Nov 12, 2011
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In a war, an army must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses, knowing when to attack and when it’s best to cut one’s losses and defend. And rest assured that Formula 1 is a war. So when our generals and foot soldiers arrived at the Yas Marina oasis in the deserts of Arabia, we knew this weekend would be one where defence and damage limitation might well be on the cards. In a fortnight’s time at the much quicker Interlagos circuit in Sao Paolo, it should be a very different situation and we can attack again.
Essentially, our STR6 is not so keen on slow sections with plenty of braking, preferring high speed tracks and flowing corners. Therefore, in this highly competitive season, having Sébastien Buemi on the inside of Row 7 in thirteenth place and Jaime Alguersuari right behind him in fifteenth, after today’s qualifying is not such a bad result. Both our boys feel they can still exploit a good race pace to move up the order and aim for points at the end of tomorrow night’s 55 laps. Inevitably, with just the two races to go this year, the cross hairs on our gun sights are aimed firmly at the Saubers who sit one place above us in the championship and Perez starts one row ahead of Séb, while Kobayashi sits next to Jaime on the grid. Whatever is going on at the front of the grid, the mid-field battle should be another thriller. In the past, that might not have been the case, because the Yas Marina track definitely did not present many overtaking opportunities: tomorrow, we have not one but two DRS zones so let’s see what effect that has.
At the front of the grid we find…Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, for the fourteenth time this season, which means he equals the record set by Nigel Mansell in his Williams days. With one more qualifying to go after this one, can our former “pupil” claim another great statistic? Alongside him is the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, with his team-mate Jenson Button third on the inside of Row 2 with Mark Webber in the second Red Bull next to him. The third row is an all-red affair with the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fifth and sixth.
Credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso (www.scuderiatororosso.com)
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