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[vlad]

Well, there really are few things I have to say about this quali session:
First of all, fantastic lap by Hamilton, Maldonado and Alonso. Really great. Kimi lost time in 3rd sector, I still don't know why or how... Red Bull drivers may be sandbagging a bit. They talked and talked about tire management and this really looks like saving for the race, 'cause their quali pace wasn't that good. I still don't understand Button's problems. I hope that Lewis's car is fine too. We will have a great race tomorrow, with many overtaking moves, especially on the start. Can't wait to see it!

[Frontrunner]

Qualifying needs a tweek, this saving tyre thing takes the fun out of Quali a bit. Sure it mixes up the grid but would still like to see a real Quali session, well thats what I think anyway.

[yamashek]

I really think they should give 1 point for the pole sitter, spice things up a bit.

On other news, congratulations to Williams and Ferrari. Unfortunately, thumbs down for Mclaren . Seems like their stop is due to fuel levels, remember Canada 2010?

FIA Charlie Whiting did issue statement stating that teams will be summoned to the stewards if they stop at the track after fastest lap in Q3. If the issue is about fuel, then I hope they get penalty from this. If not, every team is going to try to run just enough fuel for the lap and just let the car stop after the quick lap.

EDIT: Everyone should head for their favourite weather station and look up Barcelona...possible rain?! Whoa..

[vaptin]

Yeah qualifying only tyres are really needed.

Great session though, where did Williams pull that from?

Lotus look good too on the basis of long run pace.

Hamilton was being cheered for stopping on track? At first I thought it was for getting pole! Still he didn't seem bothered.

How good is the Mclaren's race pace? Alonso usually makes great starts but long pace is still an unknown for the upgraded Ferrari, and the Williams has looked pretty good.

I just hope the drivers who used tyres by going out and qualifying aren't penalised by those with fresh tyres in the race, maybe Q3 will turn into a race for the fastest outlap.

Should be a lot of position changes I think.

[yamashek]

One of the presenters made a good point..

"Passing Maldonado will not be easy"

...I tend to, agree.

RE: Spa- Maldonado Vs Hamilton

[geetface9]

NOT BAD FROM THE PAY DRIVER MALDONADO, AMIRITE?! BOOOOOOOOOM MOTHER WILLIAMS IS ROLLING DEEP SON!!!!!




ANYWAY, I still think vettel will find a way to get on the podium the race pace of the red bull is good, and I think webber can get up to 5th-6th. The only problem I see with that are raikkonen and grosjean. I can't picture webber having much of an issue getting by rosberg and msc. Ok, msc might be a little tough but overall the pace should be better than the cars between webber and the last half of the top ten qualifiers. I'm thinking the ferrari will sink back a bit because of tire degradation. I'll definitely be picking the top dogs with renault engines in my f1 pool

[What's Burning?]

The most elegant solution I've heard so far is to give everyone that makes it to Q3 an option tire to use, only to be used in Q3 and given back so there would be absolutely no advantage to sandbagging.

Qualifying has become a joke. Strategy for race day is all well and good but it's absolutely boring to watch as a fan.

[Ferrari man 009]

Top 3 all drove perfect laps for their cars, and kudos to them. Fair play to the 2 Lotuses, Perez and Rosberg who at least attempted a lap.

Other than the top 3 and Perez, thought everyone else's Qualifying performance was average - poor.

Anyone who says they predicted that Top 3 is lying!

by the way:

Dream quali for lewis no championship contenders near him should be an amazing race people coming through from the back, Just worried about hammy pulling over please no gremlins

I think you forgot about Alonso. You can hardly say he isn't a championship contender. Ferrari have already halved the gap to the leaders, and Alonso is capable of doing the rest!

[spankyham]

What a Q! If you'd offered me a 4th for Nando yesterday I'd have jumped at it, so 3rd really shows that the F2012 is close to being a competitive car. Just a few things I noticed about today.

1) the F2012's best sector was S3 - which is the traction sector. The F2012 matched the McLaren there and that pretty much shows that the team is on top of both the traction and the down-force problems. Very pleasing that the F2012 was good on both compounds and both full and light fuel loads. Here's hoping Ferrari can continue the tradition of being better in the race than Q

2) The RB8 for the second race in a row has dialed up a huge amount of wing to give greater DF. This is hurting them in terms of tyres and top speed. They are by a very long way the slowest Renault powered cars - bearing in mind that the Lotus is the fastest car in terms of top speed.

3) Congrats to McLaren on their 150th pole. The big question for the team is the convert Q performance into race performance.

4) Another very solid effort from the Perez and the Sauber team.

5) Which Lotus will cross the line first

6) No loss Narain falling victim to the 107% rule.

[Ferrari man 009]

Hamilton's problem was a lack of fuel in the car - could be in trouble with the stewards as stopping on the track for fuel reasons in Q3 is not allowed!

[FerrariFan63]

Hamilton's problem was a lack of fuel in the car - could be in trouble with the stewards as stopping on the track for fuel reasons in Q3 is not allowed!

My prediction is that the stewards will ignore the rule breaking. Or give him or the team a monetary fine.

[vlad]

I would not like to see that in the end it was the fuel problem, but if it was, the rules are the same for everyone.

[FerrariFan63]

I would not like to see that in the end it was the fuel problem, but if it was, the rules are the same for everyone.

The stewards are taking a very light touch this year. Apart from things such as gearbox changes, when has someone near the front of a qualification or race actually received a serious penalty?

[Ferrari man 009]

I would not like to see that in the end it was the fuel problem, but if it was, the rules are the same for everyone.

If this happened, I think the fairest ruling would be to delete his final lap, and only count his 2nd fastest time, which would still put him 3rd behind Maldonado and Alonso. Pretty silly from McLaren if this is true, another 1-2 litres and Hamilton would still have comfortably been on pole!

[PartsaS]

Seems like Hamilton's performance had a big impact on some people...