| Row 1 | 1. Lewis Hamilton 1’59.431 Mercedes | |
| 2. Sebastian Vettel 1’59.486 Red Bull | ||
| Row 2 | 3. Nico Rosberg 2’00.050 Mercedes | |
| 4. Fernando Alonso 2’00.175 Ferrari | ||
| Row 3 | 5. Daniel Ricciardo 2’00.541 Red Bull | |
| 6. Kimi Raikkonen 2’01.218 Ferrari | ||
| Row 4 | 7. Nico Hulkenberg 2’01.712 Force India | |
| 8. Kevin Magnussen 2’02.213 McLaren | ||
| Row 5 | 9. Jean-Eric Vergne 2’03.078 Toro Rosso | |
| 10. Jenson Button 2’04.053 McLaren | ||
| Row 6 | 11. Daniil Kvyat 2’02.351 Toro Rosso | |
| 12. Esteban Gutierrez 2’02.369 Sauber | ||
| Row 7 | 13. Felipe Massa 2’02.460 Williams | |
| 14. Sergio Perez 2’02.511 Force India | ||
| Row 8 | 15. Romain Grosjean 2’02.885 Lotus | |
| 16. Pastor Maldonado 2’02.074 Lotus | ||
| Row 9 | 17. Adrian Sutil 2’02.131 Sauber | |
| 18. Valtteri Bottas* 2’02.756 Williams | ||
| Row 10 | 19. Jules Bianchi 2’02.702 Marussia | |
| 20. Kamui Kobayashi 2’03.595 Caterham | ||
| Row 11 | 21. Max Chilton 2’04.388 Marussia | |
| 22. Marcus Ericsson 2’04.407 Caterham |
*Three-place grid penalty for impeding Daniel Ricciardo
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Mitch (@mwyndo7)
29th March 2014, 10:06
Wow, FIA timing is really specific this year!
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
29th March 2014, 10:09
They don’t want a time-gate and then teams saying they will use their own clocks ;-)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th March 2014, 10:46
@mwyndo7 @hamilfan Sorry, code glitch. Fixed now.
John H (@john-h)
29th March 2014, 10:31
Times according to Special Relativity
Calum (@calum)
29th March 2014, 10:09
The super-accurate times are much appreciated.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
29th March 2014, 10:20
Let’s have a look at NR’s times:
2’0.0499999999999972
That’s 0.0000000000028 seconds less than 2’00.050.
at about 250 kmh, that 1.94 x 10^-10m, or 0.194 x 10^-6mm
That’s about 2 millionth of a millimeter. Waw.
:-)
Kingshark (@kingshark)
29th March 2014, 10:24
I told you Mercedes should have gone for Toro Rosso’s nose design.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
29th March 2014, 10:51
I think the terms “noses in front” would be apt . LOL
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
29th March 2014, 11:06
I think adding a sticker does the trick: it is by far thick enough !
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 10:10
Hey Sgt.Pepper!
Looks like Vettel found some talent overnight.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
29th March 2014, 10:24
Well yeah he is 4 time WDC driving for the same squad that brought that titles, and on top of that Ricciardo was also up there two weeks ago so it’s not much of a showing his talent. He is talented of course no doubt about it, and determined and smart. And it’s a good thing that Merc is not so dominant, at least in this conditions. However Red Bull has the best aerodynamics out there. I just hope that Ferrari will be in the mix as well, after all they have two fantastic racers over there.
Yud (@yud77)
29th March 2014, 11:02
-1
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
29th March 2014, 11:29
@yud77 :)
timi (@timi)
29th March 2014, 10:26
@baron-2 I think it’s more the rain than anything. Teams run completely different programs to one another, but RBR were always at least a second off Merc in the dry, just like last week. In the wet things are evened out a lot
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 10:36
@timi, @nidzovski
I was talking in relation to his teammate. Last race we heard several people, Sgt.Pepper for instance, saying the difference of 2 seconds between Ricciardo and Vettel was because Vettel has no talent and can’t drive without a blown diffusor or special engine mapping. It would be interesting to hear those people now but I’m quite certain they’ll stay quiet this time.
As they should.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
29th March 2014, 10:44
@baron-2 yeah I hear you about that. 2 seconds is a massive time difference and it can not be considered as lack of talent for any team mates not to mention someone like Vettel. After all did anyone forgot his win in Monza on wet while driving STR?!
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 10:52
@nidzovski
Sgt.Pepper would like too.
I think it has something to do with STR booting Klien and replacing him with Vettel. After which he stated that STR would only go backwards with Vettel and that anything Vettel would do Klien would have done better. I think he’s still bitter for being so utterly wrong. Why he’s taking that out on Vettel though I don’t know.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
29th March 2014, 11:21
@baron-2 Klien never drove for STR. It was Scott Speed who was kicked out of the team to make way for Vettel.
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 11:25
@red-andy,
Oops, yeah I meant Speed.
timi (@timi)
29th March 2014, 10:54
@baron-2 Ah, I’m with you now. Funny people would think that, they’re probably just Vettel haters
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
29th March 2014, 10:59
@baron-2 I guess that smarter people than us are working in this business and they know who and when to employ :). Any way it was to early to conclude who is better in the teammate “war” only on Melbourne performance. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s race.
