John Donegan/Associated PressRomain Grosjean of the Lotus team driving around the Albert Park circuit on Saturday, where he finished third on the grid in his first race after his return to Formula One.
MELBOURNE — Formula One qualifying today proved that we are set for a completely different season from the last two. Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team do not look set to dominate again, as Lewis Hamilton took the 20th pole position of his career in a McLaren Mercedes, while his teammate, Jenson Button, finished second. In third was the surprise Romain Grosjean of the Lotus team, who has returned to Formula One after a couple of years away and a false start in his first effort in 2009.
The session was full of surprises that indicate that things have truly changed over the winter: Qualifying fourth was Michael Schumacher of the Mercedes team, looking stronger than he has been since his return from retirement. If Grosjean split up three world champions on the starting grid, the other three champions racing in the series had bigger problems. Vettel qualified only fifth, while his teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber, qualified one spot ahead of him.
Fernando Alonso, another world champion, spun out in his Ferrari and qualified only 12th, while Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion had the worst result of all of the champions: He qualified 18th. Worse, he was driving for the same Lotus team as Grosjean.
Personally, I find this result between the two Lotus drivers fascinating. I interviewed both of them yesterday and found Raikkonen to be in a foul mood — he is unhappy with his power steering — while Grosjean was one of the happiest drivers I have seen in a long time, looking delighted to be back, pleased with his team and loving his car. Interesting what a difference in attitude can do!