2010 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying


Fernando Alonso on Saturday shed no light on suggestions he might be
able to challenge the Red Bulls for victory at Albert Park.

As in Bahrain two weeks ago, the Ferrari driver has qualified third, but the
cars ahead of him on the Melbourne grid are both on-form Red Bulls led by
back-to-back pole sitter Sebastian Vettel.

Asked if Ferrari's race pace might give him the edge on Sunday evening, the
Spaniard answered: "No idea", but he did admit that beating the Renault powered
cars "was a difficult thing to do here".

Local hero Webber, 33, was visibly disappointed with second on the grid, as
he crassly likened the eight-hundredth gap to his young German teammate as a
"bee's d**k".

After his brush with the police on Friday night, Lewis Hamilton was half a
second slower than his McLaren teammate and missed the cut for the top ten.

His team boss Martin Whitmarsh told the BBC that the 'hoon' story had been
"blown out of proportion" by the media, admitting that Hamilton "will be
disappointed with his performance".

With a better showing than in Bahrain was Michael Schumacher, who despite still trailing his teammate Nico Rosberg said Melbourne has been "a little bit more fun" than his comeback event.

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:24.774 1:24.096 1:23.919 19
2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:25.286 1:24.276 1:24.035 20
3 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:25.082 1:24.335 1:24.111 22
4 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.897 1:24.531 1:24.675 19
5 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.548 1:25.010 1:24.837 24
6 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:24.788 1:24.788 1:24.884 26
7 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:25.351 1:24.871 1:24.927 24
8 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:25.702 1:25.085 1:25.217 20
9 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:25.588 1:25.122 1:25.372 23
10 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:25.504 1:25.046 1:26.036 24
11 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.046 1:25.184 13
12 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:26.061 1:25.638 17
13 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:26.170 1:25.743 19
14 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.089 1:25.747 15
15 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:25.866 1:25.748 17
16 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.251 1:25.777 16
17 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:26.095 1:26.089 16
18 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:26.471 10
19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:28.797 9
20 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:29.111 8
21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:29.592 8
22 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.185 8
23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:30.526 10
24 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:30.613 10