Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing 2009

The Australian driver Mark Webber took pole position as the chequered flag was waved at the Nurburgring today for the Red Bull Racing team.

It was British driver Lewis Hamilton, who set the first fastest lap in Q1 and while most of the teams opted to stay on track to get some heat into their tyres, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, returned to the pits after just one timed lap.

Webber then set the best time after pitting and using the option tyre as Timo Glock in the Toyota, ruined his lap by locking his brakes as the rain started to spot.

As the first session ended the slowest runners were now eliminated, meaning that Robert Kubica, Sebastian Buemi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Timo Glock and Sebastian Bourdais, will be starting at the back of the grid from 16th to 20th positions.

As the final 15 drivers begin Q2, the rain got harder and Kazuki Nakajima, in the Williams car, who ran off track followed by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who ran across the grass and then into the gravel trap.

Most of the drivers went back into the pits, changing their option tyres for intermediates as the rain continued to get heavier, seeing Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren to spin at turn 4.  However, Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari was on the slick tyre and running faster.

Kimi Raikkonen slid his Ferrari off the track and onto the grass but continued without problem as Fernando Alsonso took a spin in the Renualt while in ninth place.

As the final minutes of Q2 took place the slowest five runners up for elimination were, Kovalainen, Button, Rosberg, Trulli and Nakajima.  Button moved into the top five just after the flag was waved for the drivers on track to finish their final lap as Hamilton also improved on his time.

The five eliminations were Rosberg, Trulli, Nakajima, Alonso and Heidfeld.  Alonso’s spin cost him the session after qualifying down in twelfth, while his team-mate Nelson Piquet, went through to Q3.

The final qualifying session of ten-minutes got underway with Barrichello setting the fastest initial time while his team-mate Jenson Button chose to return to the pits without doing a fast lap, as did Hamilton.

Hamilton then set the fastest lap ahead of Barrichello and Button just before the chequered flag came out as they passed the line, leaving Button and Webber still with hot laps to run.  Webber then set the fastest time of the day followed by Barrichello and Button.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.230s
2. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.357s
3 Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 32.473s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 32.480s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 32.616s
6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 33.859s
7. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 34.316s
8. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.574s
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.710s
10 Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 34.803s

all times unofficial