F1 - German GP Quali

After the thrills for the British crowd of Silverstone and the eventual win by Mark Webber after his trials and tribulations with his team mate Sebastian Vettel the F1 circus moves onward to the Hockenheim circuit in Germany, twenty km South of Mannheim.

Obviously the German drivers are what the crowd have come to see and there are 6 of them, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Nico Hulkenberg and of course the darling of the German crowd Michael Schumacher.

The weather is changeable albeit the forecast has been unreliable since they started running on Friday. Lewis put his Mclaren into the barriers during Friday and they have had to rebuild his car which reduced his running time in practice which could affect his weekend. Sebastian headed the time sheets on Friday but Fernando wasn't far behind.

A lot of the cars were straight out as soon as the flag dropped due to the unreliable nature of the weather. After only ten minutes running yesterday Lewis seems to have forgotten yesterdays woes as he ran fourth early on behind the two Ferrari's and Jenson.

Vitantonio then put his Force India into the wall on the pit straight and the session was immediately Red flagged as his car lost the left hand front corner. The stopping of the session can have a detrimental effect for some of the teams as tyres are so quick to go off in quali.

The usual protagonists were fighting at the front of the pack and now they were down in the 1.15's which is the minimum time they need to be up at the front of the pack. The pole time is expected to be in the 1.14's as Fernando through in a 1.14.6. The usual teams were in the drop out zone with Virgin this time ahead of Lotus for a change.

This is going to be a mighty battle between the major three which will add spice to the weekend and we all need Ferrari to do well to make the numbers up at the sharp end. So out went Timo, Jarno, Heikki, Vitantonio, Bruno, Yamamoto replacing Karun for the weekend for contractual reasons and bringing up the rear Lucas.

At the sharp end the timings are headed by Fernando after Q1 as the times heat up followed by Felipe, the two Red Bull's and both Mclaren's. Out they all went into Q2 and things were now to hot up.

Ruben's is driving well again and the times from some of the drivers could mix up the grid as Ruben's and Robert were up there early in the session but the two Mercedes cars are not lighting up the timing screens and running way down out of the top ten.

With seven minutes to go a mere six tenths covered the top ten. Those not making the top ten were Michael, Kamui, Nico, Vitaly, Adrian, Pedro, Jamie and Sebastian Buemi bringing up the rear. So Michael didn't make the top ten to the dismay of the crowd I have no doubt.

Fernando was fastest again in Q2 followed by Sebastian, Mark, Lewis and the rest as the chips are down for Q3 and the shoot out for pole as the rain started to spit but shouldn't affect them on slicks.

Out they went immediately the flag dropped trying to get a banker lap in should the rain come down albeit the sun then came out. Mark put in the first time at 1.14.2 but was almost immediately usurped by Fernando as he went into the 1.13's. With the last six minutes this will be a mighty dash for pole as Fernando, Sebastian, Mark, Lewis and Felipe battle at the sharp end.

It was going to be a battle and that what we had. Sebastian out qualified Fernando followed by Felipe, Mark, Jenson, Lewis, Robert, Rubens, Nico and Nico H. Now we have a slightly mixed up grid for tomorrow and the German crowd were ecstatic about Sebastian topping the field. Bring on the Grand Prix.