Hamilton irresistible in Abu Dhabi

Jaime Alguersuari, who did not ride during the third free practice session, was the first to set a time (1:46:161) during the qualifying session. He is joined by Romain Grosjean (1?44??951), who absolutely wants to avoid going out in Q1 and showing that he deserves to keep his seat at Renault in 2010. Future driver of the diamond firm, Robert Kubica is at the forefront. The Pole continues the fast laps and sets the best time (1:41:584).

Lewis Hamilton then leaves his box and easily erases the time of the BMW-Sauber driver (1:41:037). In the following two laps, the Briton improves one after the other and drops below a hundred seconds per lap (1:39??873). The pilot McLaren can return, he has just knocked out his opponents.

Mark Webber then Sebastian Vettel, held for ten minutes in their stand, can finally come out. The pilots Red Bull are successively in second position. The end of Q1 is approaching and the drivers at the back of the grid are determined to get out of the red zone. Heikki Kovalainen succeeds, but neither Romain Grosjean nor Fernando Alonso, neither Giancarlo Fisichella nor the Force India drivers (Adrian Sutil, Tonio Liuzzi) managed to escape: all five drivers were eliminated. On the other hand, the young wolves that are Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) as well as Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) se hissent en Q2.

If he suffered a scare in Q1 by getting out of the cart at the last minute, Heikki Kovalainen quickly emerged in Q2. The McLaren driver sets a reference time (1:40:983) before suffering a breakdown forcing him to abandon his race. car on the circuit. Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) took the opportunity to set the best time (1:40:678), before the inevitable Lewis Hamilton took the lead (1:40:542).

The Red Bull drivers returned to the attack with efficiency, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel each taking the best time twice. The German even went under a hundred seconds (1) but Lewis Hamilton proved intractable with the additional horses provided by his SREC (39). In the red zone, the drivers from five different teams find themselves stuck in Q984: Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota), Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso).

Only three teams can count on their two cars in Q3: Brawn GP and Red Bull, the two best teams this season, and BMW-Sauber, which demonstrates that the withdrawal of the German engine manufacturer has not led to any relaxation within the structure d?Hinwil.

Nick Heidfeld (1) is also in the lead five minutes from the end of Q44 but quickly sees his time erased as the laps go by. Sébastien Buemi, Robert Kubica, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello took turns setting the best time in Q967. But, after making a mistake by going too wide, Lewis Hamilton set the best time on his next lap (3:3:1).

Despite the apparent superiority of the 2008 world champion, the Red Bull drivers are not giving up. Mark Webber sets the best time (1:41??726), Sebastian Vettel dispossesses him (1:41??615) but Lewis Hamilton is the best, by far, in Abu Dhabi. On his last lap, the McLaren driver improved by more than six tenths (1:40:948). It is therefore quite logical that the Briton will start on pole on Sunday, after having constantly taken his McLaren to the front since the start of the weekend. He will be ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.