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 11:05
@nidzovski
Agreed, we’ll see where everybody stands at the end of the season.
Let’s hope tomorrow’s race is an exciting one.
Evans
29th March 2014, 14:21
The same people also said RBR would struggle to make it out of Q1 until Europe.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
29th March 2014, 10:11
Not bad, not bad at all…
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 10:35
@vettel1
I remember you saying the same comment after the 2013 Australian GP Q3
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
29th March 2014, 10:52
Why does that have any relevance? It was still a good performance.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 11:42
@vettel1
Believe me i was not ironic this time about you repeating the same comment but i was happy that i could remember a one year old comment from you
sato113 (@sato113)
29th March 2014, 10:11
shame alonso dropped a place at the end. if he started 3rd i could see him leading into turn 1.
Ivan (@wpinrui)
29th March 2014, 10:11
Nice to see Sebastian Vettel getting his Red Bull RB10.00000000000000 up into P2.00000000000000!!!
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 10:17
@wpinrui
Seeing as he was just 0.054999999999997 seconds of pole I’d say he put it into P1.0999999999972
Aced (@)
29th March 2014, 10:11
Not a great performance by McLaren, they were all over the place today. Good enough from K-Mag I guess, but I’d like to know what the hell JB was doing on intermediates out there.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
29th March 2014, 10:15
It seemed lik ehis engineer was confident that the track conditions would improve to the point that inters were a better bet for the end of the sessino. I’ve heard the radio mentionning that they were getting close to crossover times…
But the drizzle got worse and it was after all a loosing gamble. Still i think he should have come in for a set of wet at 2min from the end…
Diego (@ironcito)
29th March 2014, 10:13
And it’s Hamilton on pole, 1 Planck time ahead of Vettel.
BrabhamBMW
29th March 2014, 10:18
Certain teams seem to have contrasting wet and dry pace so far this season (I know it’s early days)….Mercedes, Mclaren & Williams all look to be more competitive (or in the case of Mercedes, comfortably ahead) in dry conditions. Red Bull and possibly Toro Rosso meanwhile look the opposite.
Nin13 (@nin13)
29th March 2014, 10:19
Was the qualifying wet then. Times are so slow. I missed it.
Diego (@ironcito)
29th March 2014, 10:21
Yep, considerably. Full wet tires.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
29th March 2014, 10:21
Yes, very very wet. And a bit of an anti-climax because in Q3 best times were set at the beginning of the session…
iAltair (@)
29th March 2014, 10:22
Inconsistency from the timers.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 10:23
Not bad for Ferrari supposing that Alonso’s position is confirmed after the investigation. Super job by the mechanics changing that pull rod suspension in 3 minutes, but i still believe that the accident compromised Alonso’s lap and without it he could have been P3
Kingshark (@kingshark)
29th March 2014, 10:23
Great job today from Fernando. I’m surprised that Ferrari even managed to fix his car after the crash with K-Fiat.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
29th March 2014, 10:27
Indeed, very good repair effort by Ferrari and from Alonso to do well with what may well have been a slightly damaged car @kingshark.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
29th March 2014, 10:32
@vettel1
Alonso said after qualy that it was very easy to turn left and very difficult to turn right after contact with the STR. Convergence, steering settings or power steering, he doesn’t know the exact reason.
Though he still did beat Kimi by a convincing margin despite that. It’s good to see that people are at last beginning to acknowledge his qualifying performance with a car which struggles to heat up tires.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 10:33
@kingshark
Same thought as me i thought it was over because the pull rod is even harder to fix but i remember Ferrari has modified it in 2013 to become more easy to manage so incidents like the one in qualifying in Monza 2012 won’t happen again. Alonso said that the convergence wasn’t optimum, when the cars turn right it’s ok but when it turns left it needs more force to turn
Tayyib
29th March 2014, 11:01
Solid qualy from Ferrari, there in a decent position to get good points. If its dry its going to be between the Mercedes’ for the win with there being an almighty scrap for third between Ferrari and Red Bull. Both looked solid on their race sim on Friday so it’ll be close between the 4 drivers. At least Ferrari have given themselves a chance with ok qualifying.
prelvu (@prelvu)
29th March 2014, 15:14
But i wasn’t surprised that FIA red flagged quali to wait for Ferrari Fernando so they fix his car. Because was 1 small peace of wing on the track.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
29th March 2014, 15:55
Would you rather a marshal ran out on track to collect that piece of wing in zero visibility or leave it there and hope noone gets a puncture on it?
Chris (@tophercheese21)
29th March 2014, 10:24
What on earth were Williams thinking leaving Bottas out there so long on Inters. Only gave him enough time for one flyer on the wets.
Brain-failure on that one. Was clearly too wet for inters.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
29th March 2014, 11:08
Yes McLaren did the same with JB. I heard the radion mentionning that they thought the times would drop enough for the inters to be the right choice, but the drizzle only got worse…
David Bretz (@cynical)
29th March 2014, 10:25
FIA must bought an atomic clock to make sure none of the times could be challenged.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
29th March 2014, 11:22
@cynical However, Red Bull insist that their sundial is more accurate and the grid should be based on that instead.
quads
29th March 2014, 11:48
Yes, they are maintaining that it is not mentioned anywhere in the rules that the official clock has to be used at all times, even when proven to be not 100% accurate/drifting.
