Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes

The fifth round of the 2009 formula One Championship is underway with qualifying from the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. Being the first European race of the season, most teams have added new parts to their cars as the race for development begins in earnest. Will it make a difference to the order of the cars, or will Brawn, Red Bull and Toyota continue their form. Below are the notes from the qualifying session, updated live as the fight for pole position unfolds.

The qualifying times can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.

Q1

• It’s nice to see there’s still a lot of Renault/Oviedo blue in the stands (Renault’s former colours and also those of Alonso’s home town).
• Will Fernando run light if he gets through to Q3?
• Only Ferrari and McLaren using KERS in Spain.
• Hard and Soft tyres are being used for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. Soft tyres have the green stripe on the outer edge.
• SUT, FIS and KOV out first.
• KOV sets first lap: 23.7. Ran wide and doesn’t look overly hooked up.
• SUT: 23.5
• HEI: 23.3
• HEI: 22.6 on his second lap.
• TRU: 22.3
• VET: 22.192
• KOV struggling with his McLaren, sliding over apex and tank slapping it on exit.
• GLO: 22.185
• VET: 21.532
• BOU in P2, BUE in P5 at the moment.
• ROS: 21.396
• VET: 20.7
• MAS: P2
• KUB finally goes out.
• HAM: 21.244 – P4
• MAS: Purple in S1.
• MAS: Purple in S2.
• MAS: 20.4 – P1
• KUB: 21.1 – P4
• HEI and KOV in bottom 5.
• KOV still P16, on soft tyres as well.
• HEI: 21.3 – P11
• BAR in bottom 5.
• ALO – P6
• ROS: 20.9 – P5
• NAK – P3
• WEB – P2
• BAR – P5
• BOU – P14 – just in on second run.
• PIQ improves.
• TRU – P15
• RAI and KOV are out.
• KOV believes a BMW held him up. Brundle says “you’re having a laugh.”
• RAI only set 5 laps in Q1.
• KOV says HEI held him up a little, but in a post-qualifying interview says it didn’t make much a difference.
• Ted Kravitz explains that RAI left qualifying in Q1 because of a team error – they mis-calculated and believed he didn’t need to set another lap. It wasn’t Kimi’s fault, it was the team’s fault.

Q2

• NAK, BUE, PIQ and ROS on track.
• BUE: 21.499
• ROS: 21.145
• VET: 20.220
• BUE in gravel at T9. Recovering. Just missed the barriers.
• WEB: 20.007
• VET: 20.254 (second lap on soft tyres)
• MAS: 20.652 – P6 (scrubbed softs)
• BMW yet to run.
• HEI: 20.676 – P7
• KUB: 20.408 – P3
• MAS: Equal in S1.
• MAS: Slightly down in S2.
• MAS: 20.149 – P2
• ROS: 21.907 – still in bottom 5
• HAM: 20.805 – P10
• BUT: 20.379 – P5
• BAR: 19.954 – P1
• HAM dropped out as PIQ and ALO improved.
• HAM says his McLaren isn’t any better with the updates they’ve made to it for this weekend.

Q3

• TRU and GLO first out.
• TRU: 22.5
• GLO: 22.1
• BAR: 21.442
• WEB: 21.936 – P2
• VET: 21.301 – P1
• ALO: 22.160 – P5
• MAS: 22.004 – P5
• BAR: Purple in S1.
• BAR: Purple in S2.
• BAR: 20.762 – 0.539s up – P1.
• WEB pushing.
• VET also running fast.
• WEB: 21.049 – P2
• VET: Wide in T12. 20.660 – P1 – incredible.
• MAS – P3
• GLO – P5
• BUT: 20.527 – steals pole on final run – incredible.