European GP. Qualifying Report. The formerly useless McLaren team took their first front row lockout of the season in qualifying for the European Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking pole position and his team mate Heikki Kovalainen ending just behind him. McLaren are now looking like the form team at this stage of the season, with Hamilton following up his win in Hungary with pole position here, in a session that he seemed to be in complete control of.
Nevertheless, Kovalainen could have pipped his illustrious world champion team mate at the last, having hooked up a super-quick lap on his final run. But the Finn made a horrible mess of the final corner, and ruined his chance. Hamilton, who was on a quick lap of his own at the time, was then left to tour into the pits, as the rest of his challengers chose to abandon their own final runs through a combination of slowness and boredom.
All that left a Brawn in 3rd, but it was Rubens Barrichello who took the place, rather than the championship leader. Jenson Button could only manage 5th, and although the team will be happy with their new-found pace, they will be less happy that Sebastian Vettel managed to outqualify Button in 4th.
The Red Bull car again looked a handful around the circuit, and the true picture of the relative pace of the two title-chasing teams will only really become apparent when fuel levels are released.
Sixth went to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, who just managed to climb ahead of the Williams of Nico Rosberg on his last timed lap. Home favourite Fernando Alonso was eighth, while Button's current nearest challenger in the championship, Mark Webber, could only struggle to ninth in the second Red Bull. The BMW of Robert Kubica was the slightly surprising face that completed the top ten.
Kubica will start one place ahead of his team mate Nick Heidfeld, who was eliminated in Q2 but still managed his best qualifying performance of the year, with the BMW Sauber team showing a decent turn of pace as they continue to develop the car as they seek a buyer for 2010.
Also out in Q2 was the Force India of Adrian Sutil, though the FP3 session-topper will be pleased enough with 12th place, as the team again look to secure their first ever F1 championship point.
Timo Glock's Toyota, Romain Grosjean's Renault and Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso also departed in the second session, with Grosjean assuming the subservient role vacated by Nelson Piquet Jr in the Renault team, of "the guy who drops out a session before Alonso does".
FP1 saw a few surprises in those eliminated. Most notable wa the second Ferrari of Luca Badoer, who had admitted he was treating this weekend as a test session in the new Ferrari, though he would ideally have been looking to do better than last place on the grid, some 1.5 seconds off the pace of even 19th place Jamie Alguersuari to boot. Apparently that marks the first time a Ferrari has ever qualified dead last for a grand prix, which is another unwanted award that Luca can add to his record of "most GP starts without a point".
Jarno Trulli was also out in the first session, qualifying a dismal 18th as Toyota once again struggled around a street track as they had in Monaco. Giancarlo Fisichella and Kazuki Nakajima, whose Williams car broke down before the end of Q1, completed the list of those out at the first hurdle.
But the session itself belonged to Hamilton, and it now looks, fuel loads aside, hard to see how the McLaren team will be beaten in the race tomorrow. The title rivals may well have to get used to fighting for the prize further back while the McLarens take the wins from now on.
| Qualifying Times | |||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:39.498 |
| 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:39.532 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:39.563 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 1:39.789 |
| 5 | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:39.821 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:40.144 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | 1:40.185 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:40.236 |
| 9 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | 1:40.239 |
| 10 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:40.512 |
| 11* | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:38.826 |
| 12* | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | 1:38.846 |
| 13* | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:38.991 |
| 14* | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:39.040 |
| 15* | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:39.514 |
| 16** | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Mercedes | 1:39.531 |
| 17** | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | 1:39.795 |
| 18** | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:39.807 |
| 19** | Jamie Alguersuari | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:39.925 |
| 20** | Luca Badoer | Ferrari | 1:41.413 |
* - Out in second session
** - Out in first session
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