Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel's feat

During the three parts of this qualifying session, Sebastian Vettel had no room for error. Nailed in his garage, eyes glued to the timing monitors while his mechanics worked on the gearbox, the RB5 driver-Renault only took to the track in the final minutes.

With only one lap launched to achieve the best performance, he achieved a double feat by setting the best time in Q2, then Q3: “We encountered some technical problems with the car in free practice. During qualifying, the team continued to work on the car and I only had one run to qualify each time. At the same time, Mark (Webber) could do two runs and I had no doubt about our performance level. It was a little tricky to understand the behavior of the car with a large quantity of gasoline, but everything went well. I had a lot of grip, I didn't make any mistakes and here I am in pole position! That said, I haven't yet scored any points this season, the hardest part remains to be done tomorrow! »

With the good form of Mark Webber, third on the grid, Red Bull confirms its rank as top team. Adrian Newey, absent from this Chinese GP to better devote himself to the development of a new aerodynamic package including a double diffuser, has definitely worked well this winter!

The men of Renault F1 can also be satisfied. On an R29 without Srec and equipped with a brand new double diffuser, the Spaniard took the front row: “I would say that we started work this morning with a completely new car. We didn't really know how it was going to behave, especially since I only did six laps this morning. The whole team worked very late last night to prepare my car; on the track, I had to give my best to thank them. We must continue, nothing is decided this season. »

With Vettel, Alonso and Webber, the engine manufacturers of Viry-Chatillon also place three of their V8s in the first three places.

Archi-dominators during the first two races of the season, the Brawn GP seem to be falling into line. Barrichello and Button occupy 4th and 5th positions. However, we will have to wait to know the quantity of gasoline on board before drawing too hasty conclusions.

Then we find Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg, whose result in qualifying is somewhat disappointing after promising free practice. But here again, the strategy applied by Williams is not yet known.

Ferrari et McLaren place Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton in 8th and 9th rows. Nothing to brag about for the old F1 references, who continue to work to make up for lost time.

The joy of the Red Bull family is complete with 10th place in Sébastien Buemi. The Swiss of Toro Rosso snatched his place in Q3, unlike his teammate Sébastien Bourdais, eliminated from Q1.