"Cato Batista" 23/06/2012 19:11:12 ID #185
Ladies and Gentlemen,
One Red Bull is on pole, the other one didn’t pass Q1; both Ferraris and SCH were out in Q2. The Force India and the Lotus are flying, same as Maldonado’s Williams. One McLaren is on the front row of the other on the 5th (behind a Sauber). Yes, this is a bit crazier than usual...
Vettel was supremely confident in his ‘new’ RB8 waiting to the last second for his attempt, the risk was big but he saved one set of options for tomorrow. He was over 3 tenths faster than Hamilton, a huge gap considering the next 5 places were within 25 hundredths of a second.
We had a reasonable yield from this session mainly from the always reliable Vettel – Hamilton 1-2 positions, that’s 6 members with 2 points –Curro, Erik, Ian Mac, Rocco, Matias and me- plus 12 others with a single point. Check your marks: http://f1.manbos.com/userbets.asp?t=2012&gpn=Europa&nevent=qualifying
The grid for tomorrow: VET HAM MAL GRO RAI ROS KOB HUL BUT DIR (ALO 11th, SCH 12th, MAS 13th)
There’s not a single place in this track where driver‘s ability can actually make a difference, even the faster last sector is flat-out; it requires full throttle (68%) and then hard on the brakes, repeat-repeat-repeat, its’ wide, smooth and there’s lot of run-offs, as consequence the times are closer than anywhere else. The main driver’s challenge is to apply the power without wearing down the rear tyres out of the many 1st gear corners. And that maybe the key for tomorrow in an otherwise straight 2 stops strategy race for the 57 laps. The pitlane takes 22 seconds to navigate. Vettel has been on the pole 3 times in a row in Valencia winning the last 2 on his way to the Championship; the German has been out of the podium in the last 3 GPs.
If this looks like a Red Bull-McLaren duel with an outside chance by Lotus, the battle for the places behind the podium comprises Williams, Force India, Sauber, Mercedes, the second McLaren and perhaps Alonso’s Ferrari. No doubt our job is getting more difficult with each passing race!
If you like applying pressure on yourself just look at the standings before placing your bets: or maybe not...
http://f1.manbos.com/rankingyear.asp?t=2012
Oh my, here we go: Cato - VET HAM GRO MAL RAI HUL
Enjoy, this could be the best race in Valencia so far.
http://f1.manbos.com