Fernando Alonso drew the longest straw in the qualifying session for the German GP in Hockenheim on Saturday, as a rain-soaked circuit did the best to play havoc with the drivers.
While Q1 was done in dry conditions, rain was expected halfway and didn´t disappoint. Exactly as expected, massive rain started to fall and thunder strikes were a warning of the weather to come. When Q2 started, the rain was there and the drivers started their runs on the intermediate tyres, but it soon became apparent that turned out to be insufficient, as the grip just wasn´t enough, so they quickly changed for full wets.
Q2 ended with Hamilton on top, followed by Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso, Button, Maldonado, Webber, Hulkenberg, di Resta and Raikkonen, who complained that he was held up by another driver. The trouble with the rain was that the wet tyres didn´t perform as they could be, because there wasn´t enough rain for them to work the way they should, but intermediates would be hazardous. That small gap in performance is what we have seen from the dry tyres in the season, making this one of the most exciting and close seasons in recent history. Ricciardo finished 11th, Perez 12th, Kobayashi 13th,, Massa 14th, Grosjean 15th, Senna 16th and Rosberg 17th. Not the result he had hoped for.
As Q3 started Fernando Alonso was send out by Charlie Whiting to see if the conditions were ok to drive on, got the go ahead and the drivers started their final session. This included several near misses and a trip to the gravel for Hulkenberg, but the conditions quickly improved and the lap times got faster for every driver, until finally Alonso was able to take his second consecutive pole of the season.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari | 01:40.621 | 23 |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull | 01:41.026 | 23 |
| 3. | Mark Webber |
Red Bull | 01:41.496 | 24 |
| 4. | Michael Schumacher |
Mercedes | 01:42.459 | 24 |
| 5. | Nico Hülkenberg |
Force India | 01:43.501 | 24 |
| 6. | Pastor Maldonado |
Williams | 01:43.950 | 27 |
| 7. | Jenson Button |
McLaren | 01:44.113 | 20 |
| 8. | Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren | 01:44.186 | 18 |
| 9. | Paul di Resta |
Force India | 01:44.889 | 26 |
| 10. | Kimi Räikkönen |
Lotus | 01:45.811 | 26 |
| 11. | Daniel Ricciardo |
Toro Rosso | 01:39.789 | 15 |
| 12. | Sergio Perez |
Sauber | 01:39.933 | 17 |
| 13. | Kamui Kobayashi |
Sauber | 01:39.985 | 16 |
| 14. | Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 01:40.212 | 17 |
| 15. | Bruno Senna |
Williams | 01:40.574 | 18 |
| 16. | Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes | 01:40.752 | 21 |
| 17. | Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes | 01:41.551 | 18 |
| 18. | Jean-Eric Vergne |
Toro Rosso | 01:16.741 | 9 |
| 19. | Heikki Kovalainen |
Caterham | 01:17.620 | 8 |
| 20. | Vitaly Petrov |
Caterham | 01:18.531 | 9 |
| 21. | Charles Pic |
Marussia | 01:19.220 | 12 |
| 22. | Timo Glock |
Marussia | 01:19.291 | 11 |
| 23. | Pedro de la Rosa |
HRT | 01:19.912 | 8 |
| 24. | Narain Karthikeyan |
HRT | 01:20.230 | 10 |
hi i can not understand why the wet tyres did not work too well, thats what wet tyres are for the rain and a wet track,perhaps there is something i dont know. thanks for your update eric roberts
Eric, I strongly suggest that you read my latest comment regarding your replies and continous links to your own website. I have asked you politely not to link to your website, and you still keep doing it. Please notice that this will not be tolerated any more, and I have removed the link from your comment.
Regarding the question: The wet tyres act like normal tyres, they have a window of performance in which they work the best. Today we saw that it was not wet enough for full wets, but too wet for intermediates. It´s as low as a 5 percent gap. When they slap on a pair of wet tyres in these precise conditions we had today, the grip is poor, but towards the ded of the qualifying session, the conditions improved enough for the correct tyres to work.