had the track dried earlier, Williams would be beaten like in dry practice sessions – this is my understanding, but I wish someone from paddock try to answer this phenomena professionally.
            1. 

               David BR
               7th November 2010, 10:24

               Sounds good to me.
         2. 

            BasCB
            7th November 2010, 10:27

            It sure looks like he was. He just kept stringing together 9 great sector times in three consistently improving laps.
            All the way he was driving without sliding, going wide, misbraking, etc. to string together an amazing lap. A bit like Senna could do for pole.

            The other guys on track at the same time had someting of a mistake or wobble at one or more points in each of their laps, they just could not string it together as consistenly ono the slippery track.
   4. 

      rbc
      7th November 2010, 0:55

      I think he was in a full dry setup, so when the track got dryer he got the best of it,
      as Keith is pointing out. thats the only explanation. only the difference on setup can explain 1.1″ of difference
      and it was a dry setup
      1. 

         DeadManWoking
         7th November 2010, 14:01

         His penultimate (1:15.519) was good enough for Pole (.057 faster than Vettel’s lap which he completed after Nico did this one)and he finished it with 2-3 seconds remaining on the clock. This gave him 1 more lap on a much drier track than anyone else with optimally heated tires and he improved a further 0.992 to 1:14.470. As BasCB said, 9 perfectly executed sectors in a row, altogether a remarkable performance.
   5. 

      BasCB
      7th November 2010, 10:23

      Yesterday the Williams team stated, that they are on a full dry setup, which might be the reason why they were pretty far of in the wetter conditions of Q1 and Q2.

      I just hope the Hulk can keep the pack behind him for a while while they have a try at sorting out their running order with a few passes between them.
5. 

   Alexi (@)
   6th November 2010, 22:18

   Great perf from Nico.

   Random predictions for the race tomorrow – Nico gets P4 and Barrichello crashes into Button.
6. 

   ivz
   6th November 2010, 22:39

   I hope this is a sign for next year! Can you imagine if Williams get into a position to fight for wins? If Renault keep going the way they are (improving slowly), Mercedes are more competetive, McLaren are there, Ferrari and RedBull, what a season it could possibly be. What a dream if 6 different teams win a race! (even better, 12 different drivers, but very unlikely).
7. 

   DeadManWoking
   6th November 2010, 23:22

   Keith, the formatting for the Qualifying “Ultimate Laps” Tables has been off for the last few races while the Practice “Ultimate Laps” Tables formatting has been fine.
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      6th November 2010, 23:29

      I don’t see what the problem is, can you explain?
      1. 

         DeadManWoking
         6th November 2010, 23:41

         I’m using IE8 and to me the time entries are all shifted 1 column to the left as:

         1 10 Nico Hülkenberg1’14.454 0.016 1

         with the driver’s name and ultimate lap time together with no space. Also the car and driver Headers are reversed.
      2. 

         US_Peter
         6th November 2010, 23:42

         I see what he means. The column headers aren’t aligning properly for me in Chrome on a Mac.
      3. 

         Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
         6th November 2010, 23:46

         i think he means some columns at the ultimate lap chart are not correctly placed.

         Because the laptime is close together with the driver name:

         Nico Hülkenberg1’14.454

         so the rest of the columns are out of place.
      4. 

         DeadManWoking
         7th November 2010, 0:05

         Here’s a screenshot of what I see:

         http://www.flickr.com/photos/55606693@N03/5152201505/sizes/l/in/photostream/
         1. 

            torrit
            7th November 2010, 13:34

            I’m using Opera and I see similar thing:

            On Firefox and Safari it looks ok though.
         2. 

            DeadManWoking
            7th November 2010, 14:06

            Hmmm, I just checked Firefox and it is formatted properly on it. But The Car# and Driver Headers are still reversed.
8. 

   Bartholomew
   6th November 2010, 23:25

   That was great for The Hulk! I am always very happy when a new young driver makes his presence felt in a dramatic fashion! may you have many more days like this in your career.
   One of the most celebrated videos in all of YouTube is of the Hulk when he celebrates his birthday party with the Terminator – chocolate cake and reefer!
   LOL you just gotta see this !

