The complete 2010 Abu Dhabi GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Friday PM

The first action of the weekend was a bit of a write-off as far as meaningful action goes. More than just the usual cleaning of the circuit and laying down of rubber, the drivers also had to contend with a damp track following an uncharacteristic downpour on Friday morning.

Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time once the circuit dried towards the end, but it was too early to read much into the six-tenth advantage he held over Lewis Hamilton.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

McLaren's hopes of challenging for victory escalated later on Friday afternoon when Hamilton went fastest, a quarter of a second ahead of Vettel.

Ferrari also showed good pace with Fernando Alonso leading the way for most of the running, though he slipped to third during the rush of improvements on the softer tyre.

The first warning signs were there for Mark Webber, as he was again nowhere near his team-mate's pace.

Saturday Practice

Temperatures climbed on Saturday, to 43 degrees on track, and so the times only beat the previous day's mark on the qualifying simulation runs at the end.

There was relief at Red Bull as Vettel and Webber were half a second clear - and separated by just a tenth. But Hamilton, Alonso and Jenson Button were all within range, setting up what would be a thrilling qualifying hour.

QUALIFYING

1. Sebastian Vettel
Team-mate qualifying battle 12-7

Like team-mate Mark Webber, he went for just one run in Q3, doing more laps than most on a single set. He pulled laps out of the bag when it mattered to repeat his Q2 advantage and claim his third pole of the year.

2. Lewis Hamilton
Team-mate qualifying battle 14-5

Helped McLaren surge back to form at the season finale, at the sharp end throughout all the segments of qualifying. He left his last run late, but hooked up a stunner and forced Vettel to use every bit of his pace to keep him at bay.

3. Fernando Alonso
Team-mate qualifying battle 15-4

Couldn't touch the pace of Vettel or Hamilton in Q3, but got close enough to beat Button to the head of the third row and, more importantly, Webber too.

4. Jenson Button
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-14

A return to form for Button, who has struggled with his qualifying at times this year. He was second-fastest in Q2, but couldn't quite find that same edge in Q3 - though a second-row start gave him the opportunity to involve himself in the title battle.

5. Mark Webber
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-12

Heading into the weekend, Webber seemed the most likely champion - given Red Bull's pace. He looked set to match Vettel after Q2, but just didn't make his vital laps count in Q3 and slipped to a costly fifth place.

6. Felipe Massa
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-15

Was back in the hunt at least, in his attempt to help team-mate Alonso where possible. He matched Alonso in Q2, but missed out on his final lap in Q3 when he, wrongly, thought he hadn't crossed the line in time to start another lap at the end of the session.

7. Rubens Barrichello
Team-mate qualifying battle 13-6

Came out of nowhere to sneak into seventh, just scraping into Q3 but then outpacing both Mercedes and Vitaly Petrov in the flying laps at the end. More evidence of Williams' impressive single-lap ability.

8. Michael Schumacher
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-14

The Mercedes team found the harder tyre worked better for them in the earlier rounds of qualifying, and neither driver could harness the same speed on the softer version in Q3. Schumacher only did one run in Q3 and wasn't thrilled with his lap.

9. Nico Rosberg
Team-mate qualifying battle 14-5

Rosberg also found the harder rubber to his liking and wasn't happy when he had to run the softer compound in Q3. He too plumped for a single run and was no less excited about it than his team-mate.

10. Vitaly Petrov
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-17

Made it through to the final round and therefore beat team-mate Robert Kubica on a Saturday for only the second time all year. Petrov was in the top 10 throughout much of the qualifying hour, though he sneaked the last spot into Q3.

11. Robert Kubica
Team-mate qualifying battle 17-2

Kubica failed to make it through to the final qualifying segment for the first time all season. He was chasing team-mate Petrov's time at the end of Q2 and just couldn't match him - his scrappy last effort leaving him 11th.

12. Kamui Kobayashi
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-9

Kobayashi was only a fraction away from making Q3, with just a tenth covering him, Kubica and Petrov, but he was still happy with the improvements he made after complaining of brake problems during Friday's running.

