More Events in Asia Of Formula 1: Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Round-Up

What a surprise…another Saturday, another Red Bull at the first spot of the starting grid, with a second Red Bull racer at its side: a site everyone has gotten used to this year.

What must have frightened poleman Sebastian Vettel rivals for tomorrow's race is his admission that he held back and did not perform at 100%: “On the last run, I tried a bit too much going into the really tricky chicane around Turn 10," said Vettel, adding that, "I decided to abort the lap, as it can be so easy to damage the car.”

The two Red Bulls were challenged not by Ferrari, as Fernando Alonso’s pace at the free practice promised, but by the McLarens of Jenson Button who beat his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for third place.

The Scuderia had to be content with the third row of the grid with Alonso in front of Felipe Massa. The two Mercedes’ and the two Force Indias completed the top 10 of the first night race in this year’s Formula 1 calendar.

RESULTS

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First McLaren Asian Showroom : McLaren Opens New Showroom in Singapore

Ron Dennis is a man with a plan. When possible, McLaren’s mastermind has arranged the grand openings of new dealerships to coincide with the local Formula 1 Grand Prix events.

He did it in Germany, then in Italy, and now it’s Singapore’s turn – both for McLaren Automotive and the F1 race. The new showroom belongs to McLaren Automotive Asia Pte Ltd, which is based in Singapore and will manage the Asia Pacific dealer network.

Ron Dennis commented: “2011 is a landmark year for McLaren. A new car company comes to life with dedicated retail partners around the world supplying the first ‘pure’ McLarens. This is an exciting new chapter in our history, and success in the Asia Pacific region is vital to our ambitions.”

McLaren’s boss also spoke about Singapore businessman Peter Lim, who recently invested in the company and joined its Board of Directors: “Confirming Peter Lim’s involvement with the company and the setting up of McLaren Automotive Asia shows our ambition for the region that is becoming the world’s focus for premium cars.”

A team of 10 McLaren Automotive employees will manage not only the Singapore dealership but also retailers that will follow in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan. For McLaren, the booming Asian market is indeed very important. As Dennis said, “a quarter of all existing McLaren F1road cars have their homes in the Asia Pacific region.”

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Formula 1: Italian GP Qualifying Results

McLaren may have tried to secure some publicity by opening its only Italian showroom in Milan just before the local GP, but on the track, it was Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel who captured the spotlight with his 10th pole position of the year in Monza.

Vettel was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton who beat his teammate, Jenson Button, by a mere 0.052 seconds. The Tifosi had to be content with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place –not a bad result, if you consider that he is one place ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start from sixth position, ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, completes the top ten of the starting grid with the second Renault.

The race, which is the last Grand Prix in Europe for 2011 since Formula 1 moves to Asia for the next five races before the season finale at Brazil, starts on Sunday at 12:00 GMT.

Via Espn

Formula 1: Italian GP Qualifying Results

McLaren may have tried to secure some publicity by opening its only Italian showroom in Milan just before the local GP, but on the track, it was Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel who captured the spotlight with his 10th pole position of the year in Monza.

Vettel was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton who beat his teammate, Jenson Button, by a mere 0.052 seconds. The Tifosi had to be content with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place –not a bad result, if you consider that he is one place ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start from sixth position, ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, completes the top ten of the starting grid with the second Renault.

The race, which is the last Grand Prix in Europe for 2011 since Formula 1 moves to Asia for the next five races before the season finale at Brazil, starts on Sunday at 12:00 GMT.

Via Espn

Formula 1: Italian GP Qualifying Results

McLaren may have tried to secure some publicity by opening its only Italian showroom in Milan just before the local GP, but on the track, it was Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel who captured the spotlight with his 10th pole position of the year in Monza.

Vettel was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton who beat his teammate, Jenson Button, by a mere 0.052 seconds. The Tifosi had to be content with Fernando Alonso’s fourth place –not a bad result, if you consider that he is one place ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start from sixth position, ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, completes the top ten of the starting grid with the second Renault.

The race, which is the last Grand Prix in Europe for 2011 since Formula 1 moves to Asia for the next five races before the season finale at Brazil, starts on Sunday at 12:00 GMT.

Via Espn

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Then we take Milan: McLaren Opens First Dealership in Ferrari's Home Turf

McLaren’s expansion strategy is running like clockwork. After the flagship showroom in London’s Hyde Park, the British company opened two more retail shops in Germany, in Dusseldorf and Hamburg just before the local Formula 1 Grand Prix. Now, McLaren has landed in Italy.

On Thursday, McLaren opened its first showroom in the city of Milan at an event hosted by the company’s managing director Anthony Sheriff and featuring F1’s 2009 world champion, and current McLaren driver, Jenson Button as well as McLaren’s CEO, Martin Whitmarsh.

“The opening of McLaren Milan marks a significant point in the development of McLaren Automotive” said Sheriff. “My vision for this company is to design and build the most innovative, efficient and high performance sports cars in the world.”

The Milan showroom is the only one planned for Italy and just one of 35 worldwide dearlerships that will sell and provide customer care for McLaren’s supercar, the MP4-12C. At least for the time being, since the company is developing a new range of models to cover the entire supercar segment and challenge Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.

Of course, McLaren’s CEO didn’t miss the opportunity to rival the local opposition in its home ground: “The MP4-12C is unlike other sports cars that buyers in the Italian market are familiar with.” Wonder whom he might be referring to…

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