As the full loads below show, Vettel and Alonso were pretty light. However no one can take this amazing pole position from Vettel, he is KERS and double decker diffuser free after all. If he goes on to win tomorrow, surely that should be some kind of record as he would have won both Torro Rosso and Red Bull’s maiden GP wins?

Kimi was indeed heavy so its no surprise he was 8th overall. It was a solid result for the Finn though considering the way the weekend has gone so far for Ferrari, although it does worry me how he’ll fair at the start without KERS (especially as Lewis in P9 along side him has KERS and a new diffuser!

Driver Full Loads
Below is the weight of each car following qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, sorted by qualifying position.

Pos. Driver Car weight
1. Vettel 644.0kg
2. Alonso 637.0kg
3. Webber 646.5kg
4. Barrichello 661.0kg
5. Button 659.0kg
6. Trulli 664.5kg
7. Rosberg 650.5kg
8. Raikkonen 673.5kg
9. Hamilton 679.0kg
10. Buemi 673.0kg
11. Heidfeld 679.0kg
12. Kovalainen 697.0kg
13. Massa 690.0kg
14. Glock 652.0kg
15. Nakajima 682.7kg
16. Bourdais 690.0kg
17. Piquet 697.9kg
18. Kubica 659.0kg
19. Sutil 648.0kg
20. Fisichella 679.5kg

Qualifying Results
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.565 1:35.130 1:36.184 11
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.443 1:35.803 1:36.381 21
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.751 1:35.173 1:36.466 19
4. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.701 1:35.503 1:36.493 21
5. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.533 1:35.556 1:36.532 19
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.308 1:35.645 1:36.835 21
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.941 1:35.809 1:37.397 23
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:36.137 1:35.856 1:38.089 19
9. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.776 1:35.740 1:38.595 17
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.284 1:35.965 1:39.321 21
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.525 1:35.975 14
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.646 1:36.032 10
13. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.178 1:36.033 11
14. Glock* Toyota (B) 1:36.364 1:36.066 14
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.673 1:36.193 13
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.906 10
17. Piquet Renault (B) 1:36.908 10
18. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:36.966 8
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.669 10
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.672 10

All Timing Unofficial

*Glock will take a penalty though for his gearbox change, so that puts him in 19th position tomorrow.

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Usual service seems to have resumed from the last race with the recently cleared ‘double decker’ diffuser teams still ending fastest of the day along with the Red Bulls.

Hamilton however also looks in with a shot in qualifying tomorrow as he’s cars new diffuser seems to have given him some much needed additional speed. The Brit finished the first free practice on top.

Rosberg took that role in FP2, continuing with his impressive Friday form. Kimi Raikkonen however looks to have another tough weekend ahead of him, with his KERS less car proving as slow and challenging we all feared it would be. He finished the day fourteenth overall.

It looks like tomorrow will be a close at the front in Q3 - lets just hope the Kimster makes it through to the top ten shot out to be in with a chance of a much needed points finish on Sunday.

Free Practice 1
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.334 + 22
2. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:37.450 + 0.116 18
3. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:37.566 + 0.232 19
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.672 + 0.338 23
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:37.752 + 0.418 20
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:37.764 + 0.430 19
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:37.860 + 0.526 24
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:37.894 + 0.560 21
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:38.089 + 0.755 19
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:38.195 + 0.861 24
11. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:38.223 + 0.889 23
12. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:38.274 + 0.940 20
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:38.307 + 0.973 26
14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:38.319 + 0.985 18
15. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:38.418 + 1.084 20
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.456 + 1.122 21
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:38.460 + 1.126 19
18. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.463 + 1.129 18
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:38.730 + 1.396 25
20. Piquet Renault (B) 1:38.825 + 1.491 20

Free Practice 2
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.679 35
2. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.704 + 0.025 36
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.881 + 0.202 35
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.105 + 0.426 32
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.167 + 0.488 22
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.217 + 0.538 42
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.377 + 0.698 32
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.548 + 0.869 40
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.674 + 0.995 34
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.800 + 1.121 34
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:36.829 + 1.150 30
12. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.847 + 1.168 34
13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.941 + 1.262 28
14. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:37.054 + 1.375 33
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.219 + 1.540 34
16. Piquet Renault (B) 1:37.273 + 1.594 36
17. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.491 + 1.812 34
18. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.544 + 1.865 28
19. Alonso Renault (B) 1:37.638 + 1.959 28
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.750 + 2.071 31

All Timing Unofficial

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Protest lodged over Brawn, Toyota and Williams diffusers

The much-talked-about diffuser designs on the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams cars have become the subject of an offical protest from rivals in Melbourne, after they cleared Thursday scrutineering with the Albert Park stewards.

All three teams are believed to have found a loophole in the regulations which allows them to run a taller diffuser. However, four fellow teams - BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault - have objected, questioning the legality of the designs.

The stewards must now decide whether to allow the cars in question to race in their current form. However, should there be any appeal over that decision, it would come down to the FIA to determine the diffusers’ legality, possibly at a later date.

Source - F1.com