Chinese GP - Qualifying weights - Vettel, Alonso and Webber running low

A look at the qualifying times for the Chinese Grand Prix tells one story but after all of the teams have send out their press releases, the FIA publish the weights of the cars and this throws new information into an already complex equation.

As a rule of thumb, 10kg of fuel lasts four to five laps while 10kg of fuel slows the car by roughly 0.3s a lap – depending on the circuit type and length.

We suspected that Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber would be running light in the final phase of qualifying and that was indeed the case, but it was Fernando Alonso who ran the lightest car to qualify his heavily modified Renault a superb second.

Brawn Mercedes had dominated qualifying in Australian and Malaysia but line up tomorrow in Shanghai with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button fourth and fifth respectively.

With 22 kg more fuel on board his Brawn Mercedes than Fernando Alonso, championship leader Button should be able to complete at least eight laps more than the Renault driver before pitting.

Of course all of this data is interesting, but as ever a lot will depend on the run to the first turn on Sunday afternoon while those outside of the top ten in qualifying are now free to change their fuel levels to whatever they wish.

China - Qualifying Weight (kg)
1 . F. Alonso - Renault R29 - 637.0
2 . S. Vettel - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 644.0
3 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 646.5
4 . A.Sutil - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 648.0 *
5 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW31 - 650.5
6 . T. Glock - Toyota TF109 - 652.0 *
7 . J. Button - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 659.0
8 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 659.0 *
9 . R. Barrichello - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 661.0
10 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF109 - 664.5
11 . S. Buemi - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 673.0
12 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F60 - 673.5
13 . L. Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 679.0
14 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 679.0 *
15 . G. Fisichella - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 679.5 *
16 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 682.7 *
17 . S. Bourdais - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 690.0 *
18 . F. Massa - Ferrari F60 - 690.0 *
19 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 697.0 *
20 . N. Piquet - Renault R29 - 697.9 *

* Declared weight (outside of top ten)