Vettel snatches pole from Hamilton in closely-fought qualifying

2011 Malaysian GP qualifying

9th April 2011, 10:191st April 2021, 17:02 | Written by Keith Collantine

Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position in a closely-fought session in Sepang.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

Hamilton held provisional pole at the beginning of Q1 but Vettel found a tenth of a second to take his second pole position of the year.

Q1

The McLarens and Red Bulls took up their customary places at the top of the times as qualifying began, with Lewis Hamilton in front of Sebastian Vettel.

But the session came to an early halt after eight minutes when the left-hand sidepod came off Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso. The marshals recovered he lost part and the session was quickly restarted.

Among the teams inconvenienced by the red flag were Ferrari, who had sent their cars out on hard tyres.

They weren’t able to get a time in, and when the sessions resumed they switched to softs to make sure they got through. Felipe Massa set the fastest time with a 1’36.744, just over a tenth faster than Fernando Alonso.

McLaren stuck with the hard tyres and both their drivers improved their times. But Vettel stayed in the garage and his time proved quick enough to get him into Q2.

At the opposite end of the grid the usual suspects were in the drop zone, but all of them were quick enough to meet the 107% time.

Williams ended up straddling the divide between Q1 and Q2, with Pastor Maldonado dropping out in the first session after coming within a tenth of a second of eliminating team mate Rubens Barrichello.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	1’38.276
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	1’38.645
20	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	1’38.791
21	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1’40.648
22	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	1’41.001
23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	1’41.549
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1’42.574

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Q2

Renault made only one attempt in Q2, sending their cars out with seven minutes left in the session. Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld put themselves fourth and fifth, and it proved enough for them to reach Q3.

Jenson Button and the two Red Bulls also secured their passage to Q3 with their first runs, all on soft tyres.

Hamilton did his first run on hards and had to go out again on soft tyres to guarantee his pace in the top ten. He fell short of Button by three tenths of a second after locking a wheel at turn one.

A late improvement by Kamui Kobayashi got him into Q3 again and led once more to Michael Schumacher being knocked out in Q2.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’37.035
12	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’37.160
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’37.347
14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’37.370
15	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1’37.496
16	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’37.528
17	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1’37.593

Q3

The McLarens and Red Bulls were the only cars to go out to begin with. Hamilton set the pace, lapping in exactly one minute 35 seconds, which was better than either of the Red Bulls could manage.

The other cars, which did not have as many sets of soft tyres, only came out for one run at the end.

Hamilton managed to find a few hundredths of a second but Vettel had a little more in hand, and pipped him to pole by a tenth of a second.

Behind them the cars lined up much as they had in Melbourne: Webber ahead of Button and Alonso followed by a Renault – though this time it was Heidfeld instead of Petrov.

Top ten in Q3

1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’34.870
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’34.974
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’35.179
4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’35.200
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’35.802
6	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	1’36.124
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’36.251
8	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1’36.324
9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’36.809
10	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’36.820

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

Browse all 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Read more about Keith Collantine, find all their articles and get in touch with them

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

188 comments on “Vettel snatches pole from Hamilton in closely-fought qualifying”

