Qualifying - Vettel storms to Silverstone pole 20 Jun 2009
Sebastian Vettel continued his domination of Silverstone by taking pole position for the British Grand Prix with a lap of 1m 19.509s in his Red Bull. As pre-race favourite Jenson Button failed in his quest and took only sixth place, Rubens Barrichello was Brawn’s lead runner in second with 1m 19.856s. A spoiled first run and traffic at Stowe prevented Mark Webber from joining his Red Bull team mate on the front row, and his 1m 19.868s left him third.
Jarno Trulli continued his unobtrusive form for Toyota with 1m 20.091s for fourth, while Kazuki Nakajima’s last-moment lap of 1m 20.216s in the Williams shoved Button back a place. The championship leader could not better 1m 20.289s.
Nico Rosberg failed to improve on his final try and was seventh in 1m 20.361s in the second Williams, ahead of Timo Glock’s Toyota on 1m 20.490s, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on 1m 20.715s and Fernando Alonso’s Renault on 1m 20.741s.
Q2 saw the demise of Felipe Massa, who just didn’t have his Ferrari as well set up as team mate Raikkonen. The Brazilian’s best lap was 1m 18.927s, good enough only for 11th. Neither BMW Sauber made it through, Robert Kubica’s lap of 1m 19.308s leaving him 12th, Nick Heidfeld’s 1m 19.448s seeing him line up 15th. Between them was McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 19.353s, and Renault’s Nelson Piquet (who went off at Stowe at one stage) on 1m 19.392s.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, the darling of Silverstone 2008, had a torrid time and was a victim of a big accident which befell Adrian Sutil in the closing moments of Q1, in which Kazuki Nakajima set the pace. The Force €ndia driver lost control on the left-hander at Abbey and crashed heavily into the tyre wall on the outside, necessitating the red flag. He was unharmed. Hamilton was on his flying lap, but with less than a minute of the session left his lap was ruined.
Giancarlo Fisichella was 16th on 1m 19.802s in the sister Force €ndia, ahead of Sebastien Bourdais’s Toro Rosso on 1m 19.898s. Sutil had recorded 1m 19.909s earlier, and Hamilton 1m 19.917s, leaving them 18th and 19th ahead of Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso in 1m 20.236s.
