McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button locked out the front row in what appeared to be a thrilling start to the 2012 Formula 1 season.
Lewis put on a 1m24.922s which proved unbeatable throughout Q3. The closest shot at Hamilton’s time was achieved by his teammate Jenson Button – only 0.152s slower – at the very last minute.
Romain Grosjean shocked the F1 paddock by qualifying in 3rd place for Lotus, 0.380s behind the McLarens.
Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher looked like a pole contender, but eventually had to settle for 4th place in Q3, while compatriot Nico Rosberg was 7th.
Red Bull had a disappointing start to the season with Mark Webber in 5th place and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel only 6th.
The biggest let down though was Formula 1’s greatest team, Scuderia Ferrari. Fernando Alonso spun into the gravel early in Q2 after posting a laptime enough for 12th place, while teammate Felipe Massa couldn’t do any better than 16th.
Tomorrow’s race is shaping up to be a good one; can McLaren finally end Red Bull’s domination? Tune in for the race tomorrow at 8:00 (Beirut time)
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.922s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.074s + 0.152 3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m25.302s + 0.380 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.336s + 0.414 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.651s + 0.729 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.668s + 0.746 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.686s + 0.764 8. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m25.908s + 0.986 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m26.451s + 1.529 10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time Q2 cut-off time: 1m26.319s 11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.429s + 0.960 12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.4942 + 1.025 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.590s + 1.121 14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m26.663s + 1.194 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.086s + 1.617 16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m27.497s + 2.028 17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari No time Q1 cut-off time: 1m27.633s 18. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m27.758s + 1.576 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m28.679s + 2.497 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m29.018s + 2.836 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m30.923s + 4.741 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.670s + 5.488 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m33.495s + 7.313 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m33.643s + 7.461