Hacky (@hacky)
9th April 2011, 10:20
terrific qualifying. great to see the mclarens on par with the bulls
1. Last Pope Eye
  9th April 2011, 10:26
  Finger Boy again! :)
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 10:32
    Finger boy has that thingy that just gives him the fastest lap… amazing isn’t it.
    Reminds me of the MSC, Mika last lap duels of years ago.
    Fantastic!
    1. BBT (@bbt)
      9th April 2011, 12:55
      Finger boy has that thingy that just gives him the fastest lap… amazing isn’t it.
      Yes the car is.
      1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
        9th April 2011, 14:15
        Webber doesn’t seem to have it, he’s P3 on the grid.
      2. Last Pope Eye
        10th April 2011, 0:51
        Yes, if Hamilton will drive that superior RB He is quicker than the finger boy.
      3. Last Pope Eye
        10th April 2011, 0:53
        Also, a favoritism in RB makes finger boy (car) more faster than Webber.
  2. Last Pope Eye
    9th April 2011, 11:44
    I doubt if the finger boy can survive in the long straight with hamilton’s more powerful mercedes engine (1st lap). An interesting to watch with Redbulls having Mclarens at the back.
2. IDR (@idr)
  9th April 2011, 11:47
  Finger boy…
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/idrs/5204068552/
  1. damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
    9th April 2011, 13:42
    Took me a while to spot it, but nice one IDR. :)
sw6569 (@sw6569)
9th April 2011, 10:23
one of the best qualifying sessions i’ve seen in years. Great lap from Vettel and stunning lap from Lewis. Also Button’s Q2 lap was pretty decent as well.
Very excited about tomorrow!
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  9th April 2011, 10:25
  Canada last year was also good, and wasn’t Turkey also pretty close? If I recall, Singapore was pretty tight between Vettel and Alonso too, wasn’t it?
  1. sw6569 (@sw6569)
    9th April 2011, 10:28
    well – thats not to say that qualifying hasn’t been good before, but i’ve always felt there was a bit of predictability about it. Perhaps its because I was genuinely surprised that Vettel pulled that lap out of the bag, or that I also genuinely thought there were 4 drivers capable of getting pole today. It was just great!
    [I was also one of the unfortunate few who didn’t see Canada qualy :(]
    1. Icthyes (@icthyes)
      9th April 2011, 10:34
      Personally I prefer those moments, when just one driver is going for it in the dying stages, makes for a whole lap of tension.
      But today was pretty good, 4 drivers covered by 4 tenths
      1. Ian
        9th April 2011, 11:56
        Top four covered by 4/10ths. Top five covered by nearly a second!
  2. Eggry (@eggry)
    9th April 2011, 10:35
    You’re all saying just front runner. Team Lotus is today’s hero!
    1. verstappen
      9th April 2011, 15:28
      Nope.
      HRT!
  3. Fixy (@)
    9th April 2011, 10:53
    And South Korea.
  4. BasCB (@bascb)
    9th April 2011, 11:00
    You are right, there were times last year, when it was not just a Vettel walk over. Canada was very good and Singapore as well. Some of those WEB/VET fights were nice as well.
    But here we had 4 guys really fighting and having a shot at pole and you could hear how relieved Vettel was that he really made it in front of Hamilton.
2. F1Lover
  9th April 2011, 10:25
  Lewis said he lost a bit of time…
  1. driftin
    9th April 2011, 10:32
    Really? Was that in the press conference? If that’s really the case then McLaren are fast becoming the team to beat…
    1. F1Lover
      9th April 2011, 10:34
      Yes he said it at the press conference!
      1. Todfod (@todfod)
        9th April 2011, 10:51
        He said it wasn’t ‘the perfect lap’.. although I think he just said that because he gave it everything and yet Vettel came out on top.
      2. F1Lover
        9th April 2011, 10:58
        I think for my lap we lost a little bit of time but just only in one corner…
        Let see who’s gonna be the quickest with the tank full.
      3. RIISE (@riise)
        9th April 2011, 12:05
        Well Lewis is better than Vettel, you can’t get away from that. That Red Bull is still naturally 3 tenths quicker than the McLaren yet Hamilton still got an amazing time out.
  2. zecks
    9th April 2011, 10:32
    well he would! we could be on for the rare pleasure of an entertaining dry race tomorrow! If all goes to plan, i will have predicted the top 4 finishers correctly!
    1. Pedal to the Vettel (@pedal-to-the-vettel)
      9th April 2011, 14:04
      @Riise
      You got proof about those 3 tenths? Looked like vettel just got more out of his car than lewis to me, he also didn’t mess up.
      1. Robert
        9th April 2011, 14:26
        RIISE doesn’t need proof. His word is the law. Always and forever.
      2. clay (@clay)
        9th April 2011, 14:27
        I’d also like to know how anyone can say that RBR has 3/10s on McLaren – to me it looks pretty even. You’d think that RBR would have to have a bit more downforce naturally than McLaren but the extra grunt of the Merc engine will allow McLaren to run more wing – so it all evens out in the end. I think it will be interesting to see the relative pace in race conditions, a full tank and no DRS for the first 2 laps – will lewis be able to match Seb then?
        But that 3 tenths is just nonsense – both cars are quick…
      3. iAltair
        9th April 2011, 14:29
        RIISE no nuts about F1 seriously. Yet another troll being a UK suck up.
      4. Scribe (@scribe)
        9th April 2011, 16:26
        @iAltair, you’ll notice RIISE is supporting Alonso’s helmet as his avatar, fairly clear his loyalties arn’t with Hamilton. Don’t be a silly hater basically.
        @Nico, the McLaren is an as yet, not fully bedded in car that still looks fairly unstable at times. The Redbull is an unber developed hyper stable car that puts Vettle on pole even when he sometimes appears to make mistakes, although not today. I’d still say it’s a fundementally better car.
  3. iAltair
    9th April 2011, 14:28
    He always blame himself that he makes mistake every after each non-pole qualifying. Coincidence much? I’m afraid not.
butterdori (@butterdori)
9th April 2011, 10:24
Mercedes and Renault have switched places this season, it seems.
