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16th
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Romain Grosjean set the fastest time in a rain soaked Free Practice 3 session before qualifying, putting his Lotus ahead of the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. The current world champion Sebastian Vettel, who topped yesterday's two free practice sessions finished down in 12th.
The ‘monsoon like' conditions continued into qualifying, with first part of the session taking place after a delay of 10 minutes. However, whilst the first round of qualifying did take place, sessions two and three were cancelled after a 40-minute delay and will now be held tomorrow morning before the race.
Q1 was characterized by a lack of grip in the wet conditions. Both Caterham drivers made contact with the walls, as did Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez on the exit of turn 12. The higher end of the grid was not free from casualties either, with Hamilton, Perez and Webber spinning and Massa slamming his car into the wall where Gutierrez had his incident. However, unlike the Mexican rookie, the Brazilian was able to continue.
Nico Rosberg continued to highlight the impressive pace of the Mercedes, as he revelled in the cold and wet conditions that were similar to China last year where he scored his first win, and Mercedes' first since returning to the sport as a manufacturer in 2010.
The 27-year old German finished the session at the top of the time sheets with a 1min43.380s on intermediate tyres, almost half a second clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. Vettel, who was on a personal best and on course to once again set the fastest time in his Red Bull when the session ended, finished his day in sixth.
Surprisingly, it was Pastor Maldonado who was the highest profile casualty of Q1 who after the session described his Williams as ‘undriveable' and that the team had taken a step backwards over the winter. The Venezuelan finished in 17th, one place in front of Gutierrez. Further down the grid, Marussia impressed again as both cars qualified ahead of the Caterhams with Bianchi 19th, one place ahead of teammate Chilton.
The rest of qualifying will now take place before the race tomorrow at 10:45 local time, or 23:45 GMT.
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| Romain Grosjean, Lotus E21 (Photo: WRi2) |
The ‘monsoon like' conditions continued into qualifying, with first part of the session taking place after a delay of 10 minutes. However, whilst the first round of qualifying did take place, sessions two and three were cancelled after a 40-minute delay and will now be held tomorrow morning before the race.
Q1 was characterized by a lack of grip in the wet conditions. Both Caterham drivers made contact with the walls, as did Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez on the exit of turn 12. The higher end of the grid was not free from casualties either, with Hamilton, Perez and Webber spinning and Massa slamming his car into the wall where Gutierrez had his incident. However, unlike the Mexican rookie, the Brazilian was able to continue.
 |
| Felipe Massa before meeting with the wall (Photo: WRi2) |
Nico Rosberg continued to highlight the impressive pace of the Mercedes, as he revelled in the cold and wet conditions that were similar to China last year where he scored his first win, and Mercedes' first since returning to the sport as a manufacturer in 2010.
The 27-year old German finished the session at the top of the time sheets with a 1min43.380s on intermediate tyres, almost half a second clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. Vettel, who was on a personal best and on course to once again set the fastest time in his Red Bull when the session ended, finished his day in sixth.
Surprisingly, it was Pastor Maldonado who was the highest profile casualty of Q1 who after the session described his Williams as ‘undriveable' and that the team had taken a step backwards over the winter. The Venezuelan finished in 17th, one place in front of Gutierrez. Further down the grid, Marussia impressed again as both cars qualified ahead of the Caterhams with Bianchi 19th, one place ahead of teammate Chilton.
The rest of qualifying will now take place before the race tomorrow at 10:45 local time, or 23:45 GMT.
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| The damp Albert Park Circuit (Photo: WRi2) |