Fernando Hernandez/Associated PressSebastian Vettel, right, with his teammate, Mark Webber, after scoring pole position on Saturday in Valencia, Spain.
After again cruising at the top of the time sheets in Saturday's qualifying session in Valencia, Spain, Sebastian Vettel has now scored seven pole positions this season out of eight races. Mark Webber, his teammate at Red Bull, was second fastest, just a tenth of a second behind — but that did not prevent the Australian from looking a little stunned.
I'm feeling a little stunned, too, as I think most people are, in apparently watching history repeat itself as the German they sometimes call Baby Schumi, seems to be dominating the series the way big Schumi did last decade. On the other hand, that same Michael Schumacher is still out there driving, and he appears to be getting closer and closer to his teammate, Nico Rosberg. Today, the two Mercedes drivers were only 0.009 of a second apart, with Rosberg qualifying seventh and Schumacher eighth.
The Mercedes team calculated that the difference in speed between them was the equivalent to a distance of 62 centimeters, about two feet, over the start-finish line.
"I am O.K. with today's qualifying result, which I would say was an average one," said Schumacher, obviously a little disappointed with his result.
Lewis Hamilton has been looking a little less stunned, however, as the McLaren Mercedes driver finished third in qualifying, and perhaps he feels now that he will have a chance to bounce back from some of the criticism he has experienced in recent races for all the driving incidents he has been involved in.
"I'm excited to be in the fight; we can win from this position," Hamilton said. "Of course, we'll need a bit of luck with the strategy and the pit stops, but our guys are on great form. You've got to be fortunate and maximize absolutely everything to get ahead of the Red Bulls — and, hopefully, that can happen tomorrow.
"I tried to push a little harder on my final lap — but it's a very fine line between being too greedy and getting it just right — and, unfortunately, I locked up into Turn One and that's where I lost time and bailed out."
Any predictions for the race tomorrow? Another Vettel victory?
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