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  9th April 2011, 11:13
  In pace at least – in mode of running they are the same: Merc. continuing saying that if only they could have gotten the car to work like they know it could and should be running, they’d be faster, and Renault working to bring updates, get points and good results and work on their car, getting roughly the results they wanted and sometimes a bit better than expected.
  1. bosyber (@bosyber)
    9th April 2011, 12:09
    Just read Brawn on the car, in autosport article; now it is DRS issues again.
    I get their talk that they are fast when everything lines up; we only have to look at McLaren for an example of how true that can be, but equally, McLaren knew and took steps to solve the issue by going more conservative on the exhausts. With Mercedes it just seems odd that they had a testcar specifically to sort mechanics, KERS, and the DRS during three tests, and still have not solved those issues.
  2. damonsmedley
    9th April 2011, 12:26
    I think the Sauber is nearly as quick as the Mercedes, too. I do hope Sauber get a podium this year. :)
    1. RIISE (@riise)
      9th April 2011, 12:35
      You know so far in the weekend I haven’t heard Kobayashi’s name mentioned once…or seen in the in live feed either. Is he the invisible man now?
      1. Scribe (@scribe)
        9th April 2011, 16:28
        He seems to be doing the opposite of what he did last year, compatently getting the maximum out of the car in quali then taking it into the points in the race. I’d like to see him break some skulls again though.
F1Lover
9th April 2011, 10:24
Hope the McLarens get a good start tomorrow…it’s gonna be a great race i am sure.
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  9th April 2011, 10:27
  I would be very happy if we see someone else than Vettel leading a good amount of laps this time, even if he wins, if he has to fight for it hard, I am okay with that.
  1. Icthyes (@icthyes)
    9th April 2011, 10:35
    I would be very happy if we see someone else than Vettel leading a good amount of laps this time, even if he wins, if he has to fight for it hard, I am okay with that.
    I was the same with Button in 2009. Credit to Button, he did have to work harder than Vettel usually does!
    I was expecting another Vettel win anyway, a good battle for it is more than i could have asked for so it would be greedy to be picky about the result!
    1. BasCB (@bascb)
      9th April 2011, 11:04
      Yep, shaping up quite fine for now. Now if Lewis would please pip Vettel into the first corner and Button and Webber can make it a close run to pas Seb as well.
      Petrov might give Alonso and Heidfeld a tough time with his flying starts. And Schumi will really start to dislike those 11th place starts if he does not get away from the STR cars fast!
    2. bosyber (@bosyber)
      9th April 2011, 11:16
      Yes, in 2009 I was rather happy to see Vettel beat Button in China, and sad to to see him make a silly mistake in the first lap to let Button through again. If it hadn’t been for last years Red Bull/Vettel pole dominance I might feel different about him getting many more this time – I guess context matters a lot :)
    3. Solo (@solo)
      9th April 2011, 11:21
      Hope not. I picked Hamilton winning in my predictions and it will be good to get some points.
2. Himmat S.
  9th April 2011, 13:34
  Same like Australia – Red Bull 1-3 and McLaren 2-4. However, Hamilton got a bad start and the straight’s shorter in Melbourne. Here, it’s a different ball game altogether.
  1. iAltair
    9th April 2011, 14:31
    We all know Vettel for its good start ;)
    1. Scribe (@scribe)
      9th April 2011, 16:42
      Err, not really, he’s got better but he threw away a lot of poles last year starting badly.
      I don’t think McLaren is particularly well set up for overtaking for some reason, maybe Button is. Possibly Hamiltons sacrificed his straight line speed with the DRS to make up the slack. xx
Blog Raider
9th April 2011, 10:25
Déjà vu top 5 from AUS q3!!!!
1. Conrad M. Sathirweth
  9th April 2011, 10:34
  Yes but in a very different context
We Want Turbos
9th April 2011, 10:27
Lotus only 0.4s off of Williams fair play to them!! I see points in the not too distant future!!
1. zecks
  9th April 2011, 10:35
  yeah but considering they have a renault engine, a red bull gearbox and (let the courts decide) a force india chassis, they really should be performing better!
  1. Solo (@solo)
    9th April 2011, 11:24
    Cossworth ain’t really worse than other engines and gearboxes hardly give performance anymore.
  2. nas-T
    9th April 2011, 12:08
    force india chassis? come on.. their chassis is not ever same. the airbox design not same at all. you better check back.
  3. Icthyes (@icthyes)
    9th April 2011, 13:45
    They don’t have a blown diffuser though. That’s coming in Barcelona apparently.
    1. Scribe (@scribe)
      9th April 2011, 16:51
      The Redbull gearbox is an old gear box as well so it shouldn’t be read to far into.
  4. Catalina ;)
    9th April 2011, 21:50
    Don’t forget the Toyota’s front wing :P
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
9th April 2011, 10:28
Looks like Red Bull doesn’t have performance advantage over Mclarens, except Vettel.
Glenn (@glenn)
9th April 2011, 10:29
One of the best qualifying sessions in recent history. It has been a while since the teams have been this close for pole. Hopefully the gap is closed and there can be a real fight for pole at every single race.
Valentino (@valentino)
9th April 2011, 10:30
Alonso 1 sec slower than Vettel and 1 sec quicker than Massa,..well Ferrari sucks, and Massa double sucks,..I am a Ferrari fan btw,…
1. infy (@infy)
  9th April 2011, 10:43
  LOL, too true!
  Alonso brings 6 tenths to the car, and Massa takes 4 tenths from it.
2. Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
  9th April 2011, 10:48
  Wow I didn’t realize 4/10ths had suddenly become a second.
  Maybe you should be a supportive Ferrari fan, realize they are behind and root for them to catch up by supporting both of their drivers instead of putting up meaningless comments like this.
  1. Steph (@)
    9th April 2011, 10:56
    Massa has had good pace all weekend and was quicker than Alonso in fp1, 2 and went quickest in Q1. Of course q3 is where it matters but he’s had encouraging pace all weekend.
