A fifth consecutive pole position for Nico Rosberg, as he beats Hamilton to pole by 0.078 in Brazil. Vettel will start the race in third, with Bottas qualifying fourth. However, the Finn will have to start 7th after getting a 3 place penalty for overtaking under red flags in practice. For McLaren, the session was another disaster. Alonso failed to set a time and Button didn’t make it into Q2.
Mercedes set the pace in Q1, with both drivers setting times on the soft tyres in order to secure the top places. Meanwhile, Alonso’s engine problems continued and he was forced to stop the car on track. This brought out the yellow flags for some time but the session resumed soon after. Also failing to make it into Q2 were Maldonado and Button along with the two Manor drivers. As they weren’t into the next session, Alonso and Button went onto the podium to wave to the crowd.
Q2 saw Hamilton setting the pace, as Rosberg saved his tyres for the race. Vettel split the pair with an impressive lap for 2nd. Behind them, Massa just scraped into the top ten, after being held up by Nasr on his lap. Grosjean also had trouble, spinning at Ferradura and flat spotting his tyres. He failed to make it into Q3, along with Nasr, Sainz, Perez and Ericsson.
Rosberg was the first out in Q3 and his first lap was 78 thousandths faster than his teammate. On the second laps, Hamilton had a slow sector 1 and 2 but was much quicker in the final sector. However, he was still slower than his teammate so remained second. Vettel went third fastest, with Bottas beating Raikkonen to 4th. Hulkenberg was an impressive 6th and Kvyat in 7th. After a tough session, Massa finished down in 8th, ahed of Ricciardo and Verstappen.
Ricciardo has a ten-place penalty, so will start 19th. Bottas has a three-place drop and Nasr was also given a penalty for blocking Massa on his lap.
The grid tomorrow will be:Rosberg, Hamilton; Vettel, Raikkonen; Hulkenberg, Kvyat; Bottas, Massa; Verstappen, Sainz; Perez, Ericsson; Nasr, Grosjean; Maldonado, Button; Rossi, Stevens; Ricciardo, Alonso.