13. Adrian Sutil
Team-mate qualifying battle 16-3

Was happy to start 13th after admitting Force India just didn't have the pace to earn a place in Q3. Found that he could get at least three quick laps out of the soft tyre.

14. Nick Heidfeld
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-3

Agreed with team-mate Kobayashi that Sauber made significant progress from Friday, but it didn't help him anywhere near going beyond Q2.

15. Nico Hulkenberg
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-13

Came back down to earth after his pole in Brazil, with 15th place and a full one-second gap to team-mate Barrichello in Q2. He was another to complain that the option tyre didn't work for him after being happy on the prime in Q1.

16. Vitantonio Liuzzi
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-16

Complained of being delayed by Petrov towards the end of Q1, but also conceded that he didn't have enough to make Q3 anyway.

17. Jaime Alguersuari
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-11

Had a good back and forth with team-mate Sebastien Buemi for the final spot in Q2, which he won with his last effort. Disgruntled that Toro Rosso couldn't make any impression on Sauber or Force India in Q2 though.

18. Sebastien Buemi
Team-mate qualifying battle 11-8

Came out on the other side of the battle with Alguersuari at the end of Q1 and joined the three new teams in the preliminary drop zone. Brushed the wall at Turn 19 on his last quick lap and fell a tenth short of his team-mate.

19. Jarno Trulli
Team-mate qualifying battle 11-8

Top of the new teams' pile again, despite struggling with a rear brake problem during qualifying. Ended up a couple of tenths clear of his team-mate and half a second from the Virgins.

20. Heikki Kovalainen
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-11

Pretty quiet session for the Finn: he couldn't touch Trulli in qualifying trim but had plenty in his pocket over Timo Glock.

21. Timo Glock
Team-mate qualifying battle 17-2

Glock was disappointed not to get close enough to challenge either Lotus, but was at least well clear of his team-mate.

22. Lucas di Grassi
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-17

The Brazilian mentioned track position as one of his drawbacks during the session and was left half a second shy of Glock.

23. Bruno Senna
Team-mate qualifying battle 12-7

Another standard session for Hispania, but at least Senna did what he could and out-qualified team-mate Christian Klien.

24. Christian Klien
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-12

Hindered by a braking problem in final practice and changed the system before qualifying. Reckoned it was an improvement but didn't have time to get used to the new set-up and lost out to his team-mate.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Pos  Driver         Team               Q1         Q2         Q3
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault     1m40.318s  1m39.874s  1m39.394s
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1m40.335s  1m40.119s  1m39.425s
 3.  Alonso       Ferrari              1m40.170s  1m40.311s  1m39.792s
 4.  Button       McLaren-Mercedes     1m40.877s  1m40.014s  1m39.823s
 5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1m40.690s  1m40.074s  1m39.925s
 6.  Massa        Ferrari              1m40.942s  1m40.323s  1m40.202s
 7.  Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth    1m40.904s  1m40.476s  1m40.203s
 8.  Schumacher   Mercedes             1m41.222s  1m40.452s  1m40.516s
 9.  Rosberg      Mercedes             1m40.231s  1m40.060s  1m40.589s
10.  Petrov       Renault              1m41.018s  1m40.658s  1m40.901s
11.  Kubica       Renault              1m41.336s  1m40.780s
12.  Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari       1m41.045s  1m40.783s
13.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1m41.473s  1m40.914s
14.  Heidfeld     Sauber-Ferrari       1m41.409s  1m41.113s
15.  Hulkenberg   Williams-Cosworth    1m41.015s  1m41.418s
16.  Liuzzi       Force India-Ferrari  1m41.681s  1m41.642s
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m41.707s  1m41.738s
18.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m41.824s
19.  Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth       1m43.516s
20.  Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth       1m43.712s
21.  Glock        Virgin-Cosworth      1m44.095s
22.  di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth      1m44.510s
23.  Senna        Hispania-Cosworth    1m45.085s
24.  Klien        Hispania-Cosworth    1m45.296s

THE RACE

The most curiously anomaly of this most intriguing of seasons was that the man who had set the pace for most of the year hadn't led the championship at all coming into the Abu Dhabi finale.

