McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton took his third pole of the season in Spain today but the guy who will start beside him tomorrow is a bit of a surprise.
The first European Grand Prix of the season, the Spanish GP, is on tomorrow and we will have an unusual looking front row of the grid. There is probably not a course on the calendar more important to be on the front row than Spain, as 20 out of 21 front row starters have won the race here.
The man on pole isn’t unusual, as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton took his third pole of the season by over half a second from the rest of the field, the 150th for a McLaren. But the unusual figure of Pastor Maldonado took second in his Williams, the best ever qualifying spot for the Venezuelan.
Afterwards Hamilton was a very happy bunny. “It was a fantastic qualifying session, probably one of the best I’ve ever had.
“I want to say a huge thanks to all the guys here and back at the factory, and for the upgrades the team have made.”
Whatever they did, it didn’t work for his team-mate Jenson Button, who could only take 11th.
Button, who is headed to Dublin soon to take part in Bavaria City Racing Dublin, couldn’t work out what happened either.
“I don’t know where it went wrong. All day I’ve struggled with balance. I thought we would be reasonably competitive and at least get into Q3, but that’s not the case.
“That final run, I had a lot understeer. We’re out in Q2 and it doesn’t help because we don’t have any option tyres left for tomorrow.”
The home fans were happy too to see their hero Fernando Alonso take third, while World Champion Sebastian Vettel will start in eighth.
Full starting positions for tomorrow:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1min 21.707secs
2 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:22.285
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:22.302
4 Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus F1 Team 1:22.424
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:22.487
6 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.533
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:23.005
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull no time
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP no time
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari no time
11 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:22.944
12 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:22.977
13 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:23.125
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:23.177
15 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.265
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.442
17 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:23.444
18 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams 1:24.981
19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham 1:25.277
20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham 1:25.507
21 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia 1:26.582
22 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia 1:27.032
23 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1 1:27.555
24 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 1:31.122
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