Lewis Hamilton takes his 44th pole position of his career, with Nico Rosberg just over 3 tenths behind in second. Raikkonen will line up in 3rd tomorrow, but his teammate Vettel had a hybrid issue meaning he couldn’t get into Q2. Button failed to take part in qualifying after an engine problem in practice earlier today.
Rosberg was fastest in Q1 by a small margin to Hamilton, both completed their Q1 laps on the soft tyres rather than the super softs. Raikkonen also put in a good lap and was third. Vettel had an issue with the MGU-H and was unable to put in a competitive time. Massa, too, had a problem on his car and could only get 17th. The two manor drivers failed to reach Q2 and Button was unable to take part in qualifying.
Hamilton lead in Q2, with his teammate close behind him. Ricciardo just made it through to Q3, pushing Sainz down to 11th. Verstappen was 12th but has 15 places worth of grid penalties so will start at the back and have a ten second penalty tomorrow. Ericsson was 13th and Alonso, the only McLaren in qualifying, could only reach 14th. After a crash in practice, Nasr was able to compete in qualifying but was 15th in Q2.
Hamilton initially set a time of 1:14.393 in Q3 and Rosberg was 3 tenths off. He was told by the team that the tyres were a problem, but he failed to improve on this time in his second run. Raikkonen got his best qualifying result of the season with 3rd place ahead of Valtteri Bottas. The Lotus drivers put in an excellent performance with Grosjean 5th and Maldonado 6th. Hulkenburg got 7th, in front of the two Red Bulls Kvyat and Ricciardo. Perez will line up 10th.