F1 News
- October 31, 2009
Abu Dhabi Quali
Interesting Qualifying session from the newest, and has to be said, most visually impressive track on the grid.
Hamilton with the KERS helping in sector 2 comes out on top, with the two Red Bull cars 2nd and 3rd on the grid.
Rubens is then followed by world Champion elect Jenson Button. Jarno Trulli lines the Toyota up to what looks to be his final drive with Toyota in 6th, closely followed by the two BMW’s of Kubica and Heidfeld on their last race under the German car manufacturers leadership.
Rosberg then has Buemi behind him making up the top 10 cars.
You will notice that neither of the Ferrari’s (who have an amazing facility on the new site) are not to be seen in the top 10. Rakkonen does start ‘best of the rest’ in 11th spot, with the bonus consolation prize of being allowed to choose his fuel.
Fernando managed only 16th spot in his last drive for the French Renault team, struggling for grip apparently.
Kovalainen struggled with the McLaren and only managed 13th spot. It looks almost certain that he will not retain his McLaren seat next year, with rumours of Toyota and Lotus running around the grid.
The lineup should give us an interesting race, with the only kicker being that the KERS powered McLaren could run away at the start of the race.
Lets hope the newest track, gives us one of the greatest races of the season.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Fuel prediction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.873 | 1:39.695 | 1:40.948 | 18 |
| 2 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:40.666 | 1:39.984 | 1:41.615 | 20 |
| 3 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:40.667 | 1:40.272 | 1:41.726 | 19 |
| 4 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40.574 | 1:40.421 | 1:41.786 | 17 |
| 5 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:40.378 | 1:40.148 | 1:41.892 | 18 |
| 6 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:40.517 | 1:40.373 | 1:41.897 | 19 |
| 7 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:40.520 | 1:40.545 | 1:41.992 | 17 |
| 8 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:40.558 | 1:40.635 | 1:42.343 | 20 |
| 9 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:40.842 | 1:40.661 | 1:42.583 | 21 |
| 10 | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:40.908 | 1:40.430 | 1:42.713 | 19 |
| 11 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:41.100 | 1:40.726 | 31 | |
| 12 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Toyota | 1:41.035 | 1:40.777 | 32 | |
| 13 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40.808 | 1:40.983 | 33 | |
| 14 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:41.096 | 1:41.148 | 35 | |
| 15 | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:41.503 | 1:41.689 | 32 | |
| 16 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:41.667 | 37 | ||
| 17 | 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.701 | 32 | ||
| 18 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.863 | 32 | ||
| 19 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:41.950 | 38 | ||
| 20 | 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 1:42.184 | 31 |
