What a surprise…another Saturday, another Red Bull at the first spot of the starting grid, with a second Red Bull racer at its side: a site everyone has gotten used to this year.
What must have frightened poleman Sebastian Vettel rivals for tomorrow’s race is his admission that he held back and did not perform at 100%: “On the last run, I tried a bit too much going into the really tricky chicane around Turn 10,” said Vettel, adding that, “I decided to abort the lap, as it can be so easy to damage the car.”
The two Red Bulls were challenged not by Ferrari, as Fernando Alonso’s pace at the free practice promised, but by the McLarens of Jenson Button who beat his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for third place.
The Scuderia had to be content with the third row of the grid with Alonso in front of Felipe Massa. The two Mercedes’ and the two Force Indias completed the top 10 of the first night race in this year’s Formula 1 calendar.
