| Row 1 | 1. Sebastian Vettel 1’38.086 Red Bull | |
| 2. Lewis Hamilton 1’38.41 McLaren | ||
| Row 2 | 3. Pastor Maldonado 1’38.475 Williams | |
| 4. Romain Grosjean 1’38.505 Lotus | ||
| Row 3 | 5. Kimi Raikkonen 1’38.513 Lotus | |
| 6. Nico Rosberg 1’38.623 Mercedes | ||
| Row 4 | 7. Kamui Kobayashi 1’38.741 Sauber | |
| 8. Nico Hulkenberg 1’38.752 Force India | ||
| Row 5 | 9. Jenson Button 1’38.801 McLaren | |
| 10. Paul di Resta 1’38.992 Force India | ||
| Row 6 | 11. Fernando Alonso 1’38.707 Ferrari | |
| 12. Michael Schumacher 1’38.77 Mercedes | ||
| Row 7 | 13. Felipe Massa 1’38.78 Ferrari | |
| 14. Bruno Senna 1’39.207 Williams | ||
| Row 8 | 15. Sergio Perez 1’39.358 Sauber | |
| 16. Heikki Kovalainen 1’40.295 Caterham | ||
| Row 9 | 17. Daniel Ricciardo 1’40.358 Toro Rosso | |
| 18. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’40.203 Toro Rosso | ||
| Row 10 | 19. Mark Webber 1’40.395 Red Bull | |
| 20. Vitaly Petrov 1’40.457 Caterham | ||
| Row 11 | 21. Pedro de la Rosa 1’42.171 HRT | |
| 22. Narain Karthikeyan 1’42.527 HRT | ||
| Row 12 | 23. Charles Pic 1’42.675 Marussia |
Timo Glock will not start due to illness.
2012 European Grand Prix
- Alonso is 2012’s eighth Driver of the Weekend winner
- European Grand Prix rated best race of 2012 so far
- Nine players tied in Predictions Championship
- Top ten pictures from the European Grand Prix
- Vote for your European GP Driver of the Weekend
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:06
Where on earth did Vettel pull that lap time from?
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
23rd June 2012, 14:13
*speechless*
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:17
Love him or hate him, I guess you have to appreciate his ability to pull it out of the bag when needed.
suka (@suka)
23rd June 2012, 15:38
So much of the exciteing 2012 season. RBR/Vettel dominance is back.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 15:57
Hopefully someone like Grosjean or Kimi will halt his resurgence and become the 8th different GP winner. *Fingers Crossed*
mantresx
24th June 2012, 0:16
Didn’t we say that in Bahrain?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
24th June 2012, 6:53
@suka
One pole position does not mean that he will dominate the rest of the season. If you were watching in Canada, you would have seen that the RB8 is very sensntive to changes in the circuit, particularly the temperature. When it comes alive, it comes alive, but it needs a high temperature in order to be able to do so. The next race is at Silverstone, and English weather being notoriously fickle, it is unlikely that the temperature will climb high enough to suit the RB8.
suka (@suka)
25th June 2012, 22:14
@prisoner- monkey, I watched Canada but RB8 had an update that obviously looks like the last year dominant machine. It may take Newey a few more races to make it more reliable and adaptable to various tracks and weather.
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 14:21
the finger. from the finger.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
23rd June 2012, 16:21
The real question is where on earth did Lewis pull that lap from? There was absolutely no evidence of it beforhand!
Jake (@jleigh)
23rd June 2012, 19:00
@blackmamba that’s true, Vettel had been quick all weekend, just struggling a little in Q1 and Q2 before a few changes found that previous performance advantage in Q3. Hamilton on the other hand has been majorly struggling this weekend, but, when it counted, he pulled it out.
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 14:07
This is the most insane qualifying ever I’ve seen. I can’t believe Alonso failed to make it due to juest 0.004 sec…
danclapp (@danclapp)
23rd June 2012, 14:15
ha ha ha the man who is critical of ham all the time
people will say vettel’s lap was great it was,but hamilton has been slow in every session so far and what does he do,he goes 2nd and beats jenson who starts 9th i think as long as that loose cannon maldonado doesnt wreck ham he will win probably its a short pitlane so even if sauber lotus ferrari etc do a less stop i think mclaren should just do 2 stops
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:25
You can’t rule out McLaren’s pit crew wrecking Hamilton’s race either.
Mads (@mads)
23rd June 2012, 14:38
@tmcs88
That will probably be their backup. Unless Maldonardo takes out Hamilton before the last pitstop the McLaren crew will probably just take an afternoon nap and leave it up to Hamilton to chance the tyres.
