Alonso Grabs Rainy German Pole
HOCKENHEIM, Germany – Fernando Alonso overcame rainy conditions to nab the pole Saturday for the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.
Alonso first lapped his Ferrari around Hockenheimring in 1:40.904 in the soaking conditions in Q3 that required Pirelli’s extreme wet tires.
Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber each took shots at Alonso’s fast lap, but came up short. Then, maybe just to rub it in, Alonso went even faster when he clocked in at 1:40.621.
“I think when you have this type of conditions it’s very difficult to put a clean lap together and it’s very easy to finish in the gravel or to finish in the grass, the wall or whatever,” Alonso said. “So, those type of conditions are a little bit of a survival moment, that you need to finish the qualifying and see afterwards what position you get. You try to complete the lap, to avoid any problem, and then whatever the position is, you are happy, because you know you were at the maximum, or you felt that you were at the maximum. So when they tell you, you are on pole, it’s obviously a very happy moment.”
The rain came during Q2 and continued all the way through the remainder of qualifying, forcing the fastest drivers to deal with it during Q3.
Vettel ended up second during qualifying ahead of his teammate Webber. Michael Schumacher pleased the crowd with fourth place in his Mercedes after a strong effort, while late improvements put Nico Hulkenberg in fifth and Pastor Maldonado in sixth.
McLaren’s Jenson Button just nipped teammate Lewis Hamilton to qualify seventh, leaving Hamilton in eighth. The silver cars had been very quick in Q2, but seemed to struggle in the wet during Q3. Paul di Resta was at one stage third fastest, but had to be content in ninth for Force India, and Kimi Raikkonen was a subdued tenth.
Posted by NSSN Staff
on Jul 21 2012 Filed under Formula One, Latest Headlines, Top Stories.
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