Qualifying At Albert Park

The moment the qualifying started, you could tell there was something wrong with Formula One this year. Yes, you could still hear David Coulthard commentating but it just was not the same. Then ITV broke out their helmet cam with Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso. It was interesting to see what the driver sees in the cockpit but it is something that I personally hope they utilize too often during the race.

Q1 and the entire track was in chaos. The pair of HRT's where all over the track and holding up much of the pack. Many of the top drivers were having none of it but also having trouble overtaking the pair. With all the hold ups and issues, neither HRT were able to make it within the 107% time. The big shock was team Lotus. Their rookie, Romain Grosjean, was able to take third quickest on the time sheet as his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen was unable to make it into Q2. 

Within minutes of starting Q2, Fernando Alonso went wide and straight across the kitty litter taking him out of the remaining qualifying. Everyone watching Q2 could see just how 'upset' Alonso was as the red flag was called. Quickly becoming one of this writers favourite driver's, Alonso has matured tremendously over the last few seasons and it is well within his right to be so angry. 

With Alonso in the kitty litter, it was a sad day in the Ferrari pits and their other driver, Felipe Massa was unable to make it into Q3. But kudos to the rookie Romain Grosjean for making it through for Lotus! 

5 minutes into Q3 and only 3 drivers had set a time. Reminiscent of 2011, it appeared that teams and drivers were going to stay in the pits and conserve their tyres for the race with only going out for a few laps. Which brings up the debate again, would it be smart for the FOM and Pirelli to have qualifying tyres? Let the drivers and teams go toe-to-toe and battle it out for P1 without having to worry about conserving their tyres for the race? Would it make for better entertainment and a larger qualifying crowd?

To the surprise of many, Q3 was an all out race to the finish. Big appointment's from the 'Vettel Camp' as they saw their double world champion qualify for race start in P6, one spot behind his Australian teammate, Mark Webber. It's already being speculated that the Red Bull garage is being divided, qualifying at Albert Park will bring a new level to this division.

It is a good thing though to see Michael Schumacher coming back to form, qualifying at Albert Park in P4. Well done!

Lewis Hamilton	P1
Jenson Button	P2  Fan's Choice To Win
Romain Grosjean	P3
Michael Schumacher	P4
Mark Webber	P5
Sebastian Vettel	P6
Nico Rosberg	P7
Pastor Maldonado	P8
Nico Hulkenberg	P9
Daniel Ricciardo	P10
Jean-Eric Vergne	P11
Fernando Alonso	P12
Kamui Kobayashi	P13
Bruno Senna	P14
Paul di Resta	P15
Felipe Massa	P16
Sergio Perez	P17
Kimi Räikkönen	P18
Heikki Kovalainen	P19
Vitaly Petrov	P20
Timo Glock	P21
Charles Pic	P22
Pedro de la Rosa	DNQ
Narain Karthikeyan	DNQ