Formula 1 Jam

No driver came close to Fernando Alonso as he stormed his way up to pole for tomorrows Chinese Grand Prix. The Renaults looked brilliantly setup and with Michelin’s wet weather tyres superb performance reminiscent of Hungary, were miles ahead of their Red competitors. The Renaults locked the front row in all 3 qualification stages implying quiet simply that Ferrari has the work to do for the rest of the weekend.

Michael’s performance was possibly the best of the 22 drivers. In a car which looked no where close to best in performance and on tyres that struggled all the way thru quali Michael’s greatness came thru as he delivered on prompt. He was in danger of elimination in Q2 and simply went out and banged a hot lap which took him from 14th to 9th. The rain master looked out of sync with the group but that was probably all Bridgestone’s mistake.

The other major hit of the weekend was Doornbos who out qualified all his colleagues(Red Bull and Torro Rosso) in his very first attempt showing that the Red Bull team made a great decision in banking on him. The wet track helped a little as it threw off a few surprises, Massa managed only 13th which automatically means that he will be in the back row thanks to the engine change on friday. The Toyotas struggled and managed only 17th and 18th with Webber and Rosberg qualifying just ahead of them.

Among the drivers 2 clearly stood out. Michael and Alonso, its amazing to watch how dedicated the top 2 drivers are as the fight goes to the finish. Michael was working overtime to get the best result possible and Alonso on the other end of the grid just put up faster sector after faster sector. Twice Alonso put a fastest sector just before pitting(knowing well that the lap wont count). He was on pole by a mile(over 1 sec to the next guy) and he just banged in another faster lap. If he continues this form in tomorrows race(and no bad luck) mathematically he could lap the entire field twice over(which is a tall prediction, I know).

Now to the Predictions. I have 2 sets for this race based on if its wet or not

Wet:
Alonso
Fisichella
Raikonnen/Button/their team mates (discounting accidents of course)

Dry:
Alonso
Michael/Fisichella (Ferrari is extremely competitive on the dry and it will be a close call but doubt Michael will catch Alonso either way)