We don’t need no stinkin’ diffusers
Sebastian Vettel showed you can still go fast in Formula One without a fancy double-decker diffuser. While car designer Adrian Newey is back at the factory figuring out how to bolt a new back end onto the car, Vettel drove the RB5 to Red Bull’s first pole position in qualifying for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Team mate Mark Webber also did well and almost looked like he was going to take pole but he will start third behind Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard’s car was running with an interim diffuser although Renault decided not to use KERS. In fact out of twenty cars, only three (Heidfeld’s BMW and the two McLarens) will be running a KERS device in the race.
For the first time this season there is no Brawn GP car on the front row with Barrichello starting from fourth and Jenson Button behind him in fifth.
Once Adrian Newey comes up with a new diffuser that fits the RB5 suspension, will Red Bull take over from Brawn GP as the team to beat?
2009 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1:36.184 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:36.381 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:36.466 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:36.493 |
| 5 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:36.532 |
| 6 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:36.835 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:37.397 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:38.089 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.595 |
| 10 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:39.321 |
| 11 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:35.975 |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:36.032 |
| 13 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:36.033 |
| 14 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:36.193 |
| 15 | Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:36.906 |
| 16 | Nelson Piquet Jr | Renault | 1:36.908 |
| 17 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:36.966 |
| 18 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:37.669 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:36.066 |
| 20 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 1:37.672 |
Update: Timo Glock drops five places after a gearbox change.
Image: Getty
Thank goodness for Mike Gascoigne – not only is he far more interesting to listen to than Eddie, he really vindicated Ross Brawn on today’s BBC coverage of qualifying by saying, in essence:
I was at the working group meeting, and we were talking about a loophole in the regulations elsewhere on the car, and Ross said, “There are some other loopholes I’d like to talk about,” and the BMW and Renault representatives said, “No, we don’t want to talk about this any more,” and in the working group, decisions have to be unanimous – so, as soon as one team objects, you stop talking about it, because there’s no point in going any further.
Looks like Brawn’s conscience really is clear!
Interesting insight into the unanimity of FOTA! I missed the lead-up and only caught qualifying itself but I totally agree about Gascoigne.
Give Jordan the boot and leave Gascoigne in!