Webber scores his maiden pole at the Nurburgring

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber achieved his first ever pole position in Formula One after mastering the tricky wet conditions during qualifying at the Nurburgring.

The Australian set a lap time in the RB5 with one minute, 32.230 seconds to pip Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello by 0.127 seconds. Championship leader Jenson Button will start third, while Silverstone winner Sebastian Vettel could only manage fourth place in front of his home crowd.

As for the McLarens, this German Grand Prix weekend has reveal new found confidence in the MP4-24 all thanks to new aero updates like a revised double diffuser, engine cover and front wing.

Though these aero updates would only applied to Lewis Hamilton’s car and the world champion thus delivered the results needed for the Woking squad with a fine fifth position (equalling his best grid spot this season).

Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen also recorded an impressive lap time despite not running the aero kit with sixth. The Finn even survived a brush against the wall during the chaotic Q2 session.

The big winner of the rain-affected qualifying session was Adrian Sutil. Not only did the Force India driver got through to Q3 for the very first time, the young German even out-qualified the likes of Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Nelson Piquet Jr to record a superb seventh position.

The session started dry but during the end of Q1, few spots of rain hit the race track. At the start of Q2, the heavens opened and all hell broke lose!

Several cars went spinning in an attempt to stay on the circuit and it was fascinating to see the differences in strategies made by the pit crew on which Bridgestones the drivers should run.

Rubens Barrichello made the decisive call by sitting out the wetter early minutes of Q2 and then immediately recording the fastest lap by running on slicks when the track was beginning to dry out. That key moment helped the Brazilian to progress into Q3 while all his rivals had to scrabble around with a lack of grip as the rain came down again in the final minutes.

The biggest casualty of the late-Q2 lottery was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who spun at the chicane on what should have been his best lap. The Spaniard quickly recovered but was unable to improve from P12. Thus Nelson Piquet Jr made it through into Q3 and for the first time this season, the young Brazilian has out-qualified his more experienced team-mate.

Both BMW Saubers were eliminated early with Nick Heidfeld taking P11 followed by an extremely disappointed Robert Kubica. The Polish driver will start the team’s home race in P16.

Kazuki Nakajima spun on his out-lap in Q2 but recovered unscathed to qualify in P13, beating his team-mate Nico Rosberg, who took P15. In between the Williams pair is the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

The Italian’s team-mate Timo Glock had a dreadful session, making several errors even on a dry track in Q1 and ending up P19, alongside the under-pressure Sebastien Bourdais, who went off at the first corner on his last flying lap as the rain arrived.

It was a session marked by the intermittent rain but after 6o thrilling minutes, one man rise above all to set the quickest time around the challenging race track. Can Mark Webber translate this maiden pole position – the first for an Australian since Alan Jones back in 1980 – to race victory on Sunday? Or will we see the likes of Button and Vettel score another win in their fierce battle for the championship?

What about Lewis Hamilton, in the much rejuvenated McLaren? Can the world champion claim a popular victory thanks to his high grid position and aero updates? The forecast for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix will be wet, so be prepare for the unexpected as the season reaches its halfway point.

Qualifying times from the Nurburgring:

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:32.230
2. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.357
3. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.473
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:32.480
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.616
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.859
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:34.316
8. Massa Ferrari 1:34.574
9. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:34.710
10. Piquet Renault 1:34.803
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:42.310
12. Alonso Renault 1:42.318
13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:42.500
14. Trulli Toyota 1:42.771
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:42.859
16. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:32.190
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:32.251
18. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:32.402
19. Glock Toyota 1:32.423
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.559

5 thoughts to “Webber scores his maiden pole at the Nurburgring”

  1. Lets hear what the Australian had to say after scoring his first pole position in Formula One. Article taken from Autosport.com:

    Mark Webber celebrated what he labelled as a very special day after securing his maiden Formula 1 pole position ahead of the German Grand Prix.

    In a session marked by the intermittent rain that made life very difficult for all teams, Webber emerged on top to become the first Australian to secure pole since Alan Jones in 1980.