Postreader
23rd June 2012, 14:08
I’d say there’s a 0% chance now Vettel doesn’t win this year’s championship and the next one.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
23rd June 2012, 14:11
I’ll see that with 100% he doesn’t win this race…
Yusha (@freebird78)
23rd June 2012, 14:22
Vettel has a great record of winning from poles. I think he is going to be stronger now. Happy for Ham, though. Slow in all sessions and gets P2.
Yorricksfriend (@yorricksfriend)
23rd June 2012, 14:42
Just like he won in Montreal from Hamilton with a similar qualifying margin?
necrodethmortem (@necrodethmortem)
23rd June 2012, 14:47
Unlike McLaren, Red Bull usually doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
Yusha (@freebird78)
23rd June 2012, 14:49
Hopefully yes!!!! As a Hamilton fan I would love that to happen. The question is will it? Vettel is stronger when starting from poles. He could run away with the race.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 15:00
I think @necrodethmortem said it right. I can’t see RedBull (Horner) allowing the same mistake to happen. Whitmarsh on the other hand seems content with making excuses race after race.
bt55
23rd June 2012, 14:08
could the ferraris be gambling on a different strategy or was that a genuine lack of pace?
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 14:12
Well, fail to get in Q3 can’t be called strategy…
Himmat Singh.
23rd June 2012, 14:23
It was in Bahrain for Kimi. They specifically aimed for P11!
MJ4
23rd June 2012, 14:35
Why would that be any good? Reaching Q3 would give them the same strategic options + others as well.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:42
I suspect Himmat Singh was pulling our leg with that one.
Mads (@mads)
23rd June 2012, 14:09
How did Webber actually manage to not clear Q1? They talked about some problems from FP3 on TV, anyone know what was going on with him and his car?
Karthikeyan (@ridiculous)
23rd June 2012, 14:13
a bit of hydraulics which affected his DRS costing him 1.3 secs as per espnf1 and unsure about the brake issues from Fp3
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
23rd June 2012, 14:18
DRS Problem, he didnt have any DRS.
suka (@suka)
23rd June 2012, 15:40
That what I thought was :)
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:29
Horner broke the DRS on his car :-)
Mads (@mads)
23rd June 2012, 14:42
Thanks @ridiculous & @andrewf1 & @tmcs88 !
They didn’t say anything about that on Danish TV, thanks for clearing it up!
Must be some disappointment for him.
the_sigman (@sigman1998)
23rd June 2012, 14:09
I think Alonso can win. Just remember Raikkonen in Bahrain.
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 14:13
If he have pace as Kimi did in Bahrain…I think Ferrari’s long run pace is not bad but not great as well.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:14
Maybe, but remember this is Valencia and I just can’t see Alonso winning from p11 at this track.
danclapp (@danclapp)
23rd June 2012, 14:20
@tmcs88
exactly its ok being able to have strong pace but the first stint is 12 – 15 laps long he will lose roughly a pitstop their remember canada diresta and rosberg holding up grosjean in the first stint qually is crucial here
suka (@suka)
23rd June 2012, 15:43
the pitstop lane is really short here too.
I think there is a hardly chance he gets into top 3.
Himmat Singh.
23rd June 2012, 14:11
Kov beats 3 midfield cars on merit. Or did he? Are Caterham right in the mix with Torro Rosso at least now? I remember Heikki haranguing the TRs in the past few races.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd June 2012, 14:25
Vergne isn’t a qualifier, he’s usually out in Q3 and I know Kovalainen has beaten him on at least one other occasion. Not sure if they could keep it up though, they seem up and down with it.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
23rd June 2012, 14:12
What a quali. Gutted to see the Ferraris out of the top 10 once more. Random thoughts are Vettel is amazing! I thought McLaren were in trouble until Hamilton came out of nowhere for P2. Maldonado again showing his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde nature – by turns amazing and disappointing. Also Heikki is a joy to watch doing his best at Caterham.
Force India I think actually underperformed along with Lotus in this qualifying.
Himmat Singh.
23rd June 2012, 14:13
Bruno needs to get the sack as well. Terrible job he’s done this year. Maldonado at least has shown flashes of brilliance and delivered on a few occasions.
lubhz (@lubhz)
23rd June 2012, 14:40
He delivered a couple of good results at the beginning of the season but he just lost the pace.
0.8 is a quite big gap, whereas Massa is just 0.07 behind Alonso
Eleanore (@leucocrystal)
24th June 2012, 0:50
He was outpacing Pastor for most of the weekend, but come quali apparently the team chose to set his car up for the race, with the intention of preserving tires. Strikes me as rather backwards for a track like Valencia, but I guess we’ll see on Sunday.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
24th June 2012, 2:18
Actually, if we’re looking at fast laps, that only happened on Friday, in FP2 and it might have been the result of a higher fuel load / different setup for Maldonado. If we’re looking at race simulation laps, kept an eye on them both during the same session and Maldonado was the quicker one overall.
