F1 - India Qualifying ONE HD 19:00 AEDT 27 Oct 2012

[gary]

Vettel recorded the fastest time in P2 on a 1:26.221 followed by Webber on
a 1:26.339 and Alonso on a 1:26.820.

Qualifying is today and shown live on ONE HD with coverage starting at 19:00 AEDT
(NSW, Vic).

Sunday's race coverage will be on ONE HD starting at 20:00 AEDT.

[mithrandir]

Typo Gary. The 19:00 in the title is right. The 09:00 in the body isn't.

[gary]

Thanks Andrew for catching the typo.

The pre-race show is on now in any case!

[gary]

Vettel polls P1
Webber P2 only 4/100ths behind.
Hamilton P3
Button P4
Alonso P5
Massa P6

[04Stefan07]

I have had no time to watch any F1 this weekend!

Been studying for exams at uni. What has been going on? How do Ferrari look?

[gary]

Hi Stefen,

What came as a surprise to some is that Ferrari re-signed Massa.
He has bounced back of late.

However, Red Bull have clearly brought some upgrades to the RB8's starting
from Japan onwards and the Ferrari's are struggling by comparison.
For example, the Ferraris were nearly half a second per lap behind the Red Bulls in
today's qualifying, similar to how they were outpaced in qualifying in Korea.

With Vettel now in the championship lead, Alonso might be watching his chances
slip away unless Ferrari can come up with some good upgrades for their cars.

As Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali said in an interview yesterday, in recent
years aerodynamics has become fundamental and it is clear to them that
other teams have done a better job than they have.

Chief Ferrari designer Nick Tombazis has promised an ‘aggressive approach to the
car development’ in this late phase of the championship, but with only four races
to go, they will have their work cut out for them.

But as we both know in the world of F1, anything can happen, as Alonso and
Webber can testify to in Japan.

In fact if it were not for Alonso's retirements at Spa and Suzuka, he would still
be in the lead.

Even today Vettel made an uncharacteristic brief error in Q3 from which he
recovered but if one comes off into the gravel traps in India, their race is over.

Corner 1 in India is similar to that in Malaysia and there is ample opportunity for contact
to occur going into it from the start, in which case the qualifying position deck
could be quickly re-shuffled. Corner 3, leading to the long back straight, is somewhat
hairier still, being a blind 1st gear turn as you come up the hill.

One thing for certain is that one should never underestimate the skill of Alonso.

Good luck with the exams!

[04Stefan07]

Agreed about Alonso, very consistent as always.

Watching the race now, a shame about Perez.

Thanks for the update and thanks for the good luck, I will need it!

[gary]

That overtake by Alonso of the two McLarens down the back straight in the
very first lap was breath-taking to watch from the in-car cameras. No DRS at that
point but the Ferrari swooped around and powered by them like a video game
on an "Easy" setting. :lol:

Pity about Mark's KERS. I was hoping KERS issues were all behind them.
He was doing so well to keep Alonso at bay and it was nail-biting on the last couple
of laps with Hamilton on his tail.

You certainly don't want the side wall of your tyres to come in contact with someone
else's front wing unless you are auditioning for a remake of Ben Hur.

[Larryp]

Always seems to be Mark Webber's car that has the mechanical failures-guess most of the attention is given to Vettel's car.

[gary]

Hi Laurie,

After the alleged bias towards Vettel in the previous seasons, I sense Red Bull
are a little more even handed in their treatment of the two drivers these days.
Having said that, they will undoubtedly favor whoever is most likely to deliver them
the driver's championship at any one instant.

Don't forget that Vettel was ordered to stop the car to save the engine with only
5 laps to go at Monza and there was the incident yesterday where the floor was
making contact with the road. So his vehicle is certainly not the gold standard
either.

Red Bull shunned KERS in 2009 as they said it compromised the car's design.
In 2010, I recollect no teams ran with it. In 2011 when it was re-introduced,
Red Bull were new to it and Mark seemed to get more than his fair share
of reliability problems with it. In this current season, it had seemed that they
had sorted out those issues, but yesterday's failure seemed like a throw-back to
the types of over-heating problems they experienced in 2011.

[Larryp]

Hi Gary
I agree with you that the team will favour the driver most likely to deliver them a championship.
There is very little between the 2 drivers when both cars are equal, and I think although Vettel is an exceptionally good driver, a lot of his advantage (and Alonso's) comes down to their physical size. Being small, it is easier to balance the car for them.
Laurie:)

[goober]

Red Bull actually go to a lot of trouble with ballast to ensure the cars are equal for the two drivers, to even out the weight difference. I have followed Mark since he was flipping Mercedes at Le Mons, but have to admit Vettel is extraordinary.

[Larryp]

It is easier to put ballast in the ideal position with a smaller driver. I too , have been following Mark Webber from his days with Mercedes.This would be the first time he has had a co-driver he couldn't out-perform:)

[goober]

Looks like a triple world champion at 25, touch wood. Amazing stuff.

[Larryp]

Sure is!

[Larryp]

Hi all
Just got an email from ARDC saying Mark Webber and the Red Bull F1 car will be at Sydney Motorsport Park on 9/10 March 2013 for the Top Gear Festival:)