*Update: Hamilton Loses Pole* Lewis Hamilton on Top of Pole in Spain

*Update: So remember how Lewis Hamilton parked the car after doing his pole-setting lap? It turns out the car ran out of fuel on its in-lap to the pits. The rule is that the car must return to the pits after qualifying and give the FIA a one liter fuel sample. The FIA has ruled that Hamilton will have to start the race from the end back of the grid. Everyone moves up one space meaning that the new pole sitter is Pastor Maldonado in the Williams, and Fernando Alonso will start along side him on the grid tomorrow. 

Source: Autosport

A sunny track and nice weather greeted the cars for the beginning of Formula 1 qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. Pirelli brought only its hard and soft tires to the race this weekend meaning that there is two-step jump between the tires this weekend. Almost all of the drivers ran the soft tires for qualifying valuing a high grid spot to more longevity during the race. 

Pastor Maldonado was he  the fastest man on track for most of the first session having done a 1:23.380 lap. At the end of the session Lewis Hamilton set a fastest lap of 1:22.583, the first driver to be in the 1:22 range all weekend. Narain Karthikeyan was off pace for most of the session and was below the 107% rule. While attempting to set a fast lap with no time left, Bruno Senna spun his car into the gravel. He was not injured, but it knocked him out of qualifying. The drivers knocked out in the first round were Karthikeyan, Pedro de la Rosa, Timo Glock, Charles Pic, Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna.

At the beginning of the second session, Hamilton bested his previous time for a 1:22.465, and Webber was the second driver to move into the 1:22 range with a 1:22.977. Raikkonen and Grosjean both broke into the 1:22 club with about three minutes left in the round putting them in second and third, respectively. The track temperature dropped one degree, and the times fell like dominos. The top 12 drivers were in the 1:22 range. The faster track was enough to push Mark Webber out of the session. Jensen Button was also unable to get a qualifying time into the final round. 

Kamui Kobayshi qualified for the final round, but he pulled his car over immediately after this fast lap with a technical problem. He did not run any laps in the final session. Vettel went out immediately to take advantage of the cool, cloud-covered track. The sun came out during his out lap, and Vettel pulled into the pits during what would have been his fast lap. Hamilton set a 1:22.560 qualifying lap earlier in the session, and Michael Schumacher aborted his fast lap like Vettel. Like in the previous session, everyone came out in the last seconds. For a brief moment it looked like Pastor Maldonado had the pole, but then Hamilton set a new fastest lap of 1:21.707. Hamilton pulled off track after his fast lap and let the car sit likeley ot save tires and fuel. Schumacher and Vettel put no times in during the session to save tires. 

Tires played the biggest role in today's qualifying. First because the soft tires were really the only option for qualifying, and then because of their knife edge performance. When the track temperature fell by one degree, the cars got significantly faster. Schumacher and Vettel did not even set qualifying times in order to save their tires for the race. Was it the right decision? We will not know until the race tomorrow.