When he lined up on the grid at Yas Marina, Sebastian Vettel had a record-equalling season tally of 10 pole positions, plus four victories under his belt, and he'd played a big part in ensuring the constructors' championship went to his Red Bull team.

He had won in Malaysia, Valencia, Japan and Brazil. Misfortune had cost him likely wins in Bahrain, Australia and Korea. Misjudgements had the same effect in Turkey, Britain and Hungary.

When you added up all the points Vettel had lost from things breaking on his car, or him breaking things off his car by spearing his rivals with it, it was clear that he should have been 2010 world champion a long time ago. All five protagonists had their tales of calamity from this tortuous title chase, but no one had seen quite so many opportunities turn to dust as Vettel.

Yet despite all that pace and promise, he was far from the favourite going into Abu Dhabi.

It was his team-mate Mark Webber who seemed to be in the driving seat at the start of the weekend. Although he was eight points behind Fernando Alonso, that could be overturned if Webber won and Alonso was third or lower. With Red Bull expected to set the pace again and Vettel - for all his teasing - surely set to tuck in behind Webber and give his team-mate victory if the team's title hopes rested on it, Alonso faced a tough task.

Then when Webber underperformed in qualifying, the advantage swung firmly back to Alonso. A mighty final Q3 lap had got the points leader up to third on the grid, with a handy two-place cushion over Webber, and within a safe two positions of Vettel. Lewis Hamilton needed such an array of dramas to unfold if he was to vault all three of his rivals that he could be discounted unless there was miraculous carnage.

Even when Alonso was beaten off the line by Jenson Button, the title still looked destined for Spain. Fourth was fine even if Vettel won, and though Alonso was just one place ahead of Webber, the Australian looked in no shape to challenge him. If anything, Webber was under more pressure from Felipe Massa than Alonso was from Webber.

Vettel had held his lead from pole, staying in front despite nearly getting a touch from Hamilton at the first corner, but he could dominate all he liked and it still wouldn't be enough as long as Alonso had that fourth place.

Title favourite status was about to, finally, get passed along to Vettel, though.

At the start, seventh-place qualifier Rubens Barrichello had taken a look at passing Massa around the outside, not pulled the move off, and lost momentum. The two Mercedes attacked the Williams, and as Barrichello defended against Michael Schumacher's probe down the inside at the chicane, Nico Rosberg tried to take advantage on the outside.

The silver cars went through the complex side by side, and Schumacher got on the power too soon on the exit, looping into a spin and then getting a face full of Tonio Liuzzi's Force India, which hit the Mercedes head-on and rode up over it, thankfully missing the cockpit.

Cue the safety car, and early pitstops for Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov and Jaime Alguersuari, all of whom could now run on hard tyres to the end.

Struggling on his soft tyres and falling away from Alonso, Webber "knew we had to roll the dice", and pitted on lap 11.

As he rejoined 16th, behind Alguersuari and with Petrov and Rosberg further up the road, it looked like a disastrous move - and for Webber's title hopes, it was. But after a week in which there had been so much talk about Vettel helping Webber to the title, Webber had actually just done Vettel an enormous favour, for Ferrari was about to throw its chances away with a moment of impulsive over-caution.

Its first move was to try and completely neutralise Webber by sending Massa into the midfield to cover him. Ferrari brought Massa in on lap 13 in the expectation that the time Webber had already lost in traffic would ensure the Brazilian got ahead and could control Alonso's main title threat for the rest of the day. But after a slightly slow stop, Massa rejoined behind Webber, and while the Australian then got past Alguersuari, Massa would remain trapped behind the Toro Rosso for the rest of the race.

With Webber then setting some quick sector times, Ferrari decided that it had to get Alonso on fresh tyres too. It would prove to be the pivotal moment of the season.

