Lewis Hamilton achieved his 27th career pole position in Formula 1 and his first for the Mercedes AMG team.
However, the proceedings to the qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit was dominated by tyre strategy, with a lack of track action from the drivers.
Conserving tyres is now the important issue this year with Pirelli pushing the limits of tyre wear in order to provide more entertainment – pitstops and mixed strategies – and it was not a surprise to see so few qualifying runs as the drivers saved the tyres for the race instead.
Hamilton set his impressive lap time of one minute, 34.484 seconds on the soft compound while Kimi Raikkonen qualified his Lotus in second place, 0.277 seconds off the flying Silver Arrows.
Fernando Alonso will start third for Ferrari.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start in ninth position after making the decision not to set a time in Q3. Despite the low grid order, the Red Bull driver will have the advantage in the first stint of the race thanks to running the medium tyre.
His Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber had a disastrous session, as a fuel pressure problem stranded the Australian in Q2. He will now start the Chinese Grand Prix right at the back of the grid.
With the soft tyres only good for one flying lap and expected to quickly fade away in the main race, qualifying was all about rubber conservation.
Q3 duly became a one-lap shootout in the final minute as all ten contenders poured onto the track at once.
Raikkonen was first to take provisional pole with a time of one minute, 34.761 seconds.
Several likely challengers were unable to match that benchmark, but Hamilton came through on a one minute, 34.484 seconds to give Mercedes pole at Shanghai for a second consecutive year.
Alonso ended his run of being outqualified by Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa as he took third, two positions ahead of the Brazilian.
Nico Rosberg split them in the other Mercedes.
Romain Grosjean was sixth for Lotus, followed by Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian was one of the stars of qualifying as he got Toro Rosso into Q3 for the first time this season, beating team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne by 0.9 seconds in Q2.
Jenson Button joined Vettel in opting for medium and did a slow lap for eighth, while Vettel and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg chose not to do Q3 flying laps at all.
Webber ended qualifying in P14 after a fuel pressure problem forced him to park his car on the circuit in Q2.He will now start Sunday’s race in P22 as the team was unable to provide the mandatory fuel sample for the FIA.
Both Force Indias narrowly missed out on the top ten, with Paul di Resta just 0.029s off in P11. Team-mate Adrian Sutil was behind Sergio Perez’s McLaren in P13.
The tyre issue even neutered Q1, which did not feature any track action until halfway through.
Toro Rosso attempted to get through on mediums, but had to make a late switch to softs as both drivers were at risk of missing the cut.
Vergne and Ricciardo’s improvements meant Valtteri Bottas’s Williams and Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber were the two midfield cars that got knocked out.
Jules Bianchi had been ahead of the Toro Rossos before they moved to softs, but had to settle for his usual P19 for Marussia, still comfortably faster than his back-of-the-grid rivals.
So a fantastic achievement by Lewis Hamilton. His first pole for Mercedes. Can Lewis win his first race for the team and repeat their performance just like year with Nico Rosberg? We shall find out on race day in China.
Qualifying times from the Shanghai International Circuit:
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.484s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.761s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.788s
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.861s
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.933s
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m35.364s
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.998s
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2m05.673s
9. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault no time
10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari no time
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.287s
12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.314s
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m36.405s
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.139s
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.199s
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m37.769s
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.990s
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.780s
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.537s
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m39.614s
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m39.660s
22. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.679s*
*Excluded from qualifying after running out of fuel
107 per cent time: 1m42.489s
After claiming his first pole of the 2013 season with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton is determined to stay in front come race day at the Shanghai International Circuit. Autosport.com has the story.
Lewis Hamilton is hopeful he can score his first win with Mercedes in the Chinese Grand Prix after securing pole position for the Shanghai race on Saturday.
The Briton, who has switched from McLaren to Mercedes for this year, beat Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen to the top spot to secure his maiden pole with the German squad in just his third event with the team.
Hamilton admitted he was overjoyed at the result.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Hamilton. “I am so happy to have my first pole for some time and I am just ecstatic. The lap was great, the team performed well all weekend so far and I hope we can carry this into tomorrow.
“These tyres are very tricky this weekend, making the option tyre last is almost impossible, so it will probably be quite a short stint in the beginning.
