in the Lotus, while his team mate – comeback champion Kimi Raikkonen, failed to make it into Q3 and would start from 11th on the grid. Force India’s Paul di Resta surprised everyone
by making it beyond Q2 for the first time this year, setting the seventh fastest lap in the middle part of qualifying. He opted not to set a time in Q3, thus bagging an extra set of Pirelli soft tyres for the race. Schumacher not making it beyond Q1 –
knocked out by Heikki Kovalainen who set an impressive lap in the Caterham, to bump out the Mercedes driver, and Raikkonen stumbling in Q2, were the biggest surprises of the afternoon, although the lack of pace shown by Williams (compared to the first three races) was perplexing.