Alonso had no trouble rejoining in front of Webber, Alguersuari and Massa. But he had not cleared Rosberg or Petrov - and now he was going to have to pass them on-track if he was going to reach the safe fourth place he needed to stop Vettel snatching the title.

His other hope was for Vettel to lose the race, but that wasn't looking likely.

Although Hamilton had looked like a threat to the Red Bull, lurking 2s or less behind Vettel, his race also went awry in the pitstops, as he came out behind the battling Kamui Kobayashi and Robert Kubica - both on very long first stints - when he stopped on lap 23.

Vettel pitted just a lap later, but it was enough to get him out just ahead of the Sauber. In characteristic style, Kobayashi took a look at passing Vettel as the Red Bull got its tyres up to temperature. The move didn't come off, and as the Sauber regained composure, Kubica attacked, eventually making it past around the outside at Turn 11 after a dice that was as entertaining for the fans as it was annoying for Hamilton, who lost more seconds behind it.

Hamilton made it past Kobayashi two laps later, but had no success in overtaking Kubica and would follow the Renault until it finally pitted on lap 46. By that time Vettel was 12.8s ahead and Hamilton's tyres were in no shape for any kind of late charge.

Button had tried something a bit different by staying out until lap 39. He never looked like a threat to Vettel, who was quickly closing the gap on him, but for a while it seemed he might have a chance of beating Hamilton to second. In the end, the McLarens' pace evened out and Button rejoined back in fourth place, which would become third once Kubica stopped.

So Vettel now knew his victory was assured if his luck held out, the McLaren threat having dissipated. What he didn't know, the team having chosen to let him concentrate on winning without having to do any title maths, was how things were unfolding for Alonso.

Badly, was the answer. The Ferrari did briefly get ahead of Petrov, but overshot the corner in doing so, though Alonso regained the course still ahead of the very muted Webber.

That would be Alonso's only chance of passing the Renault, which was quick enough on the straights to stay out of reach going into the crucial braking zones, and driven tidily enough to deny Alonso any opportunities. It also held him back to the extent that Kubica rejoined from his stop in front of both of them. Now Alonso was seventh and his title hopes depended on him passing Petrov, Kubica and Rosberg. In theory Petrov was the easiest of the three targets, and Alonso wasn't getting anywhere with the Russian rookie so his chances of overtaking all three were beyond remote.

His last hope was that Vettel might have yet another problem while leading. But this time the Red Bull-Renault ran flawlessly and made it to the chequered flag to seal the most important win of the year.

The McLarens completed the podium, Alonso could only follow Rosberg, Kubica and Petrov home, with Webber just behind him, ahead of Alguersuari, Massa, Nick Heidfeld and Barrichello. With few retirements and top new-team runner Heikki Kovalainen back in 17th, that also meant none of the other 2010 newcomers had come anywhere near the 11th place they needed to deny Lotus 10th in the constructors' standings and the unofficial 'new teams' title.

The only thing Vettel knew was that he had won the grand prix. Having shut the title battle out for the duration of the race, he only had a faint inkling of how things had turned in his favour.

"I didn't know anything until I crossed the chequered flag," he said. "The last 10 laps I was wondering as my race engineer every lap was trying to give some advice and trying to help me carry the car home.

"I was thinking 'why is this guy nervous? We must be in a bloody good position...' Then crossing the line he came on the radio very silently and said 'it is looking good, but we have to wait until the cars finish'. I was thinking 'what does he mean?' and I hadn't seen the screens. I just wanted to make sure, not get any distraction, just focus on myself.

"Then he came on the radio and screams at me that we have won the world championship..."

As the tearful new world champion poured out his delighted thanks to his team, his three defeated rivals had to evaluate where it had gone wrong.

For Hamilton, it was always out of his hands ("it has not been the most spectacular season for us") and there was no cause to kick himself. Webber was as shellshocked yet stoic after the race as he had been after things began to go wrong in qualifying: "When you come so close to the top and you just miss out, it's a shame. But I tried my absolute hardest, I had great guys around me, and in the end it wasn't enough."

