Lewis Hamilton has secured pole position for the tomorrows German Grand Prix. An exciting qualifying session that had me wondering why Kimi Raikkonen didn’t take the extra lap to go for pole.Kimi has been relegated to 6th position behind both McLaren’s, a Ferrari, a Toyota and a Renault. Kimi crossed the line with 5 seconds remaining in qualifying and could have made one final bid for pole position. This leaves me wondering if Ferrari’s race strategy predicated the saving of fuel and didn’t accommodate an extra lap.
Ferrari and McLaren seemed close in pace during qualifying but when it counted, Lewis proved the fastest leading many to start their assertions on race fuel loads and strategy. Is McLaren running slightly less fuel than Ferrari? Are Toyota and Renault running light fuel to get their cars higher in the grid. Of course these debates are rudimentary for F1 fans but they’re still fun to speculate.
Irrespective if McLaren are running light, Kimi will have a tough job getting to the front as he is behind some very good drivers and cars.
Sebastian Vettel was the surprise of the session as he took his inferior car to Q3 and then split parent team, Red Bull Racing’s, David Coulthard and Mark Webber. One can make assumptions as to the fuel load that Vettel is running but putting the maligned STR car into Q3 and between two superior cars is a real feat. This type of performance is a catalyst to getting better rides, better contracts and better salary. Der Seb is certainly moving in the right direction and it is no wonder why the big teams are keeping a close eye on him as a future potential driver.
