Mercedes driver and championship leader Nico Rosberg will start on pole for tomorrows Japanese Grand Prix after beating team mate Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second.
It was tough to predict who out of the two Mercedes drivers would have pole position this weekend, as both drivers have been close all weekend to the other. In FP2 yesterday there was only seven hundredths of a second splitting the two, but that gap got even smaller today in qualifying. And in one of the closest sessions of the year, Rosberg delivered a near perfect lap to edge out Hamilton, by just over one hundredth of a second. Mercedes calculated the difference in lap time between their two drivers to be worth 82 centimetres of the Suzuka circuit, showing just how much the pair are pushing with five races to go and just 23 points between them in the championship. It’s the tenth time this year that Mercedes have locked out the front row for a race.
“I was going well the whole weekend,” said Rosberg. “That’s what allows me to put a lap in like that.”
However, rather than being downcast about the result, Hamilton remained optimistic about his chances in the race. While he has never qualified on pole at Suzuka, he has won around the track. And most notably is going for his third successive victory in Japan this weekend, following his wins in 2014 and 15 here.
“I’m happy with qualifying,” said Hamilton. “It’s been a weekend a lot of work, getting the set-up right, some big changes went into qualifying. Considering that, to be that close, I was really happy with it.”
Behind the feuding Mercedes duo, it was the Ferrari’s who beat the Red Bulls to a second row lock out, with Kimi Raikkonen 3rd ahead of Sebastian Vettel in 4th. Vettel will have to give up his position though as he has a three place grid penalty for causing a collision on the first lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix last weekend. His penalty will promote both Red Bulls ahead of him. Who qualified 5th and 6th respectfully, with Max Verstappen beating his team mate by less than a tenth of a second.
Sergio Perez impressed again in his Force India, qualifying 7th for the team. Surprisingly though his time was identical to that of the Haas of Romain Grosjean in 8th, who put in a stellar performance in his car despite a worrying ongoing break issues the car has been suffering this weekend in FP1+2. Perez will be given the higher starting position however as he set his lap before Grosjean.
The fellow Force India of Nico Hulkenberg is 9th and the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez rounds off the top ten. Interestingly the Suzuka grid resembles something of a Noah’s Ark two by two format, as most of the grid qualified next to their team-mate. With the biggest difference between sister cars amounting to just two grid slots before penalties were applied.
Out of the 11 teams on the grid, only Perez, Grosjean, the McLaren of Fernando Alonso and the Renault of Jolyon Palmer, managed to put distance between them and their team-mates. It was hardly a surprise that Alonso beat his team mate Jenson Button. Button has struggled all weekend with his car at Honda’s home Grand Prix with an engine down on power still compared to the rest of the grid. He was only able to qualify 17th in the end and was knocked out in Q1. Honda’s home Grand Prix is ironically on a circuit which highlights rather than disguises the weaknesses of their engine package. Alonso fared only slightly better with his new Honda engine unit, qualifying 15th, two places ahead of Button.
As for Palmer it was a more positive session following the Malaysian GP where he scored his first point in F1. He too manages to out-qualify his team mate Kevin Magnussen and get into Q2 again. He will start the race 16th while Magnussen will start the race 17th. The grid carries on the two by two formation right to the back, where Esteban Ocon once again out-qualified his team mate Pascal Wehrlein. Even if he did qualify ahead of him, Wehrlein still had to take a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox.
Tomorrows race should be interesting; the grid is so incredibly close with just hundredths of a second on average between team mates. If a driver is looking to prove they have the edge over their team mate, this is the race to do it at. There are still lots of battles to settle both within teams and in the constructor’s championship too. While the battle with the Mercedes duo should see sparks flying, as Hamilton looks to claw back the 23-point deficit to his team mate. It may be an early start for those of you on European times tomorrow. But it’s going to be well worth the early wake up call.
Japanese GP Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:30.647
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari (three-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the Malaysia GP)
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
7. Sergio Perez, Force India
8. Romain Grosjean, Haas
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
10. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas
Q2
11. Valtteri Bottas, Williams
12. Felipe Massa, Williams
13. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso
14. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren
16. Jolyon Palmer, Renault
Q1
17. Jenson Button, McLaren
18. Kevin Magnussen, Renault
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber
21. Esteban Ocon, Manor
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor (five-place grid penalty for gearbox change)
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Racing Press Release
