Formula One: Catalunya

Ok, on the Irony Board (like that?  I just made it up) this doesn’t sir pass (look, another punny) Colin Powell, Village Liar defending his UN/WMD speech, but Schumacher didn’t even bother to go out in Q3 so he could save tires.

Or you could call it the courage of his convictions.

Does it sound early to you?  I actually kind of hate the European starts more because I have to get up instead of going to bed late and it interrupts my nightmares about people behaving in un-professional manners.

Like you’ve never had one.

Any who today’s grid is full of surprises and it’s likely to end the same way because Circuit de Catalunya is not renowned for passing opportunity which is good for Lewis except for Team McLaren’s history of abject failure when in positions of advantage.

Remind you of anybody?

Oh man, more coffee- let’s bury the lede not praise it.  Hamilton starts from the back because of a fueling violation.

Formula One: Hamilton stripped of pole for Spanish Grand Prix

Daily Times, A New Voice For A New Pakistan

Sunday, May 13, 2012

“A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes,” a statement said. “As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure. “The stewards determined this is a breach of article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One technical regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session,” the FIA statement read. “The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.” No driver has won in 21 years of the Spanish Grand Prix being held in Barcelona from lower than third place on the grid. A McLaren spokesman said the team accepted “the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow.”

Force Majeure.

Scrambled tables below-

Starting Grid

Grid Driver Team Q-Time Q-Laps
1 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 01:22.3 14
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:22.3 15
3 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 01:22.4 14
4 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 01:22.5 13
5 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:22.5 14
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:23.0 17
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 01:22.9* 14
8 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:22.9* 15
9 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:22.9* 14
10 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:22.9 13
11 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 01:23.0 8
12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:23.1 14
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:23.2 13
14 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 01:23.3 11
15 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 01:23.4 11
16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:23.4 12
17 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 01:25.0 8
18 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 01:25.3 8
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 01:25.5 8
20 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 01:26.6 8
21 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 01:27.0 8
22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 01:27.6 6
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:31.1 4
24 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:21.7 17

* == No Laps during Q3 to preserve tires.

Driver Standings

Rank Driver Team Points
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 53
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 49
3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 48
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 43
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 43
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 35
7 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 34
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 23
9 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 22
10 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 15
11 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 14
12 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 9
13 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 4
14 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 4
15 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 2
16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2
17 Felipe Massa Ferrari 2
18 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 2

Constructor Standings

Rank Team Points
1 Red Bull Racing-Renault 101
2 McLaren-Mercedes 92
3 Lotus-Renault 57
4 Ferrari 45
5 Mercedes 37
6 Sauber-Ferrari 31
7 Williams-Renault 18
8 Force India-Mercedes 17
9 STR-Ferrari 6

37 comments

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    • on 05/13/2012 at 13:31
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 13:31
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 13:58
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 13:58
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:00
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:03
      Author

    Raikkonen

    Everyone on Softs.

    McLaren Sucks!

    Like duh…

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:03
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:04
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:05
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:09
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:12
      Author

    Alonso

    Maldonado

    Raikkonen

    Rosberg

    Grosjean

    Schumacher

    Vettel

    Button

    Kobayashi

    Vergne

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:13
      Author

    Clockwise track.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:13
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:14
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:16
      Author

    Bottom line?  Softs suck, only good for a lap or two.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:18
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:21
      Author

    Alonso

    Maldonado

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Schumacher

    Vergne

    Massa

    Hamilton

    Rosberg

    Hulkenberg

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:25
      Author

    Schumacher also.

    Bang!

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:26
      Author

    McLaren sucks.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:30
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:51
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Hamilton

    Vettel

    Rosberg

    Button

    Kobayashi

    Massa

    • on 05/13/2012 at 14:58
      Author

    A good one for once.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:00
      Author

    Mechanical failure.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:03
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Rosberg

    Kobayashi

    Button

    Hulkenberg

    Webber

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:07
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:08
      Author

    Mechanical failure.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:11
      Author

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Maldonado

    Grosjean

    Rosberg

    Kobayashi

    Hamilton

    Button

    Massa

    Vettel

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:16
      Author

    Raikkonen

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Rosberg

    Kobayashi

    Hamilton

    Button

    Massa

    Vettel

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:24
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Grosjean

    Raikkonen

    Rosberg

    Kobayashi

    Hamilton

    Button

    Vettel

    Hulkenberg

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:30
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Rosberg

    Kobayashi

    Hamilton

    Button

    Vettel

    Hulkenberg

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:37
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Kobayashi

    Rosberg

    Hamilton

    Vettel

    Button

    Hulkenberg

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:38
      Author

    Alonso.

    Stories of the day.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:42
      Author
    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:43
      Author

    Go figure.

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:46
      Author

    Maldonado

    Alonso

    Raikkonen

    Grosjean

    Kobayashi

    Vettel

    Rosberg

    Hamilton

    Button

    Hulkenberg

    • on 05/13/2012 at 15:47
      Author

    wasted.

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