Fernando Alonso kept his cool on a very confusing saturday at Hungary to take the coverted pole for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.  The Spaniard survived a scare in Q1 jumping from 18th to 6th and barely survived making it to Q3 when he finished Q2 on 9th(after not electing to do a second run).  Despite all that the true action surrounded the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian was struck by a piece of rear suspension from Barrichello‘s Brawn.  The impact knocked out the Ferrari driver causing the car to go head on onto the tyre barrier.  Felipe was later confirmed to be doing fine at the Medical center.

The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber will line up behind Alonso making it three Renault engines in the top 3.  Hamilton was the best of the Mc Larens as they search for their lost form.  The Mercedes powered car is expected to be the dark horse thanks to the KERS it is carrying.

Qualification Results:

1. Fernando Alonso, Renault – 1′21.569
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault – 1′21.607
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault – 1′21.741
4. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′21.839
5. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota – 1′21.890
6. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′22.095
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari – 1′22.468
8. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes – 1′22.511
9. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota – 1′22.835
10. Felipe Massa, Ferrari – no time
11. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1′21.002
12. Jarno Trulli, Toyota – 1′21.082
13. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes – 1′21.222
14. Timo Glock, Toyota – 1′21.242
15. Nelson Piquet Jnr, Renault – 1′21.389
16. Nick Heidfeld, BMW – 1′21.738
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes – 1′21.807
18. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes – 1′21.868
19. Robert Kubica, BMW – 1′21.901
20. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1′22.369

Vettel is the heaviest drivers in the top 10 and that should bode well for the German as he will look to claw back to the top in the World Drivers Championship.

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 666.5 kg
2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 657.5
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 659.5
4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 658
5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 652.5
6. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 657.5
7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 661.5
8. Timo Glock, Toyota, 660
9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 654
10. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 654
11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 675
12. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 689.5
13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 695.5
14. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 682.5
15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 665.5
16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 668
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 687.5
18. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 692
19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 666
20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 672.5

Results from qualification for the 2009 British Grand Prix:

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        1:18.685  1:18.119  1:19.509
 2.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          1:19.325  1:18.335  1:19.856
 3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        1:18.674  1:18.209  1:19.868
 4.  Trulli       Toyota                  1:18.886  1:18.240  1:20.091
 5.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         1:18.530  1:18.575  1:20.216
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          1:18.957  1:18.663  1:20.289
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         1:19.228  1:18.591  1:20.361
 8.  Glock        Toyota                  1:19.198  1:18.791  1:20.490
 9.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 1:19.010  1:18.566  1:20.715
10.  Alonso       Renault                 1:19.167  1:18.761  1:20.741
11.  Massa        Ferrari                 1:19.148  1:18.927
12.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              1:19.730  1:19.308
13.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        1:19.732  1:19.353
14.  Piquet       Renault                 1:19.555  1:19.392
15.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              1:19.559  1:19.448
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes    1:19.802
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:19.898
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    1:19.909
19.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        1:19.917
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:20.236

Here is the list of the provisional grid and the weight of each respective car (as released by the FIA)

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 645
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 668
10. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 660
11. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 676.6
12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.4
13. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 676.3
14. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 683
15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 669
18. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 657
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 675
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 656

Button put together a brilliant lap in the dying seconds of qualification to steal pole from Vettel.  The current championship leader will line up in front of his teammate who qualified third after an awesome show in qualification.  Ferrari had mixed fortunes as Massa qualified forth and Raikkonen ended up sixteenth.