I’m a bit tired of reading made-up excuses for Senna. He’s slow and he lacks pace. Period. Overall he was always slower than his team mates. At HRT he was slower than Chandhok, at Renault he was slower than Petrov and obviously now at Williams he’s slower than Maldonado. And I’m talking in terms of quali and race pace, ergo in terms of pure results. I don’t really care much for inconclusive practice times.
And just to be clear, I’m not taking Maldonado’s side in this “unofficial” dispute. I still think Williams would be far better off without both their current drivers.
Kodongo (@kodongo)
23rd June 2012, 14:13
Great lap from Vettel and Lewis pulled it out the bag as well. Jenson is finding out that being three tenths behind Lewis is giving the midfield an open goal to slot in between the McLarens. He didn’t particularly underperform but he needs more pace to challenge for the win (in a normal race).
Yusha (@freebird78)
23rd June 2012, 14:15
Vettel’s time is morale busting for other drivers. His time is awesome. I think Vettel is going to give a tough fight this year starting this race. What the help happened to JB? He lost it in q3.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd June 2012, 14:21
I love seeing Vettel get pole as he does it so convincingly.
.9s cover the top 10. More than .3s of that cover the top two drivers. Vettel came out, did 1 lap and just lit up the board with purple. Stunning lap but incredible composure to get it right under such competitive conditions.
Very impressive performance from Kovalainen too, beating both the Toro Rosso’s on merit and an RB8 to boot, he should be happy with that and I’m sure he is.
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 14:25
That was unbelievable…maybe he cat get pole even if he drives HRT…
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:35
I was also very impressed with Kovalainen. You never know, he might get a call from Ferrari.
suka (@suka)
23rd June 2012, 15:46
Besides a lot of people claims that every one wants to drive a Ferarri once in their life time, I surely would not at them moment. I’d rather be in Merc, RBR or Mclaren(well, Mclaren he did drive, though):).
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 16:03
Ferrari have definitely been the most inconsistent of the front runners.
suka (@suka)
25th June 2012, 22:17
And the better showings were due to Alonso super form.
Ken (@myxomatosis)
23rd June 2012, 14:24
Both Vettel and Lewis pulled it out of the bag there. Lewis wrestled that car and dragged it into 2nd, but hats off to Vettel, what a lap!
west (@west)
23rd June 2012, 14:27
Webber lost out due to DRS problem, those things are very complicated.remember schumi something identical, hope tomorrow he score some points.
Overwatch (@overwatch)
23rd June 2012, 14:30
I expect both Vettel and Hamilton to drop down tomorrow, with Maldonado or Lotus winning it.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:38
I agree. Hamilton did a great job to put it on the front row, but he has struggled all weekend for pace.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 14:40
*but he has struggled in all three practice sessions*
Jake (@jleigh)
23rd June 2012, 14:40
Lewis’ performance very encouraging for Mclaren considering their lack of updates this weekend. They supposedly have a Barcelona size package for Silverstone
Jake (@jleigh)
23rd June 2012, 14:41
That’s an upgrade package the size of the one they had in Barcelona, rather than one the size of the city of Barcelona!
Snafu (@snafu)
23rd June 2012, 14:52
Mclaren’s lack of updates for 3 races is very surprising! I don’t know what’s going on in MTC but Mclaren was always the best in R&D.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 16:11
The 2009 season was a testament to this, as they were able to turn what was arguably the worst car they have ever produce, into one of the best cars on the grid by the end of the year. Hopefully this season wont be 2009 in reverse.
suka (@suka)
23rd June 2012, 15:50
Lewis’s overperforming just like Alonso is, maybe even more than Alonso in qualifying. That Mclaren is losing the fight unless they get about .300sec worth of upgrades next 3 races. Newy is back on sound terms with the 2012 rules. FIA has got to change something to stop him. Otherwise, we’re watching 2011 season again from now on.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
23rd June 2012, 16:33
It’d be grossly unfair to change the rules just to impede an incredibly talented engineer from doing his job!
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 17:12
@colossal-squid
That is pretty much how it works. Engineer comes up with an ingenious new gizmo, other teams moan because they’re jealous, FIA ban new gizmo. its sad really, as you wonder if it stifles innovation. Take the RedBull ‘floor hole’ fiasco, even though it past FIA inspections it was banned because some of RedBull’s rivals were jealous that they didn’t come up with it first.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
23rd June 2012, 17:18
@tmcs88 Well I take your point there. Many innovations such as the f-duct and double-diffuser have been banned in recent years. This can be explained by these things inhabiting and exploiting a grey area in the rulebook that then becomes closed off or clarified by the FIA, thereby making them illegal.
