Alonso ends Ferrari pole drought
Fernando Alonso will start Sunday's British GP from pole position
Fernando Alonso ended Ferrari's long wait for a pole by grabbing top spot on the grid for Sunday's British Grand Prix at the end of a rain-hit qualifying session.
For the first time in 31 races, since the Singapore Grand Prix of 2010, championship leader and double world champion Alonso will lead away the field at Silverstone.
The Spaniard is joined on the front row by Mark Webber in his Red Bull, beating the Australian by 0.047 seconds, with Mercedes' Michael Schumacher lining up in third place.
For the Britons, it was an afternoon to forget as Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth for McLaren, with team-mate Jenson Button 18th and Force India's Paul di Resta 11th.
The rain that has blighted Britain's summer again caused chaos at Silverstone. On this occasion the rain that began at the start of the opening practice session turned torrential for the beginning of Q2 which had to be red flagged just after the midway point.
It resulted in a 92-minute delay, during which time the fans in the grandstands and even the teams in the pit lane, entertained themselves with the odd Mexican wave.
Good old-fashioned brooms and a couple of road sweepers cleared the danger of the standing water off the circuit, allowing the session to recommence just after 3pm.
At that stage Button was a bystander after missing the cut from Q1, and the 32-year-old will now have to conjure a special performance after qualifying 18th.
The top 10 is made up of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (fourth), followed by Felipe Massa, Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen and Williams' Pastor Maldonado, with Hamilton also on the fourth row. On row five it will be Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, with Romain Grosjean 10th as he did not compete in Q3 due to his earlier spin.
After claiming the 21st pole of his career, Alonso said: "It was tricky conditions for everyone. It was not easy. To complete a lap in these conditions was difficult, but I'm happy with pole for the first time in two years, for Ferrari."
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So, Andrew Simms (Andyroo465)...
Jenson button had to lift under yellow when his fastest lap in Q1, had it been unhindered by the rules (lifting under yellow, if you will, permit the familiar F1 shorthand), would have seen him post, arguably, the fastest time for Q1.
And this qualifies his performance as abysmal, does it?
H'mmmmm...
An interesting perspective from someone who seems to attempt to convince the contributors in this arena that he, perhaps, knows more than most of us ordinary everyday unbiased F1 aficionados, being the thickos (sic) that we are. One most certainly does not know all of the rules applicable to F1, and, demonstrably, nor do many F1 Team Principals; when it suits them.
Sick and tired of time wasting perverts who infiltrate discussions. MSN please instigate better filters.
Should be a good race if the rain aint to bad.
As for qualifying being red flagged, poor decision. I was also watching MotoGP from Germany where it was also chucking it down and all 3 classes still ran the full distance on TWO wheels.
Bikers are so much harder than car drivers.
A good lap by Alonso in the end but it seemed a strange decision to stop the clock in Q2 so that Ferrari had time to put the right tyres on their cars this time and for the track to dry out. This meant it had been a waste of time for those that made the right call first time around. Why does the clock still count down in free practise for a red flag but not in quali?
Indeed Andrew. 5 thumbs down (as of now, probably 50 by the end of today), yet not one sensible reply arguing the rules. Dear Alonso-haters, If you disagree, say why, and if you can´t explain why, stick your thumbs firmly in your mouths, where they belong.
I don´t think it´s so much anti-Spanish as specifically anti-Alonso, coming from that McLaren year, in the same way that Hamilton is not exactly popular in Spain, while we don´t really care about Button or the other Brits. And, of course, if you´re gonna hate a Spaniard, it´s easier to hate Alonso, because he shows all the other drivers up the minute he gets a half-decent car, than to hate poor De La Rosa and that milk cart he drives (pushes?).
By the way, look at Vettel, and how everyone was raving about how quick he was and what a nice guy he was. The minute his car is just a bit better than the others, not on another planet, as he´s used to, he´s not so quick any more, is he? And the minute he starts losing, he starts running his mouth, not a nice guy either, is he?
sunday will be very interesting indeed. Not a clue who will win.
I am a lewis fan and thats that, I am no fan of alonso, But he drove well today make no mistake.
I hope lewis can win for all the fans especially at the circuit, Skint so we couldnt go this year, Bugger!
hope maybe if lewis dosent win that a sauber can because of all the running they did on friday. And kamui and sergio would deserve one i think.
Waiting for the F1 Thickos who dont know the rules. So ill post beforehand;
Alonso slowed down enough when grosjean spun off. The track was going over a second a lap faster with each lap done. Hence why the times were tumbling massively.
Alonso's previous sectore was a 33.3, his sectore time was yellow and a 33.2. On a track that was increasingly faster by over asecond, he slowed down.
Amazing save from his spin. intelligent thinking and skill saved that. Great pole lap on a DRY setup
I supported Alonso since I was 11 years old in 2001, mostly because I liked black cars, then my dad always had Renaults when I was a kid, so in turn, I loved them. Then as I grew up watching 2003, Malaysia was his first pole which Kimi then won, then he won supremely at Hungary..... just phenomenal talent.
European Gp 2007 was one of his most awsome races, and Monaco 2007 was sublime. Fastest Lap, pole position, Race win, lapped everyone upto 3rd. People say it was team orders and lewis wasnt allowed to race, well sorry, Alonso's FL was 3 tenths faster than Lewis in the race, and he was cruising for the last 20 laps.
But people bring 2007 when lewis beat alonso. Yup, he did. Alonso was an idiot that year and threw his toys out the pram.
But as soon as he had a comparable car to lewis, he beats him. 2008, when the R28 picked its pace up, he outperformed and outscored the whole field. 2009 he handed lewis his own arse at Silverstone in a slower R29.
2010 Alonso beat lewis, 2011 Alonso clearly owned lewis in a lesser F150 Italia. This year? Alonso had a midfield car until barcelona; and took a win solid points. When he got a top 3 car? 20 point lead. God help F1 when he gets a dominant car.
Alonso never moans about the car. He ALWAYS praises the team first, asks them to keep pushing and developing. Take Valencia, he credits strategy, risk and luck instead of the skill he used to get himself into the position to take advantage of others mistakes.
Valencia, first thing he did was dedicate the win to the people who brought caravans, the people who slept in their cars, stayed in 35 degree simmering heat, spent all their money on a ticket and they underperformed on saturday.
What people fail to realise is that Alonso didnt stop on track with fuel issues, he had enough fuel to get back and the 1.5litre sample. Alonso stopped outside the cheapest grandstand in Valencia and shared his win with the people he praised in the interviews; the fans who make him.
Dont see any other driver doing that.
I started to watch F1 just over 2 years ago because I loved the BBC coverage. Now we are limited to how many programmes we can see as I do not have SKY and do not intend to get SKY, my interest has wained a bit and to be honest as it clashes with the tennis I think this will be more exciting on Sunday.