“We have good race pace. I expect a tough race but hope we can maintain the position.”
The former world champion, whose team dominated the Chinese race last year, said he did not expect to have such an advantage after finishing nearly three tenths of a second ahead of his closest rival.
“It’s really surprising,” he said. “In P3 the Ferraris were very, very quick. We didn’t know where they would be in qualifying.”
Hamilton believes his result shows he is on his way to proving critics of his Mercedes move wrong.
“You cannot answer it in one result, but bit by bit, the more we impress and improve, they have to stand corrected,” he said.
“The team is doing an incredible job. It could have gone either way, but I am grateful I am here, in the fight, and today is such a blessing to be here as it was a big step for me.
“I think I made the right choice.”
Australian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen has downplays the Lotus car’s pace following qualifying at Shanghai. Autosport.com has the details.
Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus does not really have to speed to be at the front of the Chinese Grand Prix field, despite qualifying second.
The Finn was beaten only by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in Shanghai qualifying, beating the Ferraris and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes to the outside front row spot.
But Raikkonen remains sceptical about Lotus’s pace.
“I knew the gap was quite big still and we don’t have that speed right now,” he said.
“Second is not too bad, it is the best I can gain with the team. I’d rather be in first place, but we didn’t have the speed.
“We’re missing downforce in the middle sector so we will see what we can do tomorrow.”
Raikkonen believes the Lotus package has a similar level of competitiveness to its potential in Malaysia, but that the team is doing a better job of getting that pace out of the car this weekend.
“We had a very small update, I would say it is the same as in the last race,” he said.
“It seems to be working OK. We have some issues with some stuff, but it’s a similar story to Malaysia.
“The car works the way I want it to. It has been a pretty tricky weekend to get things exactly right, it’s very sensitive, but we are happy to be where we are now.”
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Jenson Button chose to sit out the pole battle and run medium tyres in Q3, hoping for a race strategy advantage.
Raikkonen was confident Lotus’s tactics were right.
“We believe our strategy is the best one, that is why we did it,” he said. “If qualifying was better on primes, then you would do it.”
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso says the team still have to close down the big gap in order to fight for wins. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso believes Ferrari still needs to improve its F138, despite qualifying third for the Chinese Grand Prix, after mixed results with its Shanghai upgrades.
The Spaniard took third, 0.3 seconds behind polesitter Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, and outqualified team-mate Felipe Massa for the first time this season.
Alonso believes the squad has made progress, but thinks more needs to be done in terms of qualifying speed.
“On Friday you try some new parts – some work as expected and you keep for rest of weekend, some of them do not work as expected and are maybe worse than previous, so you remove them,” he said.
“We got some new parts here. Some of them are positive, some of them were not so positive, so we need to keep working on that if we want the pace of the leaders, especially in qualifying.”
Alonso nevertheless believes Ferrari can still be a threat in the races.
“Our Sunday pace is good and I don’t see any change here,” he added.
“We have not been easiest on tyres to be honest. The softs degrade much more and will last not too long, but on the long runs we did, nothing was surprising us.
“Hopefully we can have a good race, a clean race and be on podium at the end and fighting for the win.
“We will need to be flexible and clever with the strategy.”
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has admitted that the tyre wear rate has affected Red Bull’s poor pace in qualifying. He will start the race down in a disappointing ninth position. Autosport.com has the news story.
Sebastian Vettel said Red Bull had to take a different tactical approach to the Chinese Grand Prix as Mercedes and Ferrari are such strong rivals this weekend.
Vettel did not fight for pole in Shanghai Q3, instead lapping slowly on medium tyres and securing ninth on the grid.
McLaren’s Jenson Button adopted the same plan and will start eighth.
Everyone ahead will begin the race on soft tyres, which are only expected to last a handful of laps.
“We saw some people are very fast, especially the Mercedes and Ferrari, so we decided to go in a different direction,” Vettel explained.
“The soft tyres don’t last long so the medium tyre seems a better race tyre.
“We have the possibility to choose, but I think it’s clear what we are trying to do today.
“Whether it is smart or not we will see.”
