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[The Second Coming]

It means that when Webber and Button have a car that suits their style, they will occasionally beat their team mates.
It means that when Vettel and Hamilton have a car that suits their style, they destroy their team mates in qualifying.

I don't necessarily agree with the first line in Lewis' case. The car was superb for Jenson in the pre-season and in Australia, yet, when qualifying was over, Lewis was still up .300 on pole. Regarding your second statement, I think for Lewis and Vettel, the car doesn't even have to suit their style—they adapt and tweak their cars on Friday and by Saturday, their team-mates still feel their wrath in qualifying. Mark is a bit better at making the adjustment over Button and it shows.

I'm just saying...

[racechick]

Kindov agree with both you to
Im just sayin...

[DSedgwick]

So, here we are after eight rounds of season 2012 and within each team, there is an interesting dynamic taking shape...qualifying duels between team-mates. As of Valencia:

Caterham
Kovalainen - 7
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 5
Pic - 3

HRT
de la Rosa - 8
Karthikeyan - 0

Some of the results are not shocking (Lewis/Button, Alonso/Massa and Rosberg/Schumi) but I find the Grosjean/Raikkonen and Kovalainen/Petrov duel interesting. Yes, Kimmi has been away for two years but he returned with not much edge lost in the pre-season and he was a brilliant qualifier before he left for rallying pastures. I expected this dual to be closer...maybe even. For Petrov, he was a useful pair of hands when he was with Renault, a better car than the Caterham. I expected him to give Kovi a much harder time but honestly, so far, he hasn't put up much of a fight. Interesting!



I'm just saying...

I think kovi is a lot better driver than people give him credit for, he was only 3-4tenths off lewis at mclaren, better than No Grip to be honest

And quite often faster than Hamilton e.g. Silverstone (especially when fuel adjusted)

[DSedgwick]

Did you know you can bet on team-mates in qualifying? I've won a few quid this year on backing Kobayashi to be quicker than Perez and Webber
to outqualify Vettel.

I'm also going to back Grosjean to outqualify Raikkonen at Silverstone - it seems some people just can't accept the fact that the Frenchman is quicker - good news
for me, because it will mean some good odds for Romain. I think he'll probably be about 3 - 4 tenths quicker than Kimi in qualiy. Anyone fancy any of these prices?

http://www.betonf1.com/teammates/Raikko ... sjean.html

For being half a second quicker, there's 10/1 available on Raikkonen for any hard core Kimi fans!!

My advice? Don't waste your money - go with Grosjean

[The Second Coming]

As far as updates go, no real surprises. No real shift in the trend...well...maybe a slight move for Webber and Karthikeyan seem to be making a bid to catch up. Round nine may be an asterisk round by some since it was marred by rain but nonetheless, it's qualifying, regardless of conditions. After round 9 quali:

Red Bull
Webber - 5
Vettel - 4

McLaren
Hamilton - 9
Button - 0

Ferrari
Alonso - 9
Massa - 0

Mercedes
Rosberg - 5
Schumi - 4

Lotus
Grosjean - 6
Raikkonen - 3

Force India
di Resta - 6
Hulkenberg - 3

Sauber
Kobayashi - 5
Perez - 4

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 7
Vergne - 2

Williams
Maldonado - 7
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 8
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 6
Pic - 3

HRT
de la Rosa - 8
Karthikeyan - 1

One small detail that I'm following, just for the fun of it, is between the Ferrari and McLaren team-mates. Specifically Lewis and Alonso...who is going to be the first to be outqualified by their team-mate in a round in 2012? In other words, Massa or Button...who will break their duck first?

I'm just saying...

[scotty]

Amazing to see Webber ahead actually.

[LewEngBridewell]

Amazing to see Webber ahead actually.

Especially after Seb's domination of pole position last season!

[maxnanista]

As far as updates go, no real surprises. No real shift in the trend...well...maybe a slight move for Webber and Karthikeyan seem to be making a bid to catch up. Round nine may be an asterisk round by some since it was marred by rain but nonetheless, it's qualifying, regardless of conditions. After round 9 quali:

Red Bull
Webber - 5
Vettel - 4

McLaren
Hamilton - 9
Button - 0

Ferrari
Alonso - 9
Massa - 0

Mercedes
Rosberg - 5
Schumi - 4

Lotus
Grosjean - 6
Raikkonen - 3

Force India
di Resta - 5
Hulkenberg - 4

Sauber
Kobayashi - 5
Perez - 4

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 7
Vergne - 2

Williams
Maldonado - 7
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 8
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 6
Pic - 3

HRT
de la Rosa - 8
Karthikeyan - 1

One small detail that I'm following, just for the fun of it, is between the Ferrari and McLaren team-mates. Specifically Lewis and Alonso...who is going to be the first to be outqualified by their team-mate in a round in 2012? In other words, Massa or Button...who will break their duck first?

I'm just saying...

Fixed.