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viyNrDU1fks
9. 

   cheers
   6th November 2010, 23:26

   All the driver and team comments were consistent on the conditions and lap time. They all said that any small moment off the racing line took the tyre temperatures and lap time away and everyone but Hulkenberg seemed to have one. Webber and Alonso and Barrichello had big ones so they did good just getting the times they did.

   Interesting Sauber’s and Williams comments on Hulkenberg. Maybe one year out to pasture at Sauber for him and then back to Williams as lead driver? You can see the lead driver difference with Rubens being the first of the field to make the right call to go with the dries and Hulk having to be talked into it by his engineer. 3 great laps smack on the racing line make him a bankable future prospect though. I can’t help remembering that iffy performance trying to keep Webber behind him and think Williams see him as needing another full year before he could lead them.

   What I would really like to see is Webber leaving RBR and returning to Williams as World Champion. Maybe Newey will some time soo decides that he already has enough money too ?????
   1. 

      US_Peter
      6th November 2010, 23:44

      I think Webber has even less love for Frank and Patrick than he does for RBR, so I don’t think that’ll happen.
      1. 

         cheers
         7th November 2010, 6:24

         Frank was making concilliatory sounds to Mark and saying he got it wrong earlier this year. He’s got a contract though and Williams are tight for dosh so it’s unlikely.
10. 

    schooner
    6th November 2010, 23:54

    It appears to me that Williams may have gambled on a fully dry, lower downforce setup for Nico. His Q2 times, while it was still pretty wet, seem to reflect that idea. They really had nothing to lose by doing so, especially given the forecast for a dry race. The championship contenders on the other hand, were perhaps not as willing to roll the dice. Even with the probability of a dry race, they might have felt obliged to set up for a wet qualifying session to ensure decent grid positions. Should make for a great race!
    That said, and regardless of the different strategies, Nico was simply brilliant today! F1 qualifying is almost always a great show these days, but this was the best of the year. I’m hoping to see Nico get his first podium.
    1. 

       cheers
       7th November 2010, 6:27

       The thing that tipped it for me was Schumachers comments on losing temperature in the tyres and a competetive time by going just off the racing line to let Vettel and Webber through on their hot laps. All the other coments from drivers and those offline incidents shown on the TV fold under that. I think his lap came from being on the rails and the Williams being good getting temps up. Rudens went way off so he wouldn’t have been a factor on what Schumacher was saying.
11. 

    troutcor
    7th November 2010, 2:18

    As a Scuderia fan, Williams drove me crazy when they were on top, but I sure have missed them. Good to see an old-school team make good (and I wouldn’t mind if they were to create a tangle for RBR and LH, either!).
12. 

    wasiF1 (@wasif1)
    7th November 2010, 2:54

    A dry race today won’t favour Williams so I hope that he ends up on the podium at least.
13. 

    Icthyes (@icthyes)
    7th November 2010, 9:31

    How Hülkenberg snatched pole position

    He drove the best lap in Q3 with tremendous skill.
    1. 

       David BR
       7th November 2010, 10:32

       Combination of both. There was a window of a few minutes with the track drying that meant the Williams could outperform the other top teams. But as Barrichello showed – and he’s a good wet weather driver at one of his favourite circuits – that alone wasn’t enough. A slight slip and the tyre temperature was lost. Hulkenberg’s two laps were phenomenal, on the edge perfect. Best qualifying session in a long, long time!
       1. 

          BBT
          7th November 2010, 11:54

          and everyone is over looking the fact that Hamilton screwed up (too slow, lost heat) his out lap and those directly behind him (inc Rubens)….

          Still a brilliant three laps from the Hulk so happy for him and Williams… just wish they could be it at least every other race.
          1. 

             Scribe (@scribe)
             7th November 2010, 14:24

             Hamiltons main problem was he was slowed by that Renault, otherwise he could have jumped the Redbulls.

             Hulkenburg would have maintained his pole easily.
14. 

    OEL
    7th November 2010, 14:22

    All Brazilians were outpaced by their teammates!

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