Vettel said he had been trying to complete a slow lap in Q3 to at least ensure he was the highest-placed of the medium tyre runners, but had to abandon his effort with what he suspected was a brake problem.
“I lost the brake pedal or something broke, so I couldn’t finish the lap anyway,” he said.
“I checked the tyres and there’s no damage. There wasn’t much load on them when I locked up.”
As for his Red Bull Racing team-mate, Mark Webber fears he will start the race at the back following a fuel pressure problem. He was forced to park his car in Q2. Autosport.com has the details.
Mark Webber fears he will have to start at the back of the Chinese Grand Prix grid after a fuel pressure issue halted his Red Bull in Q2.
The Australian was left in 14th position having had to park his Red Bull in an escape road.
Webber admitted there was a danger his car would not have sufficient fuel left to provide the mandatory post-qualifying sample.
The same issue caused Sebastian Vettel to be put to the back of the grid in Abu Dhabi last year.
“It was a lack of fuel pressure so I couldn’t get back, so we stopped the car and qualifying was over before it started really,” he said.
“We’ll see what the rules are. I’m sure we’ll go through the process. It may be a double whammy.”
Article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations states: “Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the Event.
“After a practice session, if a car has not been driven back to the pits under its own power, it will be required to supply the above mentioned sample plus the amount of fuel that would have been consumed to drive back to the pits. The additional amount of fuel will be determined by the FIA.”
Although Webber will have an additional set of tyres available for the race having missed Q3, he doubts it will be much of an advantage.
“I think everyone’s in a similar boat saving tyres,” he said. “The option [soft] is not really the tyre for this track it’s completely wrong.
“This is disappointed. Q1 went very well for me and the car’s been quick all weekend.”
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg believes the car has much stronger race pace after qualifying in fourth position at Shanghai. Autosport.com has the news story.
Nico Rosberg says he has no concerns about only being fourth on the Chinese Grand Prix as he suspects his car will have better race pace than many other frontrunners.
Last year’s dominant Shanghai winner had been tipped as a pole and victory threat having blitzed opening practice.
But while Rosberg’s Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton stormed to the squad’s first pole of the 2013 Formula 1 season, the German was 0.4 seconds slower in fourth, behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.
“It was a decent lap until the last corner, where unfortunately I just messed up a little bit,” Rosberg said.
“It was just when you think the lap is done and nothing can go wrong… But I didn’t get it right.
“But fourth place is OK.
“All weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about the race in general and set-up, because it’s going to be hotter tomorrow and that might catch a few people out. It’s a decent position.
“I’m sure it’s possible to go forward from fourth. How far? I don’t know yet.”
Rosberg also played down the disruption caused by the hydraulic problems that sidelined his car during final practice.
“Of course it affected me a little bit as it didn’t allow me to practice qualifying in the morning, and sometimes you need to think about it and optimise the settings,” he said.
“I was running behind a little bit through qualifying, but then again qualifying went OK. I was really progressing well.”
He is certain that Mercedes’ decision to go for a good grid position on soft tyres rather than hang back in Q3 and start on the favoured medium rubber will be proved correct.
“I think that’s the right choice, especially with the pace we have in the car,” Rosberg said.
“Starting on the soft gives us the chance to be far forward on the grid, and that should be the better strategy for tomorrow.
“I think I have the car well prepared for the race.”
McLaren’s Jenson Button hopes that the race strategy will played a part during Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button believes the decision to qualify on the harder tyre has given him and McLaren the best chance possible for the Chinese Grand Prix.
While the frontrunners opted to use the fast-but-fragile soft-compound Pirelli in Q3, Button completed one slow lap on the medium.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg did not complete laps, which means Button will line up eighth. All three are likely to start on the medium tyre, which is expected to be the better race rubber.
“It was the right decision,” said Button. “To be seventh in Q2 was a big surprise for us. We don’t really have the pace of the frontrunning cars, but I think we got everything out of that lap.
“We knew we weren’t going to get any further up the grid so we went for the prime [medium tyre] approach. We did a pretty slow lap to look after the tyres and that should put us in good stead for the race tomorrow.
“Hopefully we can get a good start and at some point we should find some clear air in front of us.”
Button believes the soft runners, led by Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, will hit tyre issues very early in the race.