    1. BasCB (@bascb)
      9th April 2011, 11:08
      Yeah, there isn’t really that much between them on speed, even if Alonso just has that killer instinct and motivation to get something extra out of the pretty lame car in Q3.
      I hope we see Massa do a solid race, if he takes care of his tyres a bit better than he did in Australia.
    2. RIISE (@riise)
      9th April 2011, 12:11
      I don’t see how you can say Massa was faster than Alonso in practice sessions or Q1/Q2.
      Q3 is where the speed is tested and Massa yet again falls behind. I can’t see a future for him in Ferrari if he fails to get some solid points tomorrow. It’s amazing to think this is the same guy who was destroying Kimi and even Schumacher is races.
      1. OEL
        9th April 2011, 12:50
        “I don’t see how you can say Massa was faster than Alonso in practice sessions or Q1/Q2.”
        Well, actually, he was.
      2. alex
        9th April 2011, 14:30
        He was faster… :)
        Destroying? Ok, then…
      3. alex
        9th April 2011, 14:35
        It seems that Vettel is making the difference.
        Look at Webber-Button and you can see the cars this weekend are really equal…
        And Webber is really good in quali.
  2. infy (@infy)
    9th April 2011, 13:21
    “Wow I didn’t realize 4/10ths had suddenly become a second.”
    Next time I’ll check the times instead of believing what the other guy says. My bad.
    “Maybe you should be a supportive Ferrari fan, realize they are behind and root for them to catch up by supporting both of their drivers instead of putting up meaningless comments like this.”
    I have always been supportive, but this site is not one drivers read, and so there is no point for me to leave them messages of support here.
    Besides, at least us Ferrari supporters dont go crazy and call for people to be fired and drivers to join another team the second the car “looks” slow (i.e, testing & Mclaren). I havnt yet seen anything to that degree on this site yet relating to Ferrari. We actually support, instead of just criticise.
3. bananarama (@bananarama)
  9th April 2011, 11:50
  Wel the Ferraris did only have used tyres for Q3 (their own fault I know). Nobody really knows how much performance a tyre loses for being used to do qualifying laps twice, so the actual speed that Alonso had was actually not so bad. Lets see how it’ll go tomorrow.
  1. Santi
    9th April 2011, 12:07
    They had a new set of softs for q3, is was in q2 when they used a used-set. That’s what Alonso told the Spanish tv reporter after qualy at least :)
    1. Laranja Mecanica
      9th April 2011, 18:00
      Yup I heard that too. But maybe he should have gone for the hards, even if that meant getting behind the Renaults in the grid.
driftin
9th April 2011, 10:30
With such a long straight to the first corner and the McLarens having the edge in a straight line, I really don’t see Webber or even Vettel keeping their positions in the first lap.
1. driftin
  9th April 2011, 10:31
  Especially when the McLarens are on the clean side.
  1. Santi
    9th April 2011, 10:41
    It’s the other way around, right? Red Bulls are in the clean side
2. Last Pope Eye
  9th April 2011, 10:36
  That’s pretty interesting to see then… excited for the race now :)
3. F1Lover
  9th April 2011, 10:44
  I thought the pole seater was always on the clean side?
  1. verstappen
    9th April 2011, 15:36
    Yeah, except for Japan in (say) 1990…
4. dim23 (@)
  9th April 2011, 11:13
  Mclaren are running a higher downforce setup, so the top speeds of Red Bulls and Mclaren are pretty similar, nonetheless will be intersting to see how DRS plays out with both teams closely matched during qualify.
  1. David BR
    9th April 2011, 11:45
    and Red Bull’s KERS. If they needed it to hold onto McLaren in qualifying, they presumably need it for the race too. And there are evidently reliability problems and probably tyre wear issues for RBR. If it’s a dry race, seems like advantage McLaren. In the rain, Red Bull’s handling could give an edge.
5. Mads
  9th April 2011, 13:28
  There is not a big difference in straight line speed of the McLaren and the Red Bull. It was just a few km/h. The most important is the acceleration, and Red Bull had brilliant starts in Melbourne and with KERS now, it shouldn’t bee too hard to fight off the McLaren’s into the first corner. Lets wait and see. But one thing is certain. It is going to be exciting!
Young One
9th April 2011, 10:31
Damn, my internet was cut off for qually and I have no TV. I would have enjoyed watching RB struggle with MC today. Waiting to see it on BBC iPlayer.
Eggry (@eggry)
9th April 2011, 10:32
You make me disappointed Vettel! kidding. Excellent job Team Lotus and expecting much tighter race than Melbourne. Almost same order but much closer times. Mclaren has pace on their hand though Vettel snatched the pole and Ferrari is much closer. We will see very tight 3 way battle.
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 10:38
  I think the real race may be on the start. Who’s just a bit faster and who has chosen the right line going into turn one.
  Pet had a great start last race, will Nick do the same?
  Can Ham jump Vet? Webber always seems to have bad starts.
  It’s a nice long straight… let’s see what happens.
  1. Eggry (@eggry)
    9th April 2011, 10:42
    if there’s no trouble, performance of KERS should be big factor and it’s major weapon of Mclaren(I’m not sure Ferrari’s is better than Redbull’s). It should be less messy than Melbourn but more shuffle I expect.
    1. BasCB (@bascb)
      9th April 2011, 11:09
      Interestingly, Leandra Graves tweeted, that RBR confirmed both their cars were using KERS, but Webbers had some glitch for his speediest laps!
      1. bosyber (@bosyber)
        9th April 2011, 11:20
        Guess that puts Webber on virtual pole, with KERS gaining .3s :-p Does make it nice and close if they all have working cars. Good job with the tweet Leandra.
      2. bosyber (@bosyber)
        9th April 2011, 11:21
        eh, no, my maths wasn’t working on my fastest reply, .300 would of course put him .009 behind Vettel. Even closer in the top three!
      3. katederby (@katederby)
        9th April 2011, 12:34
