I like the onboard sound but otherwise it feels so meh that I am left wondering if they were going fast enough. The slides by some of the drivers and their control over it was amazing to
Qualifying -
Mercedes - From the tests we know that Mercedes can go the distance and cover that distance quicker than anyone. Qualifying proved the quick bit and tomorrow's race will assert both of those points.
Williams were close but loose a bit of that edge in wet conditions or was it that they were running intermediates and the Mercedes used Wet tyres.
Red Bull - They seem to have sorted their problems in qualifications atleast to some extent. I saw the last 25 minutes of Practice 3 and I remember Vettel saying that the car wouldn't accelerate near the end of P3. May be that led to some handling problems for Vettel because he really seemed to be struggling during P3 and Qualifying. *More on this later in post.
Ferrari - Remember Fire and Ice 2005 (Montoya + Kimi). That didn't work out and looking at the poor show by Kimi we can only hope that he stops stumbling and starts driving fast, really fast. Fred more than delivered today.
Force India - Rain ruined their chances of having both cars in top 10.
McLaren - They seem to be back, Kimi ruined Button's chances but not bad otherwise. Only one question - Where is Marting Whitmarsh?
Toro Rosso - They now have the same engine as their sister team and at one point was touted as the better sibling this season. In rain they were not as fast as RBR but they fast enough to make Jean look good in qualifying.
Sauber/Lotus - They have dropped the ball.
Caterham - Kamui came back and dragged them to Q2 but I think Marussia is better plus they have Jules (a really quick driver despite the equipment) and Max Chilton (Stability to the max - well that is it - too slow hence reliable).
Kevin and Daniil - Both did a tremendous job.
Race Predictions -
Impossible to predict at this point but if the race is dry then Mercedes powered cars will move ahead of Ferrari powered cars who in turn will move ahead of Renault powered cars (in general terms). Daniel might slip back and Kevin can emulate Lewis i.e., podium in the first race.
Drivers to watch out for tomorrow -
Kimi if he doesn't bin it.
Perez for overtakes.
Maldonado for spins and gravel runs till he retires, race ends or black flagged
@soggy316 - Button was hampered thanks to Kimi bringing out the Yellow flags on the penultimate lap in Q2. So we can't say that for sure. Yes Kevin was faster than him in Q1
Vettel's lack of control -
Is it just me or is Vettel not happy with tail happy cars? Remember 2012 when RBR were struggling with rear downforce Mark was beating Sebastien. They then fixed that issue and Vettel was back to his dominant ways. The new rules have changed the exhaust system to a single central exhaust which renders previous solutions useless. He either has to adapt to less rear grip or RBR will have to come with a better solution for rear grip and balance.
The Holy Drunkard was playing with switches on his in lap before the crash. I wonder who switched off his brain?