“It’s going to be cooler tomorrow, so we’re going to see the graining we saw in practice on high fuel,” he said. “They are going to struggle with that at the start of the race.
“That bodes well for us and it should be interesting for the fans.”
Button nevertheless played down his chances of taking victory and tipped Vettel to make better progress.
“To win the race is going to be very difficult for us,” he said. “If we thought we were quick enough to challenge at the front, maybe we would have gone for the soft tyre.
“We’ve got a long way to go still. It’s great we’ve got the parts on the car since the last race. But you always want more and we’re still not competitive enough.
“We’ve made a small gain, but it’s not as big as what we would hope. At least we understand what’s going on with the car and where we need to go with it.
“We have a very fast car behind us [Vettel] and he’s starting on slightly newer tyres.
“I think he’s really the guy who is going to challenge at the front for the win.”
Red Bull’s Mark Webber has been relegated to the back of the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Australian stopped on the circuit during Q2 when his car ran into fuel pressure problems, which the team put down to an issue with a fuel bowser.
Webber was classified 14th in qualifying but said at the time he suspected it would be difficult to get through the fuel sample test in the circumstances.
“It was a lack of fuel pressure so I couldn’t get back, so we stopped the car and qualifying was over before it started really,” he said.
A statement from the Shanghai stewards said Red Bull conceded it did not have enough fuel on board.
“The team admitted it had not put sufficient fuel in the car. As specified in the technical delegate’s report (Document 21), only 150ml of fuel was on board, which was insufficient to provide the one-litre sample and drive the car back to the pits under its own power.”
The F1 technical regulations stipulate that sufficient fuel for a one-litre sample must be available even if a car stops on track.
The rules say: “After a practice session, if a car has not been driven back to the pits under its own power, it will be required to supply the above mentioned sample plus the amount of fuel that would have been consumed to drive back to the pits.”
The same issue led to Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel starting at the back for the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP.
Updated starting grid:
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus – Renault
3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari
4. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes
5. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus – Renault
7. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso – Ferrari
8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren
9. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull – Renault
10. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Sauber – Ferrari
11. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India – Mercedes
12. Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren
13. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India – Mercedes
14. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams – Renault
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso – Ferrari
16. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams – Renault
17. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber – Ferrari
18. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia – Cosworth
19. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia – Cosworth
20. Charles Pic (France) Caterham – Renault
21. Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham – Renault
22. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull – Renault
Source: Autosport.com
Red Bull Racing has admitted it was a bowser error that affected Mark Webber’s car meaning a lack of fuel in Q2. The Australian will now start the Chinese Grand Prix right at the back of the grid. Autosport.com has the details.
Red Bull says insufficient fuel was put into Mark Webber’s car for Chinese Grand Prix qualifying due to an issue with a bowser.
Webber had his qualifying times disallowed as there was not enough fuel left in his Red Bull to provide the mandatory sample for the FIA at the end of the session.
His car had run out of fuel on track just after a Q2 run.
His time held up for 14th place but he will now have to start last.
Team boss Christian Horner put the problem down to an error.
“Unfortunately in Q2 the amount of fuel that was required to be put into the car from the fuel rig was not fully delivered,” he said.
“This was due to an error with the fuel bowser that meant it under delivered 3kg of fuel.
“Therefore on Mark’s in-lap we saw large drop outs in the fuel tank collector and the car unfortunately ran dry of fuel, which is obviously frustrating.
“The fuel bowser has been immediately quarantined for further investigation.”
Formula 1 rules demand that if a car stops on track during qualifying it must have sufficient fuel to prove it could have returned to the pits in addition to the one-litre sample required for testing.
The issue comes just months after a similar situation led to Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull being disqualified from Abu Dhabi GP qualifying.
Horner added that Webber would have joined Vettel in running conservatively on medium tyres had he reached Q3 as expected.
“He would obviously have made Q3 today and the tactic with both drivers was to adopt the same strategy,” said Horner.
In the aftermath of the controversial Malaysian Grand Prix in which Sebastian Vettel ignored team-orders while Nico Rosberg respected the team’s instructions. Mercedes insists team orders will stay. Autosport.com has the news story.
