The FIA has revealed the fuel loads with which all 20 cars will start the British Grand Prix. We analyse the data here.
The car weights underline just what a superb job Sebastian Vettel did in qualifying, since he took pole by 0.35s despite carrying 9kg more fuel than his nearest rival Rubens Barrichello.
When you take those extra nine kilos – four laps’ worth – into account, Vettel’s advantage almost doubles to 0.6s, one of the largest of the season so far.
So how did he do it? Well, clearly Red Bull has made a big step forward with the new front wing it has brought here; the RB5 already excelled in fast corners, which Silverstone abounds in; and for good measure, the chilly weather suits it much better than the Brawn, which is slower to generate the necessary tyre temperature for an on-the-limit qualifying lap.
Those three factors, together with a sweet final Q3 lap, explain Vettel’s hefty margin over Barrichello, who himself did a fine job to get the Brawn onto the front row and outqualify team-mate Jenson Button by four places on an identical fuel load.
It’s easy to see why Mark Webber was disappointed after qualifying: The Aussie was fuelled 7kg (three laps) lighter than Vettel and had a prime opportunity to take pole.
Not only did he let that slip, he was knocked off the front row altogether by Barrichello, although Mark comes out fractionally ahead on the fuel-adjusted grid.
It’s quite possible he would have taken pole had he not come across an inattentive Kimi Raikkonen at Stowe on his final Q3 lap.
He’d comfortably topped the times on his first run, and was neck-and-neck with Vettel in the first and third sectors of his last lap; all the time loss came in the middle sector.
That said, in order to match Vettel’s performance he should, given his weight advantage, have taken pole by more than 0.3s – and that was never on the cards.
Round one therefore goes to Vettel. The key question now is whether the young German can avoid shooting himself in the foot, as he has in the last few races and did so embarrassingly halfway round the opening lap in Turkey a fortnight ago.
Jarno Trulli’s fourth place on the grid is an accurate reflection of his qualifying pace, while Nico Rosberg vaults from seventh to fifth in the fuel-corrected order despite not being entirely happy with his Q3 lap.
The Williams driver was carrying some 9kg more than his team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, turning a 0.15s deficit into a 0.17s advantage, and also leapfrogs Button once their respective weights are taken into account.
That is highly encouraging for Williams, which not only seems to have stabilised the gap to the front-runners but also seems to be posting an above-trend performance at a circuit where it has struggled badly in recent years.
Even if it was slightly flattered by the lightest fuel load of the top 10 runners, Nakajima’s performance and his 0.17s fuel-adjusted gap to Rosberg showed the Japanese driver is gradually learning how to unlock the car’s pace in qualifying.
Button suffered more than Barrichello from the cool conditions because his super-smooth driving style is easier on the tyres; while that is often an asset when it comes to tyre management in the race, it can sometimes hinder him in qualifying, as was the case here.
Thus he qualified 0.78s slower than pole-sitter Vettel despite a weight advantage of 9kg – a fuel-corrected gap of 1.1s.
The main surprise elsewhere on the grid was the poor showing from Ferrari, which a couple of races ago seemed to be making rapid strides and emerging as Brawn’s closest competitor.
The latest upgrade doesn’t seem to have helped the Maranello squad and the KERS system may well be a net disadvantage here at Silverstone, where weight distribution is more important than a power boost from low speeds.
Only Raikkonen made it into Q3 and, allowing for fuel loads, the Finn was a massive 1.64s off the pace.
Silverstone is an average circuit for fuel consumption, requiring 2.45kg for each 3.19-mile lap.
As is the case at most races, the optimal strategy is a two-stop race divided into three stints, and that is what all the top 10 runners look set for.
Vettel’s relatively heavy fuel load puts him in a commanding position provided he can successfully convert his pole this time.
We can expect the German to stop around lap 22, some four laps after Barrichello and Trulli and three laps later than team-mate Webber, who may well prove his main competition.
If Webber can either pass Barrichello at the start or stay close to him through the opening stint, the extra lap before his first stop should hand Red Bull the tactical advantage, giving it the opportunity to put him on a longer middle stint if necessary.
Button should be able to pass Nakajima at the pit stops if he hasn’t already done it at the start or in the first stint, but Trulli may prove more of an obstacle since he is set to pit on the same lap.
Fernando Alonso suggested after qualifying that he was carrying a lot of fuel, but in fact only Nakajima is fuelled lighter – so the Spaniard can’t expect a straightforward passage into the points from 10th on the grid.
As usual, those outside the top 10 are tanked up for longer opening stints, to varying extents.
Felipe Massa is due to pit on lap 25, while Heikki Kovalainen – whose McLaren tipped the scales at 695.5kg, can go as far as lap 34.
Lewis Hamilton looks condemned to another long afternoon from the back row of the grid, but McLaren is hoping a light fuel load relative to those around him will help to help him make progress in the first few laps.
It didn’t work in Monaco, but perhaps the much more open Silverstone circuit (albeit passing is still difficult) will give him half a chance of making some early headway.
He will certainly be trying his hardest to give his legion of home fans something to cheer, even if his imperious 2008 win is now a distant memory.
Car weights including fuel (in kg, by grid order)
1. VETTEL Red Bull 666.5
2. BARRICHELLO Brawn 657.5
3. WEBBER Red Bull 659.5
4. TRULLI Toyota 658
5. NAKAJIMA Williams 652.5
6. BUTTON Brawn 657.5
7. ROSBERG Williams 661.5
8. GLOCK Toyota 660
9. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 654
10. ALONSO Renault 654
11. MASSA Ferrari 675
12. KUBICA BMW 689.5
13. KOVALAINEN McLaren 695.5
14. PIQUET Renault 682.5
15. HEIDFELD BMW 665.5
16. FISICHELLA Force India 668
17. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 687.5
18. SUTIL Force India 692
19. HAMILTON McLaren 666
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso 672.5