        Christian Horner said on the BBC that Webber had a KERS issue in qualifying
      4. Eggry (@eggry)
        9th April 2011, 13:28
        if it fails at start…
BS
9th April 2011, 10:35
Awesome qualifying. Wanted it to be Hamilton, but Vettel impressed again, who also beat his teammate to a larger margin. Rain or not, the start will be epic. I’m really curious as to whether RB installed Kers this time around, but they probably have.
Also props for Kobayashi making it into Q3 again, let’s hope the rear wing is up to spec this time. :P
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 10:39
  No it had to be Vet… I sold my soul to get at least one prediction right!
  1. BS
    9th April 2011, 10:57
    I had Vettel up there as well, still wanted it to be a non RB driver though. :)
2. F1Lover
  9th April 2011, 10:41
  RBR do have the kers they used it the whole session…
HK (@me4me)
9th April 2011, 10:38
Great qualifing session. I was soo close on nailing it in the prediction championship .. voted 1:34.871!
Oh well .. looking forward to the race. I think Hamilton will take it home.
1. Palle (@palle)
  9th April 2011, 11:29
  Impressive – anyone closer? I voted 1:35.283, so guessing a little to slow as I did last time.
  1. Todfod (@todfod)
    9th April 2011, 12:33
    I predicted a 1:35.250, and I thought I was a little ambitious as I didn’t think they would hit those times at the end of Q1. But then again the track rubbered in quicker than anyone could have imagined.
    1. sebsronnie
      9th April 2011, 16:53
      01:34.897.
      But I went for Webber :-(
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
9th April 2011, 10:38
You wouldn’t know Pastor Maldonado is a GP2 champion, would you?
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 10:44
  Yes, that is a question of history. It’s his second race in F1, I’ll learn from my critics of Petrov and apply it to Pastor and just write it off as a lack of testing and experience.
2. Meander (@meander)
  9th April 2011, 10:46
  Hulkenberg didn’t do too much better to start off with last year either.
  1. RIISE (@riise)
    9th April 2011, 11:00
    Pffft I knew he was average as soon as the deal was announced.
    There hasn’t been a real standout GP2 champion since Hamilton really.
3. BasCB (@bascb)
  9th April 2011, 11:18
  I guess you wouldn’t say Williams was the team to beat years back.
  I found it strange, how Maldonado kept using that line on the dirty side of the track there in each lap. Funny to hear Brundle and DC comment, weather someone would please tell him it was the dirty side!
  To be honest, if you compare him to how the Hulk did last year against Rubens he is not doing that bad.
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 11:28
    Yes but at least he was looking for a different line around the track. Then again, he may have been a bit hot going in to the corners and no other choice.
4. Tim
  9th April 2011, 11:31
  Getting within a tenth of a second (in Q1) of your team mate who’s in his 19th year of F1 is absolutely rubbish…
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 12:49
    Got to agree there. I think Rubens is doing the Iron Man thing, but do we know whose settings Pastor used around the track?
Sandman
9th April 2011, 10:39
Is it just me, or does it HUGELY look like McLaren weren’t
“at least 1 second behind the bullls” like they claimed before the season, but just pulled the best sandbaging move of all times?
1. driftin
  9th April 2011, 10:41
  Or the best turnaround since 2009. It’s not MASSIVELY surprising considering McLaren’s technical abilities and the talent of their two drivers, but it’s still rather surprising. If they carry on at this rate they could be the new RBR – aka. the McLaren of the late 90s.
2. Blog Raider
  9th April 2011, 10:46
  Testing is testing and not a fight for pole or a race….besides, they were having reliability issues right?
3. Monosodico
  9th April 2011, 10:49
  I’ve just read in a spanish site one alonso fan claiming that the FIA should punish Macca for the sandbaging. LOL
  1. driftin
    9th April 2011, 10:50
    LOL! Wow, they sore much?
    1. leslexx
      9th April 2011, 10:58
      lol, thats a good one
4. BasCB (@bascb)
  9th April 2011, 11:21
  They certainly were about 2 seconds or more off Red Bull in testing, because the clever bits did not work as they wanted.
  What saved them was a hell of a job to get the red bull like exhausts on. That was not about sand bagging. Maybe their luck was, they had their back end pretty flexible to different exhaust solutions, so it was possible to make something like this work. But this was not going to plan, it was a great save and a portion of luck with getting it right just in time.
F1iLike
9th April 2011, 10:43
Mr Purple strikes again!
troutcor
9th April 2011, 10:44
Good work, Kobayashi! Imagine the comparison between the Sauber budget and that of Mercedes! Time for Michael to hang it up!
1. Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
  9th April 2011, 10:53
  Or Sauber to finally get the respect it deserves!
  1. ron
    9th April 2011, 12:15
    And don’t forget james key , all we can say he is one of the best who can do an excellent job with low budget. he did great job at force india and now doing same at sauber.
TFLB
9th April 2011, 10:44
I know he went out in q1, but I have been impressed with Maldonado. He’s already closer to Barrichello than Hulkenberg was at this time last year. Hopefully all the ‘talentless pay-driver’ stereotyping will stop soon.
1. Eggry (@eggry)
  9th April 2011, 10:47
  Partialy agree but I think Williams has to focus on their cars rather than drivers now. It’s very disappointing after so many promising.
  1. bosyber (@bosyber)
    9th April 2011, 11:24
    I think they need to focus on the front end now, it still looks a bit basic.
Meander (@meander)
9th April 2011, 10:48
I think it’s nice that we consider it normal by now for Kobayashi to be in Q3 both races this year.
1. Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
  9th April 2011, 10:55
  Agreed. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite drivers.
2. driftin
  9th April 2011, 10:56
  Perez might have beaten him in Australia, and there’s no discounting his superb tyre management there, and the Saubers obviously were disqualified but Kobayashi was just one place behind him on 2 stops compared to his 1. I think Kobayashi is a much quicker driver than his teammate right now, in the race and in qualifying (obviously).