Qualification Results:

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          1:20.707  1:20.192  1:20.527
 2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        1:20.715  1:20.220  1:20.660
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          1:20.808  1:19.954  1:20.762
 4.  Massa        Ferrari                 1:20.484  1:20.149  1:20.934
 5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        1:20.689  1:20.007  1:21.049
 6.  Glock        Toyota                  1:20.877  1:20.107  1:21.247
 7.  Trulli       Toyota                  1:21.189  1:20.420  1:21.254
 8.  Alonso       Renault                 1:21.186  1:20.509  1:21.392
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         1:20.745  1:20.256  1:22.558
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              1:20.931  1:20.408  1:22.685
11.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         1:20.818  1:20.531
12.  Piquet       Renault                 1:21.128  1:20.604
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              1:21.095  1:20.676
14.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        1:20.991  1:20.805
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:21.033  1:21.067
16.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 1:21.291
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:21.300
18.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        1:21.675
19.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    1:21.742
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes    1:22.204

Pre Race Weights & Provisional Grid for the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix:

1. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 648.5 kg
2. Timo Glock, Toyota, 643
3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 659
4. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 652.5
5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 652.5
6. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649
7. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 650.5
8. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 664.5
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 670.5
10. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 671.5
11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 678.5
12. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 680.9
13. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 698.6
14. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 696.3
15. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.6
16. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678.5
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 652
18. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 656
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 679
20. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 667.5

Notes:

• Trulli outqualified his team mate with a much higher fuel load and with a margin of about .3s
• Vettel must be the favourite considering that he is carrying almost 4 laps of fuel more into the race.
• The Ferrari’s are on a much higher fuel load, indicating that they might start on the Harder tyre.
• Kubica and Heidfeld look like they are on single stoppers, it will be worth watching if we have a BMW train in the race.

Sebastian Vettel took top honors on Saturday qualification by taking pole for the Chinese Grand Prix.  The German who later revealed that he had car problems that limited his running, set the times on single hot laps in Q2 and Q3.

Fernando Alonso produced a magnificent lap to push the Renault to its highest starting position in over a year.  The double world champ showed his class in a car that had been modified to include upgrades just the night before.

Mark Webber will line up right behind his team mate on the starting grid after an impressive performance in both Q2 and Q3.

Q1

The session started with a surprise as Lewis Hamilton’s upgraded Mc Laren challenged the top runners.  The Mc Laren running a new aero package looked much more impressive than it had in the recent past.  Hiekki running in the other Mc Laren was running with the old car(without the upgrades) and struggled thru the session.

Kubica was the surprise elimination in this round, as the Pole suffered heavily after a mistake in his final run.  Nelson Piquet Jnr continued with his bad qualifying streak finishing 17th

Eliminated Drivers:

Sebastien Bourdais 1′36.906
Nelson Piquet Jnr 1′36.908
Robert Kubica 1′36.966
Adrian Sutil 1′37.669
Giancarlo Fisichella 1′37.672

Q2

Q2 saw the drivers attempt to set the fastest times of the weekend.  Hamilton looked strong but his team mate suffered with an ill handling car, managing to qualify 12th.

Massa was the big surprise of the session finishing 13th, it was later revealed that he was delayed by one of the Red Bulls.

Heidfeld, Glock and Nakajima joined them as the drivers eliminated in Q2.  Sebastien Buemi impressed by squeezing into Q3

Eliminated Drivers:
Nick Heidfeld 1′35.975
Heikki Kovalainen 1′36.032
Felipe Massa 1′36.033
Timo Glock 1′36.066
Kazuki Nakajima 1′36.193

Q3

It looked like it would be a fight between Brawn and Red Bull, with Hamilton in the mix but the climax had something else in mind.

The usual suspects topped the times in the initial laps but it was the Red Bulls that were gunning for glory.  First it was Webber with a brilliant lap to put his car on Pole, only to be dethroned moments later by a charged up Vettel.

Alonso produced the surprise of the session jumping the Red Bulls and Brawns to a front row starting position.

Top 10:
Sebastian Vettel 1′36.184
Fernando Alonso 1′36.381
Mark Webber 1′36.456
Rubens Barrichello 1′36.493
Jenson Button 1′36.532
Jarno Trulli 1′36.835
Nico Rosberg 1′37.397
Kimi Raikkonen 1′38.089
Lewis Hamilton 1′38.595
Sebastien Buemi 1′39.321

Jenson Button produced another immaculate performance to seize pole position for the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix. The Briton looked like he would not be able to repeat his Australian pole, with Ferrari, Reb Bull, Toyota and Williams looking very strong in earlier practice sessions. But Brawn GP topped the time sheets when it mattered most and took top honors.

