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The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday.  Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying.  The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

From these weights we can see that Alonso’s time was only possible because he was running on fumes.  He has the lightest car on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber can take comfort from the fact that they set the fastest fuel adjusted times and Nico Rosberg is also quicker than his time would suggest.

Jenson Button is carrying the most fuel of any of the top ten but even allowing for this he just wasn’t as fast as the Red Bulls or even the McLarens.

His Championship is looking less and less certain.

2009 Hungarian Grand Prix car weights

Image: Getty

In an eventful qualifying session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso secured his first pole position since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix.

All the timing screens went blank right at the end of the third session so for a while no-one knew what position they were in.  This led to the bizarre situation of Fernando Alonso asking each of the drivers who had pulled into parc ferme what their lap time was.

It soon became apparent that Alonso had clinched pole position by less than four hundredths of a second from Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.  Mark Webber will line up alongside a resurgent Lewis Hamilton on the second row with Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen on row three.

Despite being on pole, Alonso is not sounding too confident:

We will try (to win) but being honest and realistic, our target is to get some good points. After the last four races where we only scored points in the Nurburgring we need some points for the constructors’, and we know if we start very heavy we go around 8th/9th position.

So it could be that he is running light; we will know more when the car weights are published.

The biggest threat to Alonso and the two Red Bull cars are the KERS equipped McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen who have looked strong all weekend.  Vettel may be starting on the front row but he knows who is just behind him:

For sure the biggest challenge is the threat from cars behind with KERS. The KERS cars are somewhere there, it is a question of where they will pass, left or right, down into Turn One. We will see tomorrow.

The warmer temperatures in Hungary did little to help the Brawn GP cars with Jenson Button qualifying in eighth and Rubens Barrichello failing to make it through to Q3.

The session was stopped briefly after a piece of suspension flew off Rubens Barrichello’s car and struck Felipe Massa in the head causing him to go straight on into the tyre wall at turn four.  Massa escaped serious injury but the 175 mph impact caused the G-warning indicator to light up on his Ferrari and he was airlifted to a nearby hospital as a precautionary measure.

This comes just a week after an accident in the Formula Two race at Brands Hatch claimed the life of Henry Surtees, the son of former World Champion John Surtees, when he was hit in the head by a wheel that had come off another competitor’s car.

2009 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Update: Felipe Massa will not race on Sunday so all drivers from P11 move up a place.

Image: Renault

The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday.  Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying.  The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

From these weights we can see how Brawn GP have been struggling with the temperatures this weekend.  Both cars were fuelled light and although they will be starting behind them on the grid Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton (!) actually posted faster fuel-adjusted lap times.  With more fuel in in his car than the Brawns and KERS onboard, a podium for Lewis Hamilton doesn’t look out of the question.

But Mark Webber’s maiden victory is looking ever more likely.  Starting from pole position and with the same amount of fuel as his team mate he is in a good position.  Webber is only 3.5 points behind Vettel in the Championship and a win on Sunday could see him overtake his team mate in the standings.

2009 German Grand Prix car weights

Image: Red Bull/Getty

Mark Webber has score his first pole position in qualifying for Sunday’s German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

Webber had looked strong in the free practice sessions and in an exciting qualifying session affected by intermittent rain he set a time of 1:32.230, beating Rubens Barrichello to the front of the grid by a bit over a tenth of a second.

Jenson Button will start third alongside local boy Sebastian Vettel on the second row.

After 132 Grands Prix this will be Mark Webber’s first time starting from the front of the grid and he  is clearly fired up to continue the charge and win his first race:

This is a very special day for me. I’ve been close to getting pole a few times in the past, and now we’re here.  The team has done a very good job; I’ve been quick all weekend, but we got really tested today. All the teams and drivers did in that second session – it was very chaotic.

But I’m now in a fantastic position to get my first win. Obviously the Brawns have had a strong season and will push us but we’re up for the fight – I certainly am – and I’m up for trying to win my first race.

McLaren didn’t quite produce the top three finish predicted by Eddie Jordan but a strong fifth and sixth place is a good result for the Woking based team.  The German Grand Prix will be the last big push at developing the MP4-24 with the factory concentrating on next year’s car for the rest of the season.

While his team mate Heikki Kovalainen only had a new front wing, Lewis’s car also had a new diffuser which helped him to the top of the timesheets in free practice.  From fifth on the grid Hamilton is eying a podium:

If it stays dry tomorrow then we’ll definitely be in a good position and we can shoot for the podium for sure.  We could fight the Red Bulls even. I think it will probably be wet though.

Adrian Sutil will be one to watch if it rains.  He produced Force India’s best ever qualifying result of seventh.

2009 Formula One German Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Update: Timo Glock drops to 20th after a 3 place penalty for blocking Alonso.

Image: Red Bull/Getty

The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday.  Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying.  The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

Nobody looks particularly out of place, although Kazuki Nakajima’s time was only possible because he was fuelled lighter than anyone else on the grid.

What it does show is how fast Sebastian Vettel really was.  His team mate Mark Webber was fuelled lighter than him but could only manage 3rd.  Vettel looks a lot faster than anyone else on the grid.

2009 British Grand Prix car weights

Image: Red Bull / Getty