Spa-Francorchamps, August 27 Th, 2011 – World Championship Leader
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VETTEL CLAIMS POLE WITH PIRELLI AFTER ACTION-PACKED SPA QUALIFYING Spa-Francorchamps, August 27th, 2011 – World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position by half a second at Spa-Francorchamps, carrying on from where he left off after claiming pole at the last grand prix in Hungary before the summer break. It was the Red Bull Racing driver’s ninth pole position of the year as well as his very first pole at Spa, using the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tyres. As usual in Belgium, the action during qualifying centred around the tyre choice and weather conditions, which remained uncertain throughout Q1 with scattered clouds and a damp surface. The skies darkened as the initial 20-minute session ended, with rain falling in the closing minutes and an ambient temperature of 16 degrees centigrade. The rain persisted but did not increase in intensity throughout Q2, which was interrupted by a red flag. As was the case throughout Q1, the drivers used the P Zero Blue intermediate tyres during the whole of Q2. During the final 10-minute battle for pole, all remaining drivers headed out on the P Zero Yellow soft tyre despite plenty of standing water that was still on the track. The surface dried rapidly throughout the closing minutes, with Vettel claiming pole position in the final seconds after a duel with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton – who will line up second on the grid tomorrow ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber. Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari claimed his best-ever qualifying position in sixth, beating his previous benchmark of seventh in China this year. Bruno Senna, driving his debut grand prix for Lotus Renault, will line up seventh tomorrow. During the final practice session this morning, which was characterised by very wet weather from start to finish, many drivers limited their running in order to save their allocation of four sets of P Zero Blue intermediate tyres and three sets of P Zero Orange wet tyres for qualifying and the race. The P Zero Orange wet tyre was predominantly used during the morning session, which is capable of clearing around 60 litres of water per second at full speed. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “This was a tense and unpredictable qualifying session, which was dominated by strategy as the teams tried to read the conditions, which were changing all the time. The intermediate tyres showed their versatility despite the changing weather in Q1 and Q2, while in Q3 the P Zero Yellow soft tyre demonstrated its speed and grip on a damp surface. Spa is one of the truly great circuits but a huge challenge for both the drivers and the tyres. With the way that qualifying has worked out we’re set for some fantastic battles all the way down the grid tomorrow.” In contrast to the weather in Belgium so far, tomorrow’s race is expected to be dry from start to finish. *** Follow us on Twitter @ Pirelli_Media or Facebook on www.facebook.com/Pirelli For further information please contact Alexandra Schieren +33 607 03 69 03 [email protected] Anthony Peacock +44 7765 896 930 [email protected] ** Francescopaolo Tarallo +39 334 684 4307 [email protected] (Head of Product and Motorsport Communications) Pirelli Tyre Press Office Ph. +39 02 6442 4270 – [email protected] – www.pirelli.com WEBBER FASTEST IN FREE PRACTICE AT A WET SPA Spa-Francorchamps, 26 August 2011 – After a four-week summer break, the Formula One field returned to action in the majestic setting of Spa: one of the most challenging tracks of the year that is characterised by a long lap and uncertain weather. This was the case once more this year, with rain dominating the first free practice session in the morning after only 10 minutes of dry running. On the 20th anniversary of his Formula One debut in Belgium, Michael Schumacher set the fastest time for Mercedes in the opening session, with a time of 1m54.355s, having managed to post a benchmark on the P Zero White medium tyres before the rain fell. His team mate Nico Rosberg was second-fastest under similar circumstances, with both Mercedes nearly half a second quicker than their rivals. Rain then fell for the rest of the session, giving the drivers the chance to accumulate plenty of information about the P Zero Orange wet tyre and the P Zero Blue intermediate tyre, which are likely to see plenty of action over the rest of the weekend. The rain held off at the start of the afternoon session but the standing water that remained meant that all the drivers started off with intermediate tyres. Once the crossover point had been reached – the time at which it becomes quicker to use slick tyres rather than intermediates – Fernando Alonso set the pace on the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, before being beaten by Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber on the same tyres, who posted a time of 1m50.321s. Conditions then became wetter once more, with many teams electing not to run during the final half-hour of practice today, having accumulated enough wet weather running in the morning. With the teams allocated four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of wet tyres for the weekend, and a high likelihood of further bad weather, the emphasis was on conserving the tyres for the remaining days – although one set of the intermediate tyres has to be returned at the end of Friday. Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery, who was invited to the FIA official post- qualifying press conference, commented: “First of all, it’s great to be back on track again after the summer break, and there are few more spectacular places to return to action than Spa. Today we saw a typical day at Spa-Francorchamps, which was all about the Belgian weather. Conditions were extremely variable, with differing amounts of water in different places on the track. This gave the teams the opportunity to assess both the slick, wet and intermediate tyres nominated here over a wide window of parameters and conditions. Being the longest lap of the year, tyre strategy will be more important than ever this weekend, with a difference of about 1.2 seconds per lap predicted between the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyre – in dry conditions. But the weather here is incredibly hard to predict, which means that all the data accumulated on the wet and intermediate tyres this weekend is sure to be very useful as well.” PIRELLI FACT OF THE DAY The second race of Michael Schumacher’s illustrious career took place on Pirelli tyres. In 1991 his debut Grand Prix was in Belgium with Jordan, but the German’s spectacular performance was enough to convince Benetton to sign him for the next race in Italy, using Pirelli tyres. On that occasion, he finished fifth. *** Follow us on Twitter @ Pirelli_Media or Facebook on www.facebook.com/Pirelli For further information please contact: Alexandra Schieren +33 607 03 69 03 [email protected] Anthony Peacock +44 7765 896 930 [email protected] ** Francescopaolo Tarallo +39 334 684 4307 [email protected] (Head of Product and Motorsport Communications) Pirelli Tyre Press Office Ph. +39 02 6442 4270 – [email protected] – www.pirelli.com WEBBER FASTEST IN FREE PRACTICE AT A WET SPA Spa-Francorchamps, 26 August 2011 – After a four-week summer break, the Formula One field returned to action in the majestic setting of Spa: one of the most challenging tracks of the year that is characterised by a long lap and uncertain weather. This was the case once more this year, with rain dominating the first free practice session in the morning after only 10 minutes of dry running. On the 20th anniversary of his Formula One debut in Belgium, Michael Schumacher set the fastest time for Mercedes in the opening session, with a time of 1m54.355s, having managed to post a benchmark on the P Zero White medium tyres before the rain fell. His team mate Nico Rosberg was second-fastest under similar circumstances, with both Mercedes nearly half a second quicker than their rivals. Rain then fell for the rest of the session, giving the drivers the chance to accumulate plenty of information about the P Zero Orange wet tyre and the P Zero Blue intermediate tyre, which are likely to see plenty of action over the rest of the weekend. The rain held off at the start of the afternoon session but the standing water that remained meant that all the drivers started off with intermediate tyres. Once the crossover point had been reached – the time at which it becomes quicker to use slick tyres rather than intermediates – Fernando Alonso set the pace on the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, before being beaten by Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber on the same tyres, who posted a time of 1m50.321s. Conditions then became wetter once more, with many teams electing not to run during the final half-hour of practice today, having accumulated enough wet weather running in the morning. With the teams allocated four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of wet tyres for the weekend, and a high likelihood of further bad weather, the emphasis was on conserving the tyres for the remaining days – although one set of the intermediate tyres has to be returned at the end of Friday. Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery, who was invited to the FIA official post- qualifying press conference, commented: “First of all, it’s great to be back on track again after the summer break, and there are few more spectacular places to return to action than Spa.