Red Bulls to roar from the front row

McLaren’s Hamilton and Button seal second row

October 27, 2012 12:33 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 09:49 pm IST - GREATER NOIDA

GREATER NOIDA October 27, 2012: F 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren Mercedes team qualified for the 3rd position as Red Bull team's Mark Webber (left) and Sebastian Vettel leading the position respectively in reverse order, at The Buddh International circuit in Greater Noida on the first day of  Second edition of Indian Grand Prix Buddha International Circuit. Final race will be held on Sunday. Photo:Rajeev Bhatt

GREATER NOIDA October 27, 2012: F 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren Mercedes team qualified for the 3rd position as Red Bull team's Mark Webber (left) and Sebastian Vettel leading the position respectively in reverse order, at The Buddh International circuit in Greater Noida on the first day of Second edition of Indian Grand Prix Buddha International Circuit. Final race will be held on Sunday. Photo:Rajeev Bhatt

The fiery Red Bulls sealed the front row of the starting grid for Indian Grand Prix on Sunday as Sebastian Vettel (1:25.283s) and Mark Webber (1:25.327s) belted out the two best timings in the flying laps of the qualifiers on Saturday afternoon.

The defending champion, who won his fifth pole position of the season and the 36th of his career, did not have a smooth run in Q3 though, as he swerved away from his racing line on Turn 4 after a terrible oversteer and locked his front wheels. But as they say, resilience defines a true champion.

Vettel promptly aborted his lap and returned to the pits for a fresh set of tyres. And when he got out, the German seemed to be running on hot wheels. What one saw thereafter was raw, blistering pace as Vettel whipped up his pole position-winning time.

The Red Bull driver, however, was quite modest about his performance in Q3.

“Fortunately, I got the lap together and was very happy with the lap itself.

“Here and there potentially could have been a bit faster, especially Turn 4, because this time I was making sure I was not locking up the fronts. But yeah, all in all, it has been a great weekend so far,” said Vettel.

The McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton (1:25.544s) and Jenson Button (1:25.659s), weren’t far behind as they occupied the second row.

Despite his car not being as swift as the Red Bulls, Hamilton had no complaints.

Hamilton satisfied

He was quite satisfied with third position on the starting grid.

“Yeah, I am absolutely happy. To have us on the second row — I mean we are not quick enough to be ahead of these guys (Vettel and Webber) — but we can definitely challenge them in the race,” said Hamilton.

It was a disappointing day for both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who once again struggled to keep his car on the track at least on two occasions today — once in the morning free practice and then in Q3. The Ferraris filled up the third row on the grid with Alonso fifth fastest in Q3.

“We tried to get the most of what we had, but there was no way we could be ahead of the Red Bulls and McLarens.

“But in the end, fifth place is not so bad, because we could have ended up further down the grid,” Alonso said.

With Alonso off his back literally, Vettel should be able to breathe easy on Sunday when the cars take up their positions on the starting grid.

The German’s reputation for being a tough cookie when starting from the front is very well known in the F1 circuit.

Two of his last three successive victories have come after starting from the front row.

So, will it be different here at the Buddh International Circuit?

The top five grids:

First row: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Mark Webber; Second row: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Jenson Button (McLaren); Third row: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari); Fourth row: Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Sergio Perez (Sauber); Fifth row: Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.