The established order in the sport was rudely shaken this afternoon in a sun-baked circuit, when a squad of midfielders did something seemingly unachievable, a one-two qualifying position, which secures the first two places on the starting grid in the Grand Prix tomorrow and shook the paddock. The outcome, which comes against the giants of the game with budgets many times larger than their own, should be viewed as one of the most outrageous qualifying upsets in recent history.
It was a tense time in the air as the last part of qualifying, Q3, started. It was what the commonplace suspects of scarlet red cars and the strong silver arrows were supposed to fight out to the pole position, as long as they were fighting.
However, even during the first runs, it was evident that something special was being unravelled. As the favourites were trying to breathe the air and achieve their best lap times, two brilliant yellow cars established a rhythm that appeared to be divine.
A Lap for the Ages
The climax was reached during the last minutes of the meeting. The current World Champion now had only a temporary pole, though his time was right away overshadowed by a smoking lap of the younger driver of the underdog outfit.
The timing boards turned purple in the first and second sectors, and the car passed across the line, and there was a thunderous outburst of astonishment and ecstasy in the grandstands. He had stolen the provisional pole by a huge margin.
However, the drama was not over yet. His teammate, a veteran with years of experience, might be praised implying his technical feedback, but his raw single-lap pace was on a flying lap of his own.
The second yellow car went round the last chicane and flew down the main straight with the whole paddock standing still and watching. When his hour came, it was not only timely, it was speedier. He had stolen pole position off his own team mate and had gained a sensational one-two in the team.
The radio talk of the two drivers was nothing short of pure and unadulterated disbelief. The head of the team, who is listening in the garage, might be available on the world feed, crying with tears in his hands. It was a beautiful scene of chaos, in marked contrast to the amazed silence of the garages of the old powerhouses of the sport.
Paddock in a State of Shock
The situation that followed in the paddock was the image of the world inverted. Data were scanned by engineers of the competing teams as they attempted to figure out how such an outcome could occur. Team principals responded in terse, confused interviews, and their congratulations were muted as their minds scanned madly to understand what had just happened to them. This was the story of the weekend, at least, and probably of the whole season, rewritten in ten minutes.
It is not just a random accomplishment. The team has been in an upward trend with bursts of speed during the early races. Their automobile, a radical design that was initially received with scepticism, has turned out to be a gem, especially on this circuit layout that is unique.
The important reason was that the team had a strategic masterstroke of retaining a set of the softest compound tyres, which gave their drivers an advantage of having fresh-tyre tyres during the last runs when the rest had to use scrubbed sets. This and a car that was perfectly matched to the circuit, coupled with two drivers who were mining every millisecond of performance, made up the ideal storm of this historic outcome.
A New Dawn for the Sport?
This lockout on the front row is a challenge to the present-day era of Formula 1, where the monetary power is directly related to success on the track. It is a triumph of resourcefulness, of a lean and efficient operation which has outwitted its richer competitors. It demonstrates that even the established order can be disrupted with a good idea, a team that is united in its purpose and fearless drivers.
This is a defining moment in the career of the drivers. The old generation on pole has proven that he is an experienced and competent driver, and the younger one in the second place has stamped his name on the world arena as a rising star in the new generation. The pressure has moved to the next day’s race.
It is one thing to start at the front, but to fight off the quicker race cars of the champions behind them in the process of a Grand Prix distance is quite another thing. The crew will be wishing that it will be a fresh beginning and an incident-free race, and that their competitors will be after them like a pack of dogs.
With the sun going down, the circuit in the atmosphere was electric. The talk was of nothing else. This is now a very real and exciting opportunity for the underdog to win, an event that would be compared with the most well-known upsets in the entire history of sports.
The whole world of motorsport will be tuned in tomorrow, and the question is whether this fairytale qualifying session will be turned into a fairytale race. The grid is laid, and for the first time in a long time, the look out of the front has been painted an unexpected glorious yellow.