So, basically they have found another hole in the regs and given history, the Redbull “Racing” Team will always rather take a win in a court with lawyers instead of relying on their drivers competing on track for the win with same rules as the other teams. I suppose those lawyers of theirs are very special…more special than the drivers.
Bazza Spock (@bazza-spock)
29th March 2014, 10:28
Almost felt painful to watch – it looked so hard to drive. I’m loving it! And Hulk continues to punch above his weight.
John H (@john-h)
29th March 2014, 10:35
What exactly does Hulkenberg have to do to get a decent seat? Thank god he’s not at Lotus though I guess.
Palle (@palle)
29th March 2014, 11:03
According to http://thisisf1.com/2014/03/29/f1-2014-malaysian-gp-race-grid/
Lotus has 3 cars on the grid for tomorrow, whereas Ferrari only has one;-)
Rahul Sampath (@rahulsampath)
29th March 2014, 12:40
I don’t think, hulk is punching above his weight or anything, I think Force India’s car is quite good in wet conditions..Being a FI fan, I have been closely observing Hulk’s and Perez’s time. If Perez hadn’t made a mistake in the last sector, he would have finished above or somewhere near Hulk. His sector times in his second last lap were: S1-29.342, S2-43.342 which were pretty decent. As his time was having improvement in those two sectors and assuming he would have at least matched his best sector time during Q2 (which is 47.586), his lap time would have been 2’02.431 which is better than Hulk. Lets say he had lost .6 sec on that sector, still he would have finished above Kev and got into Q3.
Lance (@lancelot)
29th March 2014, 10:36
That’s why Hamilton and Vettel are the tops. Though Red Bull is clearly inferior to Mercedes. I don’t believe Red Bulls would be as close on the dry track.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 10:46
The Red Bull is inferior to Mercedes in terms of power that’s clear, but it seems that the chassis designed by Adrian Newey is the class of the field (sorry Aldo!!!), sector times proves it, in the Australian GP RBR was fastest as always in the last sector and i’m pretty confident that Seb time in sector 2 in Q3 is the fastest. In these tilkedromes where traction is everything Red Bull “faceva scuola” (in italian) which demonstrates how good their chassis is. Still a very good performance by Vettel in the rain and by a considerable margin over Roseberg giving the fact that even if RBR are second fastest he should have been third anyway.
Eric (@)
29th March 2014, 10:57
@tifoso1989
The Red Bulls and Mercedes were trading fastest S2 times all throughout the session. The Red Bull is probably the fastest in terms of aero but I doubt the Mercedes are far behind in that department. And from what Brundle was saying while watching the cars go through some of the high speed corners the Ferrari isn’t too far behind either.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
29th March 2014, 11:40
@baron-2
I agree with you Ferrari themselves said that the car has downforce and is good on slow corners but it needs more top speed, Ferrari seems to be let down by the power, their solution to use the MGU-H for the downshifting to save fuel is still immature because it requires a lot from the electronics, this week a new power steering upgrade was deployed on Kimi’s car, a new software update and a new more aggressive fuel by Shell are brought
Lewisiabamf (@lewisisabamf)
29th March 2014, 13:15
Correct me if i am wrong but i am sure i saw somewhere that Lewis has faster than seb in s1 and 2 but had a bad s3 compared to Sebastian.
N C (@nickilism)
29th March 2014, 10:37
Ultimate gap between Massa and Perez is .00510000000000001 seconds! ;)
HK (@me4me)
29th March 2014, 10:44
Seems a great battle between Ferrari and Redbull is awaiting us. Merc will probably be a bit too quick.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
29th March 2014, 11:04
Even at its strongest, the Red Bull was never as dominant over the rest of the grid as the Mercedes is right now, at least in the dry. The Mercs are easily a second quicker than the RB10s in the straight but I cannot see many people complaining about that disproportion as they did when Vettel was winning.
Psychotext (@textuality)
29th March 2014, 11:24
Give it six months.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
29th March 2014, 11:57
You could be right. By then Rosberg would have won enough races to start his own unpopularity pool.
Yud (@yud77)
29th March 2014, 11:08
IT’S FUNNY THAT WHEN HAMI IS ON POLE THE RACE ON SUNDY IS WIDE OPEN.
WHEN SEB IS ON POLE NOBODY WANT’S TO SEE BECAUSE THEY KNOW HE WLL WIN
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
29th March 2014, 11:41
Great runs by Lewis, Seb, Nico H, Esteban, Jules and Romain today!
William (@william)
29th March 2014, 12:18
Bottas has a 3 grid place penalty for impeding Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
29th March 2014, 17:57
I thought there was a new rule that any driver who was unable to serve a grid penalty (such as Gutierrez in Australia, who only served 2 places of his 5-place drop) had to serve the rest at the following race? I notice that Gutierrez hasn’t received any penalty – did the FIA get rid of this rule?