Q1

First session of qualification saw times tumbling as driver after driver took the coverted P1. It was clear that the soft tyre was the choice of all the teams for qualification. With the threat of rain looming, most runners did early runs to get times on the card before the rain came. But the rain was never meant to disrupt qualification and in the squabble Fillepe Massa lost out majorly not choosing to do a final run and watching himself drop into elimination.

Nelson Piquet once again failed to outperform his team mate, even when Fernando Alonso was suffering an ear infection and clearly not at his best. The Force India cars will join the Renault driver at the back of the grid, along with Buemi. The latter failed to do a proper final run costing him entry into Q2

Eliminated cars:
16. Felipe Massa 1′35.642
17. Nelson Piquet Jnr 1′35.708
18. Giancarlo Fisichella 1′35.908
19. Adrian Sutil 1′35.951
20. Sebastien Buemi 1′36.107

Q2
The second session showed the clear poweress of the Brawn cars as Button topped the time sheets, producing the fastest lap of the weekend. The session also saw the McLaren cars fail to match the top times. The two silver arrow cars separated by just 0.019s, indicating that Hiekki has clearly upped his game since last season.

Nick Heidfeld could not match his team mate and finished the session 11th thanks mostly to a spirited Fernando Alonso putting in an impressive lap to push the Renault to Q3. Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Bourdais were the other cars eliminated in this round

Eliminated Cars:
11. Nick Heidfeld 1′34.769
12. Kazuki Nakajima 1′34.788
13. Lewis Hamilton 1′34.905
14. Heikki Kovalainen 1′34.924
15. Sebastien Bourdais 1′35.431

Q3

With the Renault looking clearly out of sorts, Fernando Alonso elected to run just a single lap. The Renault ended the session 10th looking like it was carrying a fair amount of fuel. The Spaniard clearly will be hoping for some rain tomorrow.

Trulli looked strong making two runs with his soft tyres and taking P1 by just 0.004s. But it was Button who took his second consecutive pole in style at the end of the session. Vettel and Barichello followed the top two, the duo will start 13th and 9th after their penalties. Glock, Rosberg, Kubica, Webber and Raikonnen benefiting mostly from the duo’s penalties will start two places higher than their qualifying position.

1. Jenson Button 1′35.181
2. Jarno Trulli 1′35.273
3. Sebastian Vettel 1′35.518
4. Rubens Barrichello 1′35.651
5. Timo Glock 1′35.690
6. Nico Rosberg 1′35.750
7. Mark Webber 1′35.797
8. Robert Kubica 1′36.106
9. Kimi Raikkonen 1′36.170
10. Fernando Alonso 1′37.659

Brawn GP pulled off the expected by snatching the front row in spectacular fashion at the Australian Grand Prix, ending all speculation about which car is the fastest of the 2009 lot. Button and Barrichello were immaculate in everyone of the three sessions, topping the time sheets consistently. The hour long session also confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team was struggling to find the required pace from the car.

Q1
Times tumbled rapidly in Q1 which saw a lot of teams setting impressive times. The green street track was still not at its best by the end of the session but the pecking order was almost established. While McLaren struggled, Brawn GP took the top positions… something we would get used to by the end of the evening.

Eliminated Cars:

16  	Sebastien Buemi  	STR-Ferrari  	1:26.503
17 	Nelsinho Piquet 	Renault 	1:26.598
18 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Force India-Mercedes 	1:26.677
19 	Adrian Sutil 	Force India-Mercedes 	1:26.742
20 	Sebastien Bourdais 	STR-Ferrari 	1:26.964

Q2:

Q2 started in shocking fashion for McLaren, Lewis Hamilton had suffered a loss of drive in his final run of Q1. The mechanics later announced that the car could not be repaired before the end of the session, ending all hopes of the champ setting a time in Q2. In the end it probably wouldnt have mattered, Heikki’s car only managed 14th and he had been faster than Lewis in every session this weekend.

