‘Pole’ prick Hamilton and Ferrari

The British pilot breaks the dominance of last year the Red Bull, relegated to the fifth and sixth place | The ‘Scuderia’ fails the first time since Q3 2010

The first classification of the season was not good for Fernando Alonso. Before starting the session, Ferrari announced on Twitter that nothing would be easier for them and they were not where they wanted. And all this was evident already in the first round of qualifying, when Alonso managed only sixth. In the second, however, it became harder. Alonso launched a butt, risking at every turn to save the deficiencies of his car, stepped on the grass in a corner and lost his car that careened from behind and ended up caught in the middle of the gravel. The desperation of Alonso grew when asked for help from the marshals pushed for it and got no response. It was then out in the second session and 12 º will, through time he scored in his first attempt, 1m 26.4 s. A terrible start to the Spaniard. But the worst news for him is finding that the F2012 does not work, as later shown when Felipe Massa also failed to qualify for the final round and finished with a time worse than Fernando, 1m 27.4 s. Will start 16th.

The disaster of Ferrari was cracking, because the two Italian cars were not left out of the Q3 from the Malaysian Grand Prix 2010. All the preseason expectations vanished in a flash plasma. “I think I played a bit line and the car was me. But I do not think things have changed a lot, because Philip could not even beat my time, “said a disappointed Alonso. “We have 15 km / h less than other cars and that will create a problem, because overtaking is very difficult for us. The only advantage is that we will have many sets of new tires. We suffer with the grip, but all suffer in this regard. We must improve in all aspects, but especially in top speed. ”

The classification of the GP of Australia, however, offered many elements to consider. The most significant was the pole position it managed to Lewis Hamilton, who made an exceptional lap to mark a time of 1m 24.9 s, preceding his teammate Jenson Button, only a tenth, and the surprising Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Lotus) , who finished third, ahead of Michael Schumacher. The two Red Bull had to settle for fifth and sixth, with Vettel ahead of Webber.

The overwhelming dominance that had kept Red Bull last year, achieving pole position in 18 of the 19 races, seems to have ended. Everyone suspected in the preseason that McLaren had created a very competitive car and was at the height of the Red Bull. However, in the first serious test showed that are well above. Hamilton was the only driver they challenged the hegemony, to reach the pole in Korea last year. But now, Vettel, the champion, known as the magician, Adrian Newey, must find ways to return to the top of the podium. At least in the classified McLaren exceed them. In race pace can be tested tomorrow.

What also seems clear is the proper functioning of Lotus Renault and Mercedes, who have been questioned by Red Bull and Lotus to the FIA ??through the pipe F Ross Brawn designed undercover. However, Lotus starred in the first surprise of the day, when the initial session Kimi Raikkonen was eliminated. The problem was not the Lotus Renault. Raikkonen mess himself, suffered a slight departure in his last attempt and stood out, showing that there is still much work to do. “We have speed, but the track was very difficult. I had many problems, “said the Finn.

Worse still they were both Hispania, which did not reach even the minimum time to exit. “We had planned to make two attempts, but everything was postponed because the assembly of the parts in the car was very slow. We are where we expected and have to work hard for the next races. Our main problem is not having power steering, driving in these conditions is very difficult and we lose much time, “said Pedro de la Rosa, who was returning to the circuits in this race.