Report – When the lights go out at 2pm tomorrow, Fernando Alonso will start from fifth on the grid, while Kimi could do no better than 17th, after taking a strategic gamble that didn’t pay off.
The sky looked threatening at the start of Q1, with the forecast claiming a 30% chance of rain. There was drama right away, as Pastor Maldonado stopped his Lotus at the side of the track and Lewis Hamilton had to park his Mercedes at the entrance to pit lane with a fire at the rear, not even having set a time.
Midway through Q1, Fernando was comfortably in a Q2 position, with Kimi 14th. The team then decided to keep the Finn in the garage, confident that the Caterhams and Marussias would not manage to beat his 1.26.792, which would have seen Kimi no lower than 16th. However, Jules Bianchi put in a great lap which meant that, by just a handful of hundredths, Raikkonen failed to make the cut to Q2. Now, the Finn has nothing to lose and will be attacking all the way in tomorrow’s race.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.715s
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.201s +0.486s
3. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m23.354s +0.639s
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m23.391s +0.676s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m23.909s +1.194s
6. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m24.223s +1.508s
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.294s +1.579s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m24.720s +2.005s
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m24.775s +2.060s
10. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes
Q3 cut-off time: 1m24.647s
11. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m24.706s +1.396s**
12. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.136s +1.826s
13. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m25.211s +1.901s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.260s +1.950s
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.337s +2.027s
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m27.419s +4.109s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m26.728s
17. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m26.792s +1.851s***
18. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m27.139s +2.198s
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m27.819s +2.878s
20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m28.643s +3.702s
21. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault
QUOTES
Raikkonen questioned Ferrari Q1 strategy – “The plan was to go out but the team said we are fine, I questioned it a few times to be 100% sure. The end result is what we can see. Yesterday afternoon [and] this morning it was a bit difficult with the hard to get grip, the soft [has] been quicker all weekend.”
“I don’t really see the point in shouting around. I’ve done mistakes in the past and will make more in the future.” (via autosport.com)
When asked if he could have over-ruled Ferrari’s decision due to his objections, Raikkonen replied: “You can, but I trust in the team, believe in the people. The plan was to go out, but the team said ‘no, you are fine, you do not need to go out’. I questioned it a few times, but they said no need and we can see the end result.
“I cannot always go against advice. We are here as a team, we make decision as a team, and today the outcome was this. As a team in Formula One, as Ferrari, we should not be doing these kind of things. None of us are in our first year. It’s not good for me or the team.”
Despite the error in judgement Raikkonen says he will not be labouring over Ferrari’s decision for too long.
“A mistake has been made. It’s already been a difficult year, so I don’t see the point to shout. The mistake is done. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I will make them in the future. People make mistakes, but there are things we have to change to improve. These are not easy times.”
Raikkonen insists qualifying does not change anything about his future.
“I have a contract, I fully believe in Ferrari, I’ve enjoyed a lot of wins and success with them. It’s been a difficult year, which is life. It’s not fun when you have hard times, it’s happened before and that’s how it goes.” (via espn.co.uk)
“As a team in Formula One, as Ferrari, we should not be doing these kind of things. None of us are in our first year. Obviously we have to improve, to do things differently because we can see there are weaknesses in the system. I have not suddenly over the winter lost a few seconds laptime. So it’s the case of putting things in the right places for me.” (via motorsport.com)
Kimi Raikkonen: “I am very disappointed with the outcome of qualifying, especially because this weekend I was going well and had a good feeling from the car. After the first run on the Medium tyres the team told me that my time should be good enough to get me through to the next part and so we decided to take a risk and not go out for a second run on the softer compound. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off and I couldn’t get past Q1.
It’s going to be difficult, because there’s not much chance of overtaking here at the Hungaroring. We definitely made a mistake, but now I only want to look ahead. Tomorrow, even if it will be tough, we will do our best to try and move up the order.”
Pat Fry: “Mixed fortunes for our team in today’s qualifying, with our drivers ending up no less than twelve places apart. In the first part, the fact that Maldonado and Hamilton were out led us to keep both cars in the garage, banking on the times set with the Medium tyres. With Fernando this worked, but unfortunately, with Kimi we were caught out by the evolution of the track. It’s very disappointing not to have got through with him because he’s been going better this weekend. Clearly tomorrow he will be on the attack: on this track, it’s not easy to move up the order because of the traffic, but our race pace is good and we will do all we can to turn things around. In the second part of qualifying, the track continued to improve and Fernando got into Q3 easily enough.
In the end, when the rain came, we decided to go out immediately, but then it was impossible to finish the lap. The hot track dried out very quickly but, concerned it might rain again, we decided to go out on track earlier than planned and Fernando ended up fifth. Rain is forecast for tomorrow which means it is even harder to make predictions, but whatever the weather we must try and get Kimi back up into the points and to get a good haul with Fernando.”
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 
Now I (we) can only hope for some smart strategy so he can use up his tyres and fly through the field. Didn’t Schumi use a tree stopper her once in the old days?
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Yes 3stop is good for the final stint of 10 lap or so super soft which kimi is very good with he can nail it
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