    The Red Bull Racing driver outpaced championship leaders Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth position.

    “It is very special day for me,” admitted Webber. “To get pole… I’ve been close a few times in the past, and on pole fuel corrected a few times but that doesn’t count.

    “We are here, team has done a great job all weekend, we got very tested in that session.”

    He added: “I think that the car is working very well here, but talking to my engineer, it was so hard. We learned a little bit in Q2 with Rubens doing that lap, he did a very good lap, it was chaotic to read what we needed at the end.

    “Obviously you call on experience, you have a great team of people around you, they are on pit wall and making the right calls, the best drivers in world you know.

    “It was difficult knowing what track was going to do, how greasy the track was and what tyre to use. It was a very difficult session and one our team did well and that is why we got pole.”

    Webber said he is now aiming to turn his pole position into his first Formula 1 victory, and he feels confident he can do it.

    “I hope so. I am in a fantastic position to do it, these guys have had a strong season, but we are looking forward to the fight. I am up for trying to win my first race tomorrow,” the Australian said.

    “I think a nice boring GP for me would be fantastic. We are ready for all conditions, we know we can compete.

    “It is a great situation to be in, the fight for podiums, and obviously to win at this level you need everything to go for you. I’ve been close, had a few seconds, the day might come and it may be tomorrow.”

  2. As for the world championship leader Jenson Button, third place is a okay result after a ‘mad’ qualifying session at the Nurburgring. Courtesy from Autosport.com:

    Championship leader Jenson Button says he is relishing the challenge of what he expects to be a chaotic German Grand Prix.

    The Brawn GP driver managed third on the grid at the Nurburgring despite some scares in the changeable weather of qualifying, which saw him down in 14th place near the end of Q2.

    He said he had thoroughly enjoyed the frenetic session, even though the conditions had exacerbated Brawn’s continued struggle with tyre temperature.

    “Q2 was madness, it was good fun,” said Button. “We were struggling with tyre warm-up anyway but when you chuck some water in there it gets difficult…

    “Tomorrow is going to be interesting. The weather is looking similar to today so it will be wet, dry, wet, dry so you’ll need a bit of luck, and to be looking at what people are doing.

    “I am looking forward to tomorrow very much.”

    He added that he was not too concerned to only be third on the grid behind Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello, as he felt it had been an achievement just to get safely through to Q3 given the varying weather.

    “I think it is great for everyone in the top ten,” said Button.

    For Sebastian Vettel, who won the British Grand Prix last month and is competing in front of his home fans this weekend. To qualify in fourth proved very frustrating for the young German. Read on for his views:

    Sebastian Vettel believes he should have done much better than fourth on the grid for the German Grand Prix.

    The Red Bull driver, who lies third in the world championship following his British Grand Prix win a fortnight ago, was 0.250 seconds slower than his pole-sitting team-mate Mark Webber.

    And the home hero said only he was to blame for the result.

    “I’m a bit frustrated, but I blame myself for it,” said Vettel. “It was possible to do better, but my last lap was not so magnificent, so I wasn’t even on the front row. Today it was very tight though, so it was possible.”

    Vettel, who has taken two of his three grand prix wins in wet conditions, thinks rain will be the course of the day during the race, and hopes he will be the one to capitalise best in the conditions as he strives to close the 25-point gap to series leader Jenson Button.

    “Who knows what will happen tomorrow. The weather is very unpredictable; wet, dry, wet, dry, something in between maybe. And the one who does the right thing at the right time will be ahead.

    “Who knows what will happen. It will be very difficult, but very exciting.”

    And what about Lewis Hamilton, in the much improved McLaren? The world champion says he can challenge the likes of Red Bull in the race.

    Lewis Hamilton is hoping for a dry German Grand Prix after putting his McLaren fifth on the grid in a chaotic qualifying session at the Nurburgring.

    The 24-year-old Briton, who has put up a dismal defence of his world title so far this season with an off-the-pace car, equalled his best grid spot of the year in a rain-affected session.