But the real pain was at Ferrari, where it was easiest to pinpoint the crucial moment where it had all gone wrong. Had Ferrari waited a little longer to see how Webber would fare, or predicted that he might get nowhere in traffic, and kept Alonso out longer, he could have quite safely trundled in behind the McLarens and taken a third world championship.

Instead, he spent 41 frustrating laps scrabbling around behind the car he vacated to join Ferrari, regularly running wide in frustration but never managing to get past Petrov. On the slowing-down lap, Alonso shook his fist at the Russian, and would complain that Petrov had been fighting him as if they were title rivals themselves, though he also had to admit that the rookie "drove very well and made no mistakes."

Petrov was nonplussed: "I came here to fight. I don't want to let somebody past. I hope he will cool down, because that's racing."

Ultimately though, as Stefano Domenicali rightly pointed out, Alonso didn't lose the title because of Petrov. Or even because of his Abu Dhabi strategy. Looking back in hindsight, the Vettel/Red Bull combination was just so relentlessly fast, it would have been bizarre if anyone else had won the title. The McLaren and Ferrari opposition were always fighting against the odds. And yet, having so nearly pulled off that underdog title triumph, Ferrari could not help but rue that catastrophic pit call.

"You could say we looked too closely at what was going on behind us without seeing what was in front of our nose," said Ferrari's chief track engineer Chris Dyer. "It's a shame because losing like this hurts, it hurts a lot."

RACE RESULTS

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, United Arab Emirates;
55 laps; 305.355km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h39m36.837s
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +     10.1s
 3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     11.0s
 4.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     30.7s
 5.  Kubica        Renault                    +     39.0s
 6.  Petrov        Renault                    +     43.5s
 7.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     43.7s
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     44.2s
 9.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     50.2s
10.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     50.8s
11.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +     51.5s
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     57.6s
13.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     58.3s
14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     59.5s
15.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +   1m03.1s
16.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +   1m04.7s
17.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +     1 lap
18.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
19.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
20.  Klien         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
21.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1m41.274s

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              44
Schumacher    Mercedes                     1
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1



World Championship standings, round 19:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       256        1.  Red Bull-Renault          498
 2.  Alonso       252        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          454
 3.  Webber       242        3.  Ferrari                   396
 4.  Hamilton     240        4.  Mercedes                  214
 5.  Button       214        5.  Renault                   163
 6.  Massa        144        6.  Williams-Cosworth          69
 7.  Rosberg      142        7.  Force India-Mercedes       68
 8.  Kubica       136        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             44
 9.  Schumacher    72        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         13
10.  Barrichello   47       
11.  Sutil         47       
12.  Kobayashi     32       
13.  Petrov        27       
14.  Hulkenberg    22       
15.  Liuzzi        21       
16.  Buemi          8       
17.  De la Rosa     6       
18.  Heidfeld       6       
19.  Alguersuari    5       
         
All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

McLaren was right back in the hunt after a run of off-key races, though it couldn't quite win or take pole. Hamilton and Button qualified second and fourth, and the former was unable to pass Vettel into the first corner despite his best efforts.

Hamilton kept the Red Bull in sight, but got caught behind the late-stopping Kubica after pitting, which gave Vettel a chance to break away and left the Briton to settle for second.

Button passed Alonso off the line, and led for some time having waited until lap 39 before pitting. He didn't gain any places from doing so, though, returning to his previous third place and finishing there for his first podium since Monza.

Mercedes

After looking quick in practice and the early segments of qualifying, Schumacher and Rosberg's lack of soft-tyre pace left them a slightly underwhelmed eighth and ninth on the grid.

Trying to attack Barrichello on lap one, they ended up side by side through the chicane. Schumacher spun while trying to fend off his team-mate and was violently collected by Liuzzi.

Rosberg pitted under the resultant safety car, kept his tyres in good shape and swiftly moved forward as others stopped later on, eventually ending up fourth.

Red Bull

Vettel did everything he had to - taking yet another pole and resisting early pressure from Hamilton (and a potential attack from Kobayashi) to win the race. With Alonso having a nightmare, that made Vettel the new world champion.