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 11:00
    ermmm… Pastor is with Williams, Kobi with Sauber.
  2. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 11:02
    Ok I re read your comment… the last sentence threw me off a bit.
3. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 10:58
  It is indeed. I’d really love to see a Japanese driver on the podium after all that the Japanese have given the sport fo so many years.
Baremans
9th April 2011, 10:53
McLaren still have that radical exhaust system in their sleeves. If they can get the reliability issues it caused sorted out, we may seem them dominate the season. Whitmarsh spoke of “spectacular results” in the simulations.
1. Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
  9th April 2011, 11:05
  Well that is both awesome and scary :)
  1. bosyber (@bosyber)
    9th April 2011, 11:25
    Let’s hope they don’t get it reliable too soon then!
2. Oliver
  9th April 2011, 23:46
  Simulation is exactly what it is, simulation. You can even run a driver without a helmet during simulation and he won’t get sand blasted. Just like how Virgin always take pole in their CFD. :-)
Steph (@)
9th April 2011, 11:00
The TV coverage today drove me a bit mad. The BBC pictures and sound were out of sync, the TV director suddenly decided to obsess over Fernando when there was a mega battle for pole going on and I found DC and EJ annoyingly OTT.
First they slagged of Heidfeld saying he’d be under real pressure soon (after one race) only for him to outqualify Vitaly, then they said Perez could replace Massa at Ferrari only for Massa to fo fastest in q1 (yes, I know it’s q3 that counts and there’s been rumours about him for a long time now) while Perez qualified a mighty 16th.
1. F1Lover
  9th April 2011, 11:09
  jakehumphreyf1 Jake Humphrey
  F1 sync issue arose due to ‘the misinterpretation of a V.A.L.I.D tape during our line-up procedure’. That was dictated to me!
2. Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
  9th April 2011, 11:14
  I agree Steph, sadly I didn’t get to see any tv coverage. I don’t have tv and here in the states I couldn’t find any website live streaming the qualifying :( !
  1. bosyber (@bosyber)
    9th April 2011, 11:27
    Try speedtv.com, they stream practice and qualy etc. live in the US – practice is w/o comment I think, which makes it great for a fan! I used their timing as backup when the f1.com one stopped working.
    1. BasCB (@bascb)
      9th April 2011, 11:31
      No they stream only the sessions that are not live on TV. That means FP1 and FP3 get streams, but FP2 and Qualli (and the race off course) are not streamed.
  2. BasCB (@bascb)
    9th April 2011, 11:28
    poor you. Should have got onto the live blog. I had a pretty nice stream to watch the BBC feed (Czech TV is just not it for F1). And there were a lot of other streams working.
    But Steph is right about some strange choices. Sure, Alonso with sagged shoulders was significant, but why on earth couldn’t they show that after showing had the top players do their laps. It was all back to Monaco last year, where we did not even see Kubica’s fast lap live.
    1. F1Lover
      9th April 2011, 15:02
      BBC favourites are:
      1. Webber
      2. Vettel
      3. Buton
      4. Hamilton and the rest.
      I don’t really get why they love webber so much.
      1. BasCB (@bascb)
        9th April 2011, 15:28
        What does that have to do with me minding the FOM coverage rather showing Alonso instead of focussing on the top 4 chasing the pole position on track that very moment?
Buglemeister (@buglemeister)
9th April 2011, 11:00
I thought there were 3 Quali sessions Keith :)
‘Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position in a closely-fourth session in Sepang’
Its looking like its going to be a great battle tomorrow.
I’ve gone for a win for Button- as i reckon the wet stuff will definitely fall from the clouds
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 11:11
  I’m giving Button a 2nd on the podium tomorrow.
  Well, that’s in my predictions of course, but it was based on a critical computer analysis made on a main frame data from a top secrect US military government labratory, and the fact that my late silver Persian cat was named Mini Button caused she was pawing at the screen when Jenson was on screen.
  I think it’s gonna happen.
  1. Santi
    9th April 2011, 12:12
    I don’t know. I’ve never trusted Button very much, and for some reason I’m not seeing Webber very fit either. I kind of see a HAM-VET-ALO or HAM-VET-Nick tomorrow…
dragon
9th April 2011, 11:10
Hamilton had a tiny lock up in turn 2, didn’t he? Front left wheel just stopped rotating slightly…
F1Lover
9th April 2011, 11:10
ALONSO SAID
Also we made another big change before qualifying, and the car improved again in qualifying, so I was much more comfortable driving now the car in these conditions, this set-up. We were expecting more problems in qualifying, or a worse position. I think if we finish the race, we will be on the podium.
Humm let’ see…
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 11:15
  Very confidet of Fred considering the fact that I gave him a 5th place finish in the predictions out of the goodness of my heart in tomorrow’s race.
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 11:17
    ermmm… confident*
2. bosyber (@bosyber)
  9th April 2011, 11:31
  On the podium? That seems really optimistic, even if he ads the “if we finish”. Maybe they nicked the octopus exhaust from McLaren or something but don’t yet know how reliable it is so only ran it at 80% and it got him 4th already.
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 12:09
    Nicked has criminal implications… might be a mere coincidence that Macca and Ferrari have the same exhaust system.
    1. bosyber (@bosyber)
      9th April 2011, 12:18
      Oh, I wasn’t really serious, I questioned the realism of the podium; and thought Ferrari needed to have changed something rather radical to do that, or know something about rain.