It actually 4-5 for the Hulk.You need to checked Aus,Spanish,Monaco and Silverstone

[The Second Coming]

So, we had a rainmeister's dream for Hochenheim, round 10. Not sure we learned anything but here goes:


Red Bull
Webber - 5
Vettel - 5

McLaren
Hamilton - 9
Button - 1

Ferrari
Alonso - 10
Massa - 0

Mercedes
Rosberg - 5
Schumi - 5

Lotus
Grosjean - 6
Raikkonen - 4

Force India
di Resta - 6
Hulkenberg - 4

Sauber
Kobayashi - 5
Perez - 5

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 8
Vergne - 2

Williams
Maldonado - 8
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 9
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 6
Pic - 4

HRT
de la Rosa - 9
Karthikeyan - 1

Ooo, look...Jenson blistered his team-mate! I think he could be onto something brilliant.

I'm just saying...

[Hammer278]

My broadcast put the McLaren pair on 8-1 before Q1 had begun (the preview)....guess they wanted to help Jenson out a bit by actually counting Lewis' gearbox penalty in Shanghai.

I hope they put things right and it STAYS 9-1 now that Button has gotten on the scoreboard....after 10 tries.

[The Second Coming]

So, after round eleven qualifying, the general order of things continue.

Red Bull
Vettel - 6
Webber - 5

McLaren
Hamilton - 10
Button - 1

Ferrari
Alonso - 11
Massa - 0

Mercedes
Rosberg - 6
Schumi - 5

Lotus
Grosjean - 7
Raikkonen - 4

Force India
di Resta - 6
Hulkenberg - 5

Sauber
Perez - 6
Kobayashi - 5

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 8
Vergne - 3

Williams
Maldonado - 9
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 10
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 6
Pic - 5

HRT
de la Rosa - 10
Karthikeyan - 1

The first shockers are Webber/Red Bull...not managing to get the best out of the car/tyre combination, especially at a circuit like this. Pundits will be tempted to bring in the engine mapping and ride height quarrels as contributing factors why the performance of both drivers are so off. On paper, Red Bull should perform extremely well here as a result of the many sections where there is quick change of direction...an area where their car is very strong.

The other shocker is the factory Mercedes team. What on earth has happened to their effort? Did they set up for rain? I don't think so because they all seemed genuinely disturbed by their qualifying performance. Usually, when a compromise is made, they celebrate their chances for the race over qualifying. Mercedes' behavior is far from that. Thinking back to four or five GPs ago, they were the ones being feared due to their "super DRS" system. For whatever reason, they are completely off the boil. I'm most surprised by the absence of the "Ross Braun Effect"...that is to say, the way he has affected leadership and positive change to teams in the past. His body language tells me a lot...namely, he seems to be focused on engineering and less on what he does best. Is he taking a step further back and delegating more? Dunno but his mojo is missed. Mercedes are really no longer a real threat and it's hard to imagine what it has to take for them to earn another podium (let alone a win).

The one driver that has me scratching my head is Kimi. I really thought he would be really strong. He clearly showed us signs throughout practice but somehow on the day of qualifying, he gives way to niggles and small errors.

I'm just saying...

[LewEngBridewell]

de la Rosa is da man!

[The Second Coming]

de la Rosa is da man!

Nice!

I'm just saying...

[The Second Coming]

Round 12, Spa—the picture is pretty clear for most but here are some areas that intrigue me. 1. Webber will not be dominated by Vettel, despite his ongoing bad fortune with mechanical malfunctions. The domination at McLaren, Ferrari and Caterham is expected...Williams, not so much. Maldonado, despite his bull-in-a-China shop approach to racing, is doing a number on his team-mate...one I thought would not be so one-sided.

Red Bull
Webber - 6
Vettel - 6

McLaren
Hamilton - 10
Button - 2

Ferrari
Alonso - 12
Massa - 0

Mercedes
Schumi - 6
Rosberg - 6

Lotus
Grosjean - 7
Raikkonen - 5

Force India
di Resta - 7
Hulkenberg - 5

Sauber
Kobayashi - 6
Perez - 6

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 8
Vergne - 4

Williams
Maldonado - 10
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 11
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 7
Pic - 5

HRT
de la Rosa - 11
Karthikeyan - 1

Roll on race day!

I'm just saying...

[The Second Coming]

Ding, ding, ding...round 13! Massa and Karthikeyan are making a move to catch up their team-mates. The domination continues for five drivers over their team-mates while the rest appear to be a fairly balanced matchup.

Red Bull
Vettel - 7*** ww
Webber - 6* w

McLaren
Hamilton - 11**** www
Button - 2* ww

Ferrari
Alonso - 12** www
Massa - 1

Mercedes
Schumi - 7
Rosberg - 6* w

Lotus
Grosjean - 7
Raikkonen - 6
d'Ambrosio - 0

Force India
di Resta - 8
Hulkenberg - 5

Sauber
Kobayashi - 7
Perez - 6

Toro Rosso
Ricciardo - 9
Vergne - 4

Williams
Maldonado - 11* w
Senna - 2

Caterham
Kovalainen - 12
Petrov - 1

Marussia
Glock - 8
Pic - 5

HRT
de la Rosa - 11
Karthikeyan - 2

* - Number of pole positions. (Lewis' 5th pole was relegated to Maldonado for fuel infraction.)
w - Wins