Rain Delays British GP for Over an Hour, but Alonso Takes Pole

The biggest news from qualifying for the British Grand Prix was the 91 minute red flag during Q2 caused by the heavy rain. Even after the delay, cars were still sliding all over the track. 

Formula 1 practice yesterday was very, very wet with standing water all over Silverstone. Most of the teams did not do any laps until about the last 40 minutes. Bruno Senna had a major off and took a wheel off the car. But that was yesterday; today is qualifying.

It was not nearly as wet today, but the rain was still coming down. At the start of the session, the track was, but there was no rain. However, the rain was coming. All of the drivers were out to beat the rain. Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher led early. As the cars lapped, the track dried out. With about 10 minutes left a variety of drivers led including Kamui Kobayashi, Jean-Eric Vergne and Pastor Maldonado. The rain began falling with five minutes left in the session. Button was slow enough to be knocked out with just 2 minutes to go. Charles Pic did not set a time within the 107% limit. Button had one last lap to get into Q2, but yellow flags kept him slow. He was not able to make it. Timo Glock also crashed at the start/finish line on the final lap. Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the session. 

For the second session, everyone got out early in case the rain got worse. Puddles of standing water were starting to form early in the session. Schumacher had a spin with 10 minutes to go, but the car was undamaged. The fastest drivers with 9 minutes to go were Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Drivers were sliding all over the place. Fernando Alonso nearly hit the wall but saved it. Schumacher went off two more times. Alonso actually called for a red flag for the session after his off, and it was red flagged with 6:19 left in the session. 

After 91 minutes, the session finally restarted. The rain had stopped, but there were still large puddles on the track. 6:19 remained in the Q2 session. Bruno Senna was the only driver who had not put a time in the session. Sergio Perez led with a 1:59.092 lap time. On the first fast lap after the red flag, the fastest drivers were in the 1:57 range, but times kept falling with Mark Webber doing a 1:55.898. In the end, the fastest driver was Lewis Hamilton with a 1:54.897. Romain Grosjean spun into the gravel. Although he was fast enough to make it to Q3, because the car stopped, he was not allowed to lap in Q3. 

When Q3 began, the track was still wet but drying. Heavy rain was on the way, but the teams said it would not start until after the session was over. Massa and Alonso were lapping well during the session and were in first and second for about of minute of the session. All of the cars chose intermediate tires. With 1:30 left, a dry line was forming, but the rain was clearly on the way. Webber jumped to the top with a 1:51.7 with 30 seconds left. Alonso was on a flying lap and beat Webber by half a second. No one else was able to beat him because the rain started falling again in the last seconds of Q3. That puts Alonso on pole, Webber in second, Schumacher third, Vettel fourth and Massa fifth.