Qualifying At Valencia Street Circuit

It's funny what a podium finish can do for a driver. Last race, Sauber's Sergio Perez had a fantastic race with an amazing results and the commentators where discussing him like any of the other top drivers. This race, it appeared that his teammate was fairing much better. Kamui Kobayashi looks to be having a great weekend.

Midway through Q1, it was announced that Marussia's Timo Glock would not be taking place in qualifying. due to health reasons.

“Timo has been fighting a stomach bug since Thursday. He felt well enough to take part in yesterday’s Free Practice sessions and had seemed to be improving. This morning, after Free Practice 3, he started to feel unwell again. It is clear that at this time, he is not sufficiently well to take part in a demanding Qualifying session and needs to recuperate further. Timo and the Team will now seek further medical guidance this afternoon. Until such time as this guidance has been received, no decisions will be reached regarding tomorrow’s race.”

 Q1 came to an end and two big surprises. First was Red Bull's Mark Webber. Unsure at this time if there was a mechanical problem (possible brake issues) but Webber was unable to break out of Q1 and end his qualifying in Valencia in P19. The other surprise was Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. Having a good last lap, Kovalainen made it through Q1 and into Q2.

Q2 may be the most integral part of qualifying as the commentators say but it surely is not the most exciting. Making it out of Q1 and into Q2, Kovalainen was able to end his qualifying in P16, the best result for Caterham so far this year.

Both Ferrari's did not make it into Q3 and ended Ferrari's hope for pole position in Valencia as well as the fans hopes of seeing their countryman, Fernando Alonso, have any further running on Saturday. It was good to see the fans not only cheering for Alonso but as Massa made his way past the grandstands, they applauded his as well.

Top Ten shoot out and the fans certainly got what they paid for. The final few minutes have and will always be  some of the most exciting. Watching pole jump from name to name and team to team is quite exquisite. You never know who's going to make it across the line in time and who will be the quickest.

One question has been asked by many fans. has Jenson Button lost his 'mojo'? Over the last few races we have seen Button making it into Q3 but remaining in the bottom percentile. This writer does not think that Button is on the decline but rather in a slump.We've seen drivers take on a larger field and prevail, maybe Button will break the run and be the first driver to win two races, or maybe we will see an eighth driver win the eighth race this season.

Sebastian Vettel	P1  Fan's Choice To Win
Lewis Hamilton	P2
Pastor Maldonado	P3
Romain Grosjean	P4
Kimi Räikkönen	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Kamui Kobayashi	P7
Nico Hulkenberg	P8
Jenson Button	P9
Paul di Resta	P10
Fernando Alonso	P11
Michael Schumacher	P12
Felipe Massa	P13
Bruno Senna	P14
Sergio Perez	P15
Heikki Kovalainen	P16
Daniel Ricciardo	P17
Jean-Éric Vergne	P18
Mark Webber	P19
Vitaly Petrov	P20
Pedro de la Rosa	P21
Narain Karthikeyan	P22
Charles Pic	P23
Timo Glock	No time set

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