Webber's title hopes looked remote after qualifying, where he could only manage fifth place. He pitted early to try and shake things up, but got stuck in traffic and finished back in eighth, which was nowhere near what he needed.

Ferrari

Ferrari looked third-quickest in Abu Dhabi behind Red Bull and McLaren, so it took a major effort from Alonso to get third on the grid. Massa was sixth and might have been higher had he realised he had crossed the line just in time to start an extra flying lap in Q3.

Alonso lost third to Button at the start, and then when Webber pitted early, both Ferraris ended up doing likewise to try and cover Red Bull's strategy. That let Vettel free to steal the title, as a frustrated Alonso got trapped behind Petrov and only finished seventh. Massa had a similar experience behind Alguersuari in 10th.

Great qualifying pace again, at least for Barrichello, who flew to seventh, while Hulkenberg was puzzled by tyre behaviour as he struggled to 15th.

There was little speed in evidence in the race though. Barrichello was less competitive on Sunday and his lap 18 pitstop was too late to keep him ahead of those who had stopped under the safety car, and too early to give him a chance to fend off those running longer. By the time it had all shaken out, he was down in 12th. Hulkenberg ran longer, until lap 36, but poor pace meant he ended up back in 16th after that stop.

Petrov was pleased to qualify 10th, even though his team thought a better result had been possible, while Kubica struggled with the car's handling and ended his run of Q3 starts with 11th place.

Good strategy, solid race pace and dogged defensive driving paid off for both in the race. Petrov pitted under the safety car then ran to the end on the hard tyres. He resisted huge pressure from Alonso and advanced to sixth as others stopped.

Kubica started on hard tyres, pulled off great early moves on Sutil and Kobayashi, and stayed out until lap 46, holding second for a while as a consequence, and fending off Hamilton. Good pace on worn tyres helped him emerge fifth after that stop, which is where he finished.

More qualifying frustration as Sutil and Liuzzi lined up 13th and 16th. Liuzzi's race was yet again a short one, as the luckless Italian slammed into Schumacher's spun car on the first lap and ended up perched atop it.

Sutil didn't pit until lap 47 and rose to fifth, but his pace wasn't strong enough to stop the rest of the midfield pack closing on him before he pitted, so when he did stop, he tumbled to 13th.

The usual Saturday lack of pace saw the Toro Rosso pair battling to try and avoid Q1 exit embarrassment. Alguersuari made it through to Q2, Buemi didn't - though it made little difference as they started 17th and 18th anyway.

Alguersuari made his tyre change under the safety car and rose to ninth as others pitted. He couldn't hold off Webber, but did resist Massa for most of the race. Buemi tried the opposite strategy and pitted mid-race, but ended up only 15th.

Once again Lotus outpaced the other new teams, with another great qualifying lap from Trulli giving him 'class pole' ahead of team-mate Kovalainen.

But yet againt he race saw Kovalainen come out on top as he finished 17th, while Trulli had breakages to both his front and rear wings during the race, eventually retiring after the latter failure.

Klien was given a third race but Senna managed to finally turn the tables and outqualify him. The Brazilian had the better race too, finishing 14s clear of Klien as they took 19th and 20th, with Senna encouragingly close to di Grassi.

Another event in which Virgin was not quite on Lotus's pace (though not far off it), but clear of Hispania (though not miles ahead in di Grassi's case). Glock and di Grassi qualified 21st and 22nd, and when Glock retired with gearbox problems while second 'in class' behind Kovalainen, di Grassi picked up his 18th place, finishing just ahead of Senna.

A low-key weekend for Sauber saw Kobayashi frustrated to get quite close to Q3 as he lined-up 12th on the grid, two places ahead of Heidfeld.

Heidfeld made a relatively early pitstop and managed to progress to 11th, finishing close behind Alguersuari and Massa's battle. Kobayashi ran longer, had some entertaining moments with Kubica and Hamilton, but ended up in traffic after his stop and could only finish 14th, chasing Barrichello and Sutil.