Fernando Alonso was looking good to make it to Q3 but a mistake in the final corner saw him finish 12th behind Nick Heidfeld. It can be a costly mistake for the Spaniard who was hopeful of a podium in the opening race.

Eliminated Cars:

11  	Nick Heidfeld  	BMW Sauber  	1:25.504
12 	Fernando Alonso 	Renault 	1:25.605
13 	Kazuki Nakajima 	Williams-Toyota 	1:25.607
14 	Heikki Kovalainen 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:25.726
15 	Lewis Hamilton 	McLaren-Mercedes 	no time

Q3:

Final session of Qualification saw the Brawn GP cars running away with the top honors. It seemed like Rubens Barrichello would steal pole but Button plucked it from under his nose in the dying moments. Ferrari struggled to even bother the top runners as Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel snatched third behind the Brawn cars.

1  	Jenson Button  	Brawn-Mercedes  	1:26.202
2 	Rubens Barrichello 	Brawn-Mercedes 	1:26.505
3 	Sebastian Vettel 	RBR-Renault 	1:26.830
4 	Robert Kubica 	BMW Sauber 	1:26.914
5 	Nico Rosberg 	Williams-Toyota 	1:26.973
6 	Timo Glock 	Toyota 	1:26.975
7 	Felipe Massa 	Ferrari 	1:27.033
8 	Jarno Trulli 	Toyota 	1:27.127
9 	Kimi Räikkönen 	Ferrari 	1:27.163
10 	Mark Webber 	RBR-Renault 	1:27.246

News Update: Lewis Hamilton’s car’s gearbox has been replaced by the McLaren team as a precautionary measure. This means he will be sent to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Toyota cars are sent to back of grid for wing infringement. Details here

If anyone had predicted accurately the starting grid for the 2008 Spanish GP, they would have probably been laughed at. On a race track that was well known to every team and driver on the gird, came the most unexpected qualification sessions in a very long time.

Starting in the front row for the first time this season will be two champions. The man on the head of the grid would have been easily predictable but not the man that lines up next to him on row one. Fernando Alonso produced a magical evening of pace impressing in every session of qualification and finally producing something special to take P2.

The usual comment will be he was light on fuel and that explains his qualification. Well then consider that Renaults were never further than .3s away from the pack leading Ferraris. Renault have clearly been the Spanish surprise!

Renault how much ever you may disagree have done everything right so far. If there is a first corner incident tommorow, they will be happy they are in the head of the field.

The Grid for tommorow’s race:

1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.701 1:20.784 1:21.813 17
2 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:21.347 1:20.804 1:21.904 18
3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:21.528 1:20.584 1:22.058 16
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:21.423 1:20.597 1:22.065 13
5 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.366 1:20.825 1:22.096 14
6 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.430 1:20.817 1:22.231 15
7 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.494 1:20.984 1:22.429 19
8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:21.158 1:20.907 1:22.529 19
9 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.466 1:20.815 1:22.542 20
10 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:21.409 1:20.894 1:22.699 18
11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:21.548 1:21.049 12
12 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:21.690 1:21.117 15
13 Jenson Button Honda 1:21.757 1:21.211 12
14 Timo Glock Toyota 1:21.427 1:21.230 16
15 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:21.472 1:21.349 15
16 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:21.540 1:21.724 15
17 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:21.810 6
18 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:22.108 10
19 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:22.516 11
20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:23.224 8
21 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.318 9
22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.496 9

Ferrari have looked clearly strong all weekend and I wont be surprised with a 1-2 for them tommorow. But who will take that remaining podium position. Lots of contenders Robert Kubica, Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen & Fernando Alonso. I would be wary of Lewis if I was starting next to him… god only knows if the simple system made for Lewis is simple enough to work But seriously, last year Lewis started 4th and finished 2nd. He will be the wild card but something tells me that the Mc Laren is not its usual self this weekend. That being said I would probably put my money on Heikki to put one over Lewis in the race. Robert looks strong but who knows what this weekend has in store!