      Anyway, I meant the other way: Ferrari adopting something like the rumored revolutionary McLaren exhausts they couldn’t race due to lack of reliability; I am sure that Ferrari thought up their current exhausts more or less independently before they saw it the similar Red Bull solution. McLaren might also have had a similar design thought up as a backup that they developed to race-worthy state for the first race.
3. Santi
  9th April 2011, 15:07
  When did he say that? When he was interviewed in Spanish he literally said (after being asked if a Podium was possible): “It’s not impossible, but it will be very difficult”
  1. F1Lover
    9th April 2011, 15:18
    http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/04/09/fernando-alonso-we-were-expecting-more-problems/
Palle (@palle)
9th April 2011, 11:38
Very exiting Quali.
And this time Heidfeld got it right – lets see if Renault will last a race distance.
If You look at the sector times You get:
DRI SEC1 SEC2 SEC3 AV
Vet 1 1 2 1.3
Ham 2 2 1 1.7
Web 3 3 4 3.3
But 4 4 3 3.7
Alo 7 5 5 5.7
Hei 9 6 6 7.0
Pet 6 9 7 7.3
Mas 8 7 8 7.7
Ros 5 11 9 8.3
Kob 14 8 10 10.7
Sch 10 14 11 11.7
Bue 16 12 13 13.7
DiR 11 17 14 14.0
Sut 13 18 12 14.3
Alg 12 16 15 14.3
Per 17 10 16 14.3
Bar 15 13 17 15.0
Kov 18 19 18 18.3
Mal 20 15 20 18.3
Tru 19 20 19 19.3
Glo 21 21 21 21.0
Amb 22 22 22 22.0
Liu 23 23 23 23.0
Kar 24 24 24 24.0
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 14:46
  How’s this for a tight first four, Four World Champions and champions to be. The Hungaroring
  a long long time ago in a race far far away.
  1. Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
  1 :14.672
  2. Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:14.850.
  3. United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:15.044
  4. Finland Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.140
  I thought of this because Q used to be a nail biting experience as it was today.
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 14:47
    Sorry bout the formatting…
Palle (@palle)
9th April 2011, 11:40
Sorry that table don’t look very well, but the pecking order will be:
RBR
McLaren
Ferrari
Renault
Mercedes
Sauber
Torro Rosso
Force India
Williams
Lotus-Renault
Virgin-Cosworth
HRT-Cosworth
But maybe the overtaking possibilities in sector 3 will be decisive.
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  9th April 2011, 12:20
  Why not Renault ahead of Ferrari, and Torro Rosso ahead of Sauber, they all have a second car in front of the team you places ahead of them.
  1. Palle (@palle)
    9th April 2011, 14:38
    Not when I compute the average positions on the 3 sector times – this pecking order is based solely on the sector times. It is just to show their relative strength based on sector times, and in this way it is not the true pecking order. On top of that You could argue that in Sepang, the 3rd sector time is perhaps most decisive for overtaking.
F1Lover
9th April 2011, 11:44
I would love to see Lewis in a RBR car…
1. dragon
  9th April 2011, 12:20
  I was waiting for someone to say that. How do you know that Seb just didn’t drive a better lap than him? The cars looked pretty equal on pace, IMO.
  Then again, it’s a british site, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the praise heaped on Vettel after what really was a phenomenal qualifying effort.
  1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
    9th April 2011, 12:39
    Cut the “this is a British site” nonsense please – I’m not writing for any particular nationality.
    1. dragon
      9th April 2011, 15:11
      I wasn’t talking about YOUR articles Keith, I just mean the majority of this site’s readers and commenters are British!
      1. F1Lover
        9th April 2011, 15:12
        For your knowledge, I am not even British!
      2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
        9th April 2011, 15:15
        I just mean the majority of this site’s readers and commenters are British!
        OK, but that’s not what you said and that isn’t true either:
        https://www.racefans.net/forum/topic.php?id=437
      3. BasCB (@bascb)
        9th April 2011, 15:37
        Please cut that #$%#%. Look at what Keith posted about where the commenters come from.
        And look at the top 20 most prolific commenters in the last month. Together they have almost 4.400 comments and I know for certain, that the top 5 of that list is not much british at all, and over 2/3 of those comments are not posted by British.
      4. BasCB (@bascb)
        9th April 2011, 15:49
        Please elaborate, why would you think that is so?
        And why care about where everyone if from? To me the only time I care is, when I think about visiting a country and asking for good tips or maybe even meeting up with people. Or when discussing local circumstances like we had in the Middle east, in Japan and in NZ lately or just asking about the weather for a GP weekend.
        And I must say, from experience a wide range of F1 fans would like to see Lewis Hamilton do some laps in a Red Bull, if only to compare him to Vettel and Webber. Nothing about nationality or place you live in.
  2. F1Lover
    9th April 2011, 15:11
    Now you think the cars are equal? lol Lewis said that he lost time in one corner what means that the lap wasn’t as good as Vettel’s.
    I din’t imply anything, I just said that i would love to see them in an equal car.Anyways, i still think Lewis is better driver though!
Troy Alexander (@troy-alexander)
9th April 2011, 11:51
That’s was an amazing scrap for pole. I thought Hamilton was going to be on P1 but Vettel pulled something out there.
alexf1man (@alexf1man)
9th April 2011, 11:53
Out of the 5,100,480 combinations for the Top 5, we have the exact same as that of Australia qualifying!
In terms of Noah’s Ark, it’s 1,3 (Red Bull) 2,4(McLaren) 5,7 (Ferrari) and 6,8 (Renault)
1. alexf1man (@alexf1man)
  9th April 2011, 11:55
  Out of the 552 Front row combinations it’s Vettel-Hamilton for the third race in a row!
drezone
9th April 2011, 11:54
Reminiscent of Turkey wth Maccas matching RBR, only this time is the 2nd round. Good drive from Vettel to snatch pole as was Ham’s to take. also let’s hope that Vettel doesn’t take himself out this time as webber won’t be close enough for him to do this and very good chance for either macca driver to still win this.