Mercedes will have no hesitation in imposing team orders on its drivers again if it is in the outfit’s best interests, despite suggestions it had abandoned the policy after the controversial Malaysian Grand Prix.
Niki Lauda, the outfit’s non-executive chairman, said several times in China that Mercedes would not use team orders anymore after Nico Rosberg was left unhappy at being told to hold position behind Lewis Hamilton at Sepang.
But both team principal Ross Brawn and Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff insist that, while Mercedes’ drivers are free to race each other, it will still use orders if it feels circumstances require it.
“In fairness, Niki like all of us wants to see his drivers race,” said Brawn, when asked to clarify the situation on team orders at Mercedes.
“None of us as sportsmen like team orders. It is something for us that in rare circumstances I must say is the best decision for the team.
“And in very rare circumstances I am sure we will reach those conclusions again. But we do want the drivers to race each other.
“We don’t want to do it, but there are times when we have to look at the team situation as well as the drivers. And I was obviously delighted and very pleased that the drivers understood and respected the decision we had reached [in Malaysia].”
Wolff added: “There is one order in the team: that is that we would like to see our guys race. We are not racing for ourselves, but we are racing for the spectators and fans and we must never forget that.
“But there could be a situation where we have to intervene from the pit wall, as harmful as it is for the sport.
“Either there is a technical issue, like we had in Malaysia, where you need to inform the drivers that there is a risk of cars breaking down and you need to intervene.
“Then they can either note it themselves and can cope with the situation, or you need to tell them.
“The second possible situation and equally awful is that at the end of the season, if one has the chance of winning the championship or being right at the top and the other hasn’t anymore, we have to ask: do we want to, for the team’s success, intervene?
“They are the possible situations.”
Felipe Massa admitted that he was surprised at the turn of pace shown by some rivals after qualifying fifth for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Brazilian had topped Friday afternoon practice and was second fastest on Saturday morning.
But he ended up qualifying only fifth, over four tenths of a second off Lewis Hamilton’s pole position time.
Asked if he was surprised by the speed of those who had vaulted him, Massa replied: “Yeah, I think so.
“If you look at yesterday, the lap time we did was really good and this morning, I didn’t do a great lap time because I had some traffic in the last sector but it was not bad.
“The other cars improved a lot from this morning to qualifying and to Q3 they improved massively.
“A 1m34s from Lewis was a very good time and the lap time from Kimi [Raikkonen] was very good as well.
“They definitely improved a lot and we lost a few positions that we were looking for from yesterday.
“But the strategy in the race is more important than two or three [grid] positions.”
Massa added that his Ferrari could have the edge over its rivals in Sunday’s Chinese GP in terms of soft tyre degradation.
The Brazilian starts fifth on the grid among a group of seven drivers who all used soft rubber in Q3.
Although this compound is expected to degrade rapidly and force very early pitstops, Massa suspects it might not be as bad for him as for others.
“Even though the soft degradation is high, it was good [in practice] compared to other cars and I hope we have the same tomorrow.
“If we do, the chance to fight with the guys in front is good.
“[Challenging for the podium] is the target for tomorrow and the long runs were good on both tyres.”
Source: Autosport.com
Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo hopes that his performance in qualifying at Shanghai will exorcise his 2012 ghosts. Autosport.com has the news story.
Daniel Ricciardo believes his seventh place on the Chinese Grand Prix grid offers a chance to put his Bahrain 2012 disaster behind him.
The Toro Rosso driver had qualified a breakthrough sixth in Bahrain last season, still the best effort of his Formula 1 career, but had a poor first lap.
He fell to 16th, behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne (who started 17th) and came home 15th.
Another strong qualifying performance means he will start the Chinese GP from seventh and the Australian believes he can do a better job in the race this time.
“It’s been nearly a year since then and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect,” he said.
“It’s something I have in the back of my mind. I’ve been hanging out to get another Q3, another chance to fix everything I didn’t do that day.
“I never repeated it last year so I definitely learned from it. It was a hard but good lesson.
“I’m going to target the guys around me and the guys in front. All the cars in front should be quicker, but if I can try and stay with them by the end it won’t be too bad for us.
“I can’t wait to do what I know I can.”
