Formula 1

Rosberg On Pole For His Home GP

The Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg is on pole for his home race tomorrow after a tense final qualifying session.

Pole man Rosberg didn’t get it all his way though, after he was restricted to just a single timed lap in Q3, following an electronics issue on his first run. Which meant he had to abort his opening attempt to claim pole. Despite this Rosberg kept cool and was able to finish a tenth of a second ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, even while carrying more fuel than he was. Hamilton looked to be up on Rosberg’s time till a lock up into turn six cost him the pole.

“It was a great feeling, a great lap,” said Rosberg. “It was a good battle. I just focused on that one lap. It happens quite naturally and it’s important to make it happen in such moments.”

In the battle to be best of the rest behind Mercedes Red Bull once again seem to have the edge after out qualifying the Ferrari’s today. Daniel Riccardo will start the race from 3rd, with team mate Max Verstappen alongside him in 4th.However, Ricciardo will have to start Sunday’s race on tyres six laps old after setting his fastest time in Q2 on his second run on the same compound. Red bull feel however this will not affect his performance tomorrow in the opening stint of the race.

Meanwhile, with only a point separating them in the constructor’s championship, it looks as if Ferrari may have to face the prospect of going into summer break in 3rd position. After both cars qualified behind the Red Bulls today, with Kimi Raikkonen beating his team mate Sebastian Vettel to 5th place. What is even more worrying for the Ferrari’s was the fact they were almost a second slower than Mercedes on one of the shortest laps of the year, suggesting the Ferrari team may be struggling right now.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 7th in front of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas in an interesting battle between the two teams for 4th in constructors. Hulkenberg’s team mate Sergio Perez will start 9th ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa who rounds out the top ten. With the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez starting just outside the top 10 in 11th, his best qualifying performance of the season.

It wasn’t a good day for the Toro Rosso team though. Carlos Sainz was awarded a three place grid penalty for impeding Massa in Q2. While there was yet more misfortune for Daniil Kvyat. Having once again been knocked out Q1, Kvyat is now in grave danger of losing his seat with Toro Rosso at the end of the year, to the likes of Red Bull young driver and current GP2 champion leader Pierre Gasly.

This is the final race before summer break and everyone will be looking to get the best possible result to carry the momentum into summer break. There are several big battles in both the drivers and constructor’s championship to settle, as well as some personal grudges on track as well. And with silly season in full swing everyone needs to be showing the paddock they are the driver the team wants for next season. In terms of the race tomorrow the Hockenheim ring is an old school circuit that favours overtaking. And with an unpredictable first corner that saw Felipe Massa roll in his Williams last time they raced here in 2014, expect a good race tomorrow.

German GP qualifying

Q1
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:14.363
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:14.470
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:14.726
4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:14.834
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:15.142
6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:15.315
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:15.510
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:15.530
9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:15.537
10. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:15.615

Q2
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:15.883
12. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:15.909
13. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:15.989 (Three place penalty for blocking Massa in Q2)
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:16.041
15. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:16.086 (Five place gearbox penalty.)
16. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:16.665

Q3
17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:16.716
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:16. 717
19. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:16.876
20. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:16.977
21. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:17.123
22. Marcus Ericsson, 1:17.238

Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Racing Press Release

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