on the other hand lot of people getting too excited about results. only 2nd round and different track, set up and conditions to 1st round and can not make bold predictions that Macca will dominate, let alone RBR will continue to do so, or that ferrari are in trouble, as still long season ahead with many other types of tracks.
afterall we’re talking about split seconds and metres between grid spots and possibly taking the chequered flag.
oh and yes renault do appear to be taking merc’s spot. shame kubica not there to be matching vettel and ham.
Master firelee (@master-firelee)
9th April 2011, 11:57
if i had the two redbull drivers the other way round i would have predicted the complete top 5 correctly just hope the others finnish the race that way to get some points.
the-muffin-man
9th April 2011, 12:03
Yay for HRT!!!
Looks like they’ll quickly show that Virgin are the real jokers of the grid.
Sod all testting, only done a handful of laps and still only half a second away from the Virgins.
And now they’ve got hold of a Mercedes wind tunnel its only a matter of time before they overtake them.
1. ron
  9th April 2011, 12:32
  A great job from hrt, and from both driver’s both tonio and narain done a solid job. with tonio only able to get car working with out any problem in qualifying it was great to be just 0.5 sec away from virgin . narain also did great job considering he back to f1 after 5 year it was great effort . he was 1.3 sec away from tonio at albert park so he is improving hopefully after one or two race distance he will be more competitive
2. F1Lover
  9th April 2011, 15:27
  And the 3 know it alls from BBC always talking them down. I hope they prove them wrong soon.
3. verstappen
  9th April 2011, 15:43
  Having these new teams really adds a dimension to the sport.
  Here you have Lotus, doing the conventional thing, which brings them ahead of the other two, then you have Virgin, doing their CFD thing and last but not least, you have HRT, who do the outsource thing – without any real money.
  Hats of to all of them, because in their own unique ways they add to the heritage of the sport. Maybe untill someone else buys them, but maybe they get to the midfield, while for example Force India declines further…
4. AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
  9th April 2011, 18:50
  Oh yes, forgot about HRT! They did themselves proud and i’m glad they got through. You’re right, Virgin need to up their game significantly as the races progress.
LeeH
9th April 2011, 12:17
Totally out of charactor to see Button owned by Hamilton again. Hamilton will beat finger wagging vettel into submission tomorrow. I don’t like Ferrari but i hope they kind find something to stop it being a 4 car race. Mercedes are just dissapointing!
1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
  9th April 2011, 12:54
  Don’t be too sure of Hamilton beating Vettel. Vettel is not really know for bad starts, but neither is Ham.
  What would be interesting is if Ham did jump Vettel on the start and Vettel had to pass Ham for the lead.
  I think that Lewis might rethink his comment of Alonso being his Prost and give it to the cute German kid ;)
  1. Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
    9th April 2011, 12:55
    not known*
  2. Icthyes (@icthyes)
    9th April 2011, 13:51
    I don’t know, if anyone asked me to name a plucky overtaker, I would definitely say Mansell!
JPQuesado (@joao-pedro-cq)
9th April 2011, 13:29
Does someone knows why had Lewis that lion on the back of his racing suit?
1. Icthyes (@icthyes)
  9th April 2011, 13:54
  Something to do with a clothing company that’s sponsored them for 30 years
Daniel
9th April 2011, 13:53
Amazing qualifying session. One of the best ever! I thought it would still be easy for RedBull but it turned out to be a tough battle. Hope McLaren will beat RedBull. Good job Kobayashi. Good job Lotus. Again, Nico is in front of Schummi. Perhaps he’s playing games with Schummi (in free practice he is slower than Schummi but in the end – qualifying – he is faster).
Hope tomorrow won’t occur some incident right after the start.
Jay
9th April 2011, 14:08
Vettel grabbing pole at the death like that was reminiscent of Schumacher in the old days. Great performance from him.
Alonso drove the wheels off the Ferrari, it just wouldn’t go faster. Massa’s pace Is probably closer to the where Ferrari really are.
Once again, Ferrari has rested on their laurels, just like last year, good over the winter tests, but off the pace as the season starts. At least the managed a win at the first race last year. I think Stefano will need to go if they don’t win this year.
Palle (@palle)
9th April 2011, 14:54
Before the start of the season I would have guessed Ferrari to be up there with RBR, not McLaren. Very impressed with them, and again Mercedes is disappointing. Sauber is a pleasant surprise, and very interesting to follow the Renaults. Kubica must be kicking himself for not being there. He would probably have done even better than Nick today.
F1Lover
9th April 2011, 15:33
realTimoGlock Timo Glock
Tomorrow is a new day and maybe the lightning hits the Kers cars:-)))) so we could even finish on the podium
:D lol
1. LosD
  9th April 2011, 20:27
  That’s the spirit! :D
JamesC1991
9th April 2011, 16:13
fantastic battle between the Top two.
reminded me of the great battles between Hakkinen and Schumacher in qualifying 10-11 years ago.
looks like we will have a thriller tomorrow
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
9th April 2011, 18:49
I’m really pleased to see Petrov do so well, particularly in Q2, he delivered when he needed to. Maybe we’re seeing a significant improvement over the winter from him?
Schumacher just wasn’t in it. Shame!
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
10th April 2011, 2:52
Last minutes drama by Vettel,never expected him to be P1 as he didn’t look very strong all weekend relative to his team mate. Nice work by Mclaren,especially by Button as he also his raising his game.Good job by both the Renault still showing their potential alongside Ferrari. Kobayashi did what we always expect from him, but tough luck for Perez & Schumacher. I guess for the later it was a rear wing failure.Also congratulation to HRT for qualifying for the race which I expected never to have happen.

Comments are closed.

New on RaceFans

Q1

Q2

Q3

Author information

Keith Collantine

188 comments on “Vettel snatches pole from Hamilton in closely-fought qualifying”