28/03/2009
NEWS STORY
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Ahead of today's all-important qualifying session the air temperature is 24 degrees C, while the track temperature is 32 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.
Williams Nico Rosberg has set the pace in every session thus far, therefore the big question is can he maintain this pace in qualifying and then the race? Williams is one of three teams - the diffuser dissidents as we call them - to have exploited a loophole in the regulations and come up with a device that has its rivals seething with rage at what they see as gamesmanship, yet green with envy that they didn't come up with it.
The fact that all six drivers using the 'special' diffusers have been at the top of the timesheets for much of the weekend, suggests that along with Williams, Toyota and Brawn must figure as potential pole-grabbers not to say race winners, however, will the rival teams, realising that they have little else to lose, throw caution to the wind, adopt a special pole-at-all-costs qualifying strategy and spring a surprise. We'll soon know.
Of special interest, especially in the early stages of the session, will be the pace of Kimi Raikkonen, who completed just 5 laps this morning, not to mention McLaren, BMW and Renault.
The lights go green, however, unlike the previous sessions, there is no queue in the pitlane. Just over a minute later, Fisichella heads the pitlane followed by Buemi and Rosberg. Raikkonen is another 'early bird' as are the Williams boys.
Fisichella crosses the line at 1:28.840, but Massa, Rosberg and Sutil are already on very, very fast laps.
Rosberg goes quickest with a 27.833 as Massa goes second, moments later however, Sutil goes second with a 8.114. Raikkonen goes sixth.
On his second flyer, Rosberg improves with a 7.083, as Buemi momentarily goes second with a 27.949 before being bumped down by Massa.
A 26.752 sees Nakajima go quickest, as his teammate goes wide. Elsewhere, Raikkonen goes third with a 27.254. On his next lap the Finn goes quickest in the first sector, finally crossing the line at 6.615 to take the top spot.
Barrichello goes fourth as Hamilton goes out on the softer option tyre. Webber goes third, splitting the Williams.
From out of nowhere, Alonso produces a 26.474 to go quickest, however, Barrichello is on a hot lap having gone quickest in the second sector. The Brawn driver crosses the line at 26.247 to go quickest.
Hamilton goes second (26.454) having gone quickest in the second sector, however, all eyes are on Button. The Englishman crosses the line at 26.253 to make it a Brawn 1-2 as teammate Barrichello improves to 25.815.
Rosberg improves again to split the Brawns as Glock posts 26.648 to go fifth. The diffuser dissidents fill four of the top five positions.
With just over six minutes remaining, Massa and Kubica are in the drop zone, with Kovalainen far from safe.
Kubica improves to fifth, as Massa goes quickest in the first sector. Trulli still in eighteenth.
Massa goes second with a 25.844, as Raikkonen goes quickest in the first sector, the Finn showing that he's lost none of his naked pace. He's quickest in the second sector also, however, a mistake in the final sector means he can only manage fourth.
Just over two minutes remain and Trulli and Kovalainen are still in the drop zone, along with the Force Indias and Bourdais.
A 25.427 sees Webber improve from thirteenth to quickest, much to the approval of the partisan crowd.
Glock goes quickest in the first sector, as teammate Trulli goes seventh with a 26.194. Elsewhere, Button goes quickest in the first sector, however, Barrichello and Alonso are also on hot laps.
No sooner has Button gone quickest than he is demoted by his teammate, both Brawn drivers setting their best times on their last runs in this phase.
At the first hurdle, along with the Force Indias and Toro Rossos we lose Nelson Piquet, Hamilton, Kovalainen and Trulli escaping the chop by the skin of their teeth.
Quickest was Barrichello, ahead of Button, Webber, Glock, Heidfeld, Massa, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Kubica and Vettel.
The lights go green to signal the start of phase two of the session, after a minute's wait, Kimi Raikkonen is first out.
As the Finn begins his first flying lap, Massa, Trulli, Glock and the Brawns head down the pitlane. The 2007 champion posts 25.380, as it is revealed that Lewis Hamilton's session is over, a problem with the drive on the MP4-24.
Massa goes second and Trulli third, only to be demoted by Glock who goes quickest with a 25.281. Moments later, Barrichello goes second (5.287), but is then dropped to third as his Brawn teammate goes quickest with a 25.205.
Webber takes second with a 25.241, the Australian pulling out all the stops here. Moments later, his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel takes the spot, crossing the line at 25.121.
A 25.123 sees Rosberg go second, as attention shifts to the BMW drivers who have yet to post a time.
Heidfeld goes eleventh with a 25.635, while teammate Kubica posts 25.152 to go third. Heidfeld, of course, is running KERS, while Kubica isn't.
Kovalainen, currently fourteenth, is on track and looking to improve on 25.937. It's a good lap but that MP4-24 simply doesn't have the necessary grip, he fails to improve.
All fourteen drivers on track with less than two minutes remaining.
Massa improves to eighth with a 25.319, it's still anyone's call as to who will make the cut and who will fail, it's incredibly tight.
Barrichello goes quickest with a 24.783 as Button posts 24.855.Heidfeld goes tenth, which dumps Alonso well and truly into the drop zone.
As phase two ends, along with the McLarens we lose Nakajima, Alonso and Heidfeld.
Quickest was Barrichello, ahead of Button, Vettel, Rosberg, Kubica, Webber, Trulli, Glock, Massa and Raikkonen.
The final phase begins and the Brawns are first out, though it isn't long before the other eight drivers join them.
Button gets out of shape and runs wide, finally crossing the line at 26.600. Moments later Barrichello posts 27.161.
A 28.110 sees Rosberg go third, as Raikkonen takes fourth with a 28.798 before being demoted by Trulli.
Massa is pushing hard but to no avail, as Rosberg improves to third with a 8.068, only to be demoted by Webber (27.520).
Vettel goes fourth ahead of Kubica, as the Ferraris are relegated to ninth and tenth.
Massa, like his teammate on the harder tyre, tells his crew he has a puncture, but they deny this.
The drivers make their stops before the final runs, the setting sun meaning that temperatures are falling unlike the lap times.
Barrichello goes quickest in the first sector, finally crossing the line at 26.505 to take provisional pole. However, Button is on a hot lap having gone quickest in the first sector.
Kubica goes third with a 26.914, as Button posts 26.202 to take provisional pole back from his teammate.
Vettel takes third, as Rosberg goes fifth ahead of Glock, while Webber can only manage tenth, behind Raikkonen. Then again, let's not forget, with drivers running this last phase on the race fuel loads perhaps the Australian and his team are playing the long game.
To sum up, Button starts from pole ahead of Barrichello, Vettel, Kubica, Rosberg, Glock, Massa, Trulli, Raikkonen and Webber.
A fantastic result for the Brackley outfit - even though at least 275 employees will have little to celebrate this weekend - while Vettel and Kubica pulled out all the stops to ensure that the diffuser dissidents didn't have it al their own way.
Looking ahead, one has to believe that Red Bull are taking no chances, and have Vettel and Webber on entirely different strategies, while we wouldn't be surprised to see Toyota spring a surprise or two tomorrow.
For Ferrari it was all about damage limitation, however, the Italian team's problems are nothing compared to those of Renault and McLaren.
While race fans have wished the last five months away, a number of teams will be wishing the next couple of weeks away, keen to discover whether they can beat the diffuser dissidents or join them.