There is a difference between that and what @suka seems to be suggesting i.e. changing the rules so as to curb Newey’s talent outright. One is banning a quasi-legal innovation the other is the entirely different prospect of manipulating the rules to keep one man from succeeding.
Traverse Mark Senior (@)
23rd June 2012, 17:54
@colossal-squid
I concur. It would be the end of Formula 1 as a sport if the powers that be started manipulating rules in order to manufacture results that fit their desires.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
23rd June 2012, 18:02
@tmcs88 It would truly be the end for F1. I’m not one for conspiracies but you could imagine Bernie manipulating anyone and anything he can behind the scenes so as to create a great ‘show’, should RBR start dominating again! I’m just thankful this season is so competitive!
Tyeto
23rd June 2012, 22:42
Nonsense. The macca has always being one of the best cars out there and probably the most consistent in every race. While the Ferrari has been one of the worst Nd the most inconsistent. Hamilton won a race and button won Nother so the macca team and the red bulls are the only one with two wins. So all of you Hamilton fans are over- exaggerating what Hamilton has done. The macca car is probably the 1st and sometimes the second fastest cAr of the field. Red bull is right next to them while the Ferrari is probably the 6 fastest car right now behind the Williams, the dauber , the Mercedes, the red bull, the Maccas and even the for e India in this race. Don’t try to compare what Lonso has done to what Hamilton has done. Let’s review the facts. The macca was the best car in preseason testing , Hamilton has three or four pole position this season yet he has only won once and instead of keeping the pole position he has lost places in almost all the races. Yet Alonso with one of the worst. Ads out there is just two points behind. And even being the 6th fastest cAr for tomorrow’s race watch out for Lonso. He has two brand new set of ss tyres and one set of soft, while Hamilton none because he had to used all of them to make it to q3. So all in all Hamilton did a lot of flying laps today while Alonso did just a few and because of that Alonso has a great chance of doing something phenomenal tomorrow while Hamilton most likely will go backwards as the race progresses. Last but not least vettel has a brand new set of ss that he also saved. So there is not doubt in my mind that vettel will win and that Hamilton will finish around 4-6. Last but not least let me remain all of you that vettel in Canada was wining the race in the first 20 laps but due to the fact that Alonso came up in front of him after the pits, Hamilton was able to open the gap and subsequently win the rAce. This time Alonso will most likely held up Hamilton .
James (@goodyear92)
23rd June 2012, 16:18
Two stellar laps from the fastest pair on the grid, Vettel and Hamilton. Bothe of them, to be fair, pulled it out of nowhere when it really mattered. Getting tired of Button’s, now customary, ‘I was fine in qualifying, right up untill Q3’ malarkey. I’m sure he’s just forgotten how to deliver a proper lap, I mean, what other reason is there? He looked faster than Lewis all weekend, but when it matters, he couldn’t get near him. I don’t want him to beat Lew, but it was his best chance so far and he completely blew it, as usual. I really do feel Mclaren have lost touch on raw pace since Spain, they haven’t had a single upgrade after that race and their next one will be for Silverstone – I hope it’s a substantial one.
Mads (@mads)
23rd June 2012, 19:49
@goodyear92
If Button was awarded a point for every time he has used that excuse he would have been leading the championship by a 100 points or so at this point in the season.
David-A (@david-a)
24th June 2012, 3:02
I agree with this post. Button just seems to be a poor qualifier nowadays. Even in his best years, 2009 and 2011, he had poor qualifying records against his teammates. I remember the open goal he missed on Saturday in Japan last year too.
dkpioe
23rd June 2012, 16:25
vettels pole by this margin shows would an amazing effort redbull have made this year, after being so far from pole in the opening races. they have made amazing progress, while mclaren has stayed around the same in relative lap times. i think redbull will continue the progress and will eventually be the dominant team going into the 2nd half of the season. that is in combination with vettel. his qualifying performances are Ayrton Senna level.
Wooolfy
23rd June 2012, 22:48
Vettel’s lap was awesome but he will suffer tomorrow for pace. It is almost obvious that his car is setup towards qualifying with a 0.324sec lead over P2. Don’t you remember that Mclaren did this earlier in the season and have now traded off their quali performance for race pace. Watch out for Hami tomorrow!
Mustalainen (@mustalainen)
24th June 2012, 10:20
@keithcollantine I would appreciate if you could write out the last zero in the times, as in hamilton’s, Schumacher’s and Massa’s time. Now it looks like it could have been abbreviated.