    But, after topping the timesheets in two of the three dry practice sessions, he wants more consistent conditions on Sunday, and believes he can challenge the pole-sitting Red Bull of Mark Webber for a top three finish.

    “If it stays dry tomorrow then we’ll definitely be in a good position and we can shoot for the podium for sure,” said Hamilton. “We could fight the Red Bulls even. I think it will probably be wet though.

    Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen qualified sixth – the first time this season that both McLarens have made it into Q3.

    And the Briton praised the work of his team in the weeks since the last race for improving the pace of the MP4-24.

    “For Heikki and I to be in the top 10 is a great result and that’s all down to the work done back at the factory. It’s made a huge difference,” he added.

  3. Sebastian Vettel admitted that a mistake with his timing prevented him from challenging harder for pole position at the German Grand Prix.

    The Red Bull driver had planned to put in two flying laps at the end of Q3, but was restricted to just a single effort after failing to cross the finish line in time to start a final flyer at the end of the session.

    His one flying lap was good enough for fourth place on the grid, behind his pole-sitting team-mate Mark Webber and the Brawns of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, although that fell below his own high expectations.

    “It’s obvious if you look at what Rubens and Jenson did, that it was possible to improve significantly on your second lap on the option tyres,” Vettel said.

    “I knew it would be close, but I thought I would have time for a second lap, so I probably didn’t put enough effort in to working the tyres, because I wanted to save them for the second lap.

    “Then, when I came out of the last corner, I saw the red light and the chequered flag and that was it pretty much over.

    Vettel, who has won twice this year, denied that the pressure of racing at his home even was getting to him.

    “It has affected me, but in a positive way,” he added. “You used to see everyone here dressed in red, and most of them still are, but some of the hats are changing from red to dark blue now, and it’s nice to get so much support.”

    And he is confident of challenging for victory on Sunday, such is the pace of the Red Bull in both wet and dry conditions.

    “We should be fast,” he added. “In qualifying it was wet, dry, wet, and whoever was on the right tyres at the right time had the advantage. We will have to see what happens with the weather.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  4. From the 2009 season, the FIA is making public the weights of the cars, with their fuel load included, following Saturday’s qualifying session.

    Below is the weight of each car following qualifying for the German Grand Prix, sorted by qualifying position.

    Pos Driver Weight (kg)
    1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 661.0
    2. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 647.0
    3. Button Brawn-Mercedes 644.0
    4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 661.0
    5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 654.5
    6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 664.0
    7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 678.5
    8. Massa Ferrari 673.5
    9. Raikkonen Ferrari 674.0
    10. Piquet Renault 676.0
    11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 681.0*
    12. Alonso Renault 668.2*
    13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 683.6*
    14. Trulli Toyota 683.7*
    15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 689.6*
    16. Kubica BMW-Sauber 673.5*
    17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 674.5*
    18. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 662.5*
    19. Glock Toyota 662.3*
    20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 689.5*

    * declared weight

    Mark Webber is carrying more fuel than both the Brawn cars and the same amount as team mate Sebastian Vettel – putting him in a very strong position ahead of tomorrow’s German Grand Prix.

    Check out the achievement made by Adrian Sutil. The Force India driver is the heaviest-fuelled in the top ten and yet he outqualified the lighter Ferraris and the Renault of Nelson Piquet Jr. Super impressive!

  5. Timo Glock has been relegated to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix for blocking Fernando Alonso in qualifying.

    The Toyota driver was hit with a three-place penalty, albeit costing him only one place on the grid as he qualified 19th, after baulking the Spaniard while distracted by discussing strategy with his pit.

    “I had just made a mistake on the lap and I was asking if I had to stay out or come in for new tyres,” Glock told AUTOSPORT.

    “They said stay out, I accelerated, looked behind me and there was Alonso in the mirror. I just didn’t see him.”

    The German was also given a reprimand for the incident, as it was deemed to be “potentially dangerous” by stewards.

    Glock also admitted that he could opt to start from the pit-lane for tomorrow’s race.

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