Ricciardo believes Toro Rosso had to try and see what it could do on the soft tyres, unlike some of his Q3 rivals, and thinks seventh demonstrates the progress made with the STR8.
“It was a good lap,” he added. “I put it all together.
“For Q3 I definitely wanted to try and post a time, give it a crack and see how we went. It paid off well. If we’d been ninth or 10th it’d be a question mark, but to get seventh was really good for us.
“I think today we had to go for it. I think we surprised a few people and surprised ourselves.
“It all started from yesterday. We weren’t extremely fast, but the way we worked was the best Friday we’ve had all season, the best day of testing.
“It looks like we’re on the right path. We’re definitely better off than we were earlier in the season.”
Controversy over Pirelli’s approach to Formula 1 reached a new pitch in China as the sight of an empty track for much of qualifying and soft tyres less durable than perhaps any of the era so far prompted fresh ire from sections of the paddock.
Jonathan Noble rounds up F1 figures’ thoughts on the Shanghai tyre situation.
Mark Webber believes Formula 1 has become ‘a little bit WWF’ thanks to the extreme degradation being delivered by the latest Pirelli tyres.
Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix that most drivers expect to be dominated by difficulties with excessive wear on the soft tyres, Webber suggests the bid to chase spectacle has gone too far.
“It will all look good in the first five or six laps, having everyone fighting, but it’s a little bit WWF at the moment,” said Webber, referring to the former name of the World Wrestling Entertainment series.
Webber also reckoned that the tyres were so sensitive that there was little chance of actually being able to race with them, even if the soft tyre was used for the final stint when cars had less fuel on board.
“[Adrian] Sutil tried that in Melbourne and Pirelli said that there were indications that the race fell apart for him because he tried to race people,” he said.
“Whatever fuel load you have got in the car, if you race people, you are in trouble. So just don’t race, put the tyre on and just try and get home.”
Pole position man Lewis Hamilton admitted that for him the tyre situation was a step into the unknown, especially with big question marks about how long the soft compound will last.
“I don’t feel particularly comfortable with these tyres,” he said. “It doesn’t really last very long, but I believe other people were having the same problems. It is not just us.”
His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg thought the soft tyre situation was pretty extreme.
“For sure it will be quite a crazy race, definitely all over the place,” he said.
“With those tyres it is more of a question of how many corners you are going to get to, rather than laps!
“For sure, and at the start, as we have seen on Friday, there are differences of seconds between some people on options, so it will be very challenging and a lot can happen definitely.”
The nature of the tyres, allied to the rule that stipulates the top 10 qualifiers must start on the tyres that they set their best lap on, meant there was only limited running on Saturday afternoon.
Although that prompted some to question whether high-degrading tyres were now wrecking the spectacle of qualifying, leading figures think that such a scenario is a price worth paying if it makes the racing more exciting.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “I think for qualifying, the show has been detracted from by the tyres we have. That caused the circumstances we have just seen, but the upside is that it is an advantage for the race.”
Jenson Button added: “I totally agree with qualifying being a bit up in the air, and also cars were running very late in Q1, Q2 and Q3.
“In Q3, there was one car in the garage, and two cars driving around like ‘Miss Daisy’ – one of them was me.
“But the positive out of this is that there are going to be seven cars tomorrow with grained tyres that aren’t going to last very long, and you will have guys on pretty much brand new primes fighting their way through.
“So it does hurt qualifying but it helps the race, especially those first few laps of the race where we love a good fight.”
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn expects the race lead to move around quite a lot on Sunday when the top drivers on soft tyres all make an early stop to switch to the medium compound. Some have suggested the first stop could come as early as lap five, although others expect them to last perhaps more than twice that.
“I think it will be a complex race for us tomorrow – and we don’t really know what we’ve got,” explained Brawn.
“There are two very strong competitors in the top 10, maybe three with [Nico] Hulkenberg, on the prime – and they will be leading the race for a while. It will then start to evolve from there.
“It will be an interesting race and those on the soft tyre will drop back into the groups, so it is picking the holes in the traffic.
“I think it will be a great race tomorrow but one we need to be on top of and know what we need to do. Even on prime you cannot go flat out for 20 laps you have to manage the situation as well.”
Source: Autosport.com