Nico Rosberg took his first pole position of the season, whilst his teammate Hamilton suffered an engine issue and failed to set a time. He will either start at the back of the grid or in the pit lane. It is going to be another tough race for the three-time champion – who already has a 17 point deficit to Rosberg in the championship.
Q1
After a wet FP3, the track had mostly dried for qualifying, with just a few damp areas. Hamilton and Rosberg were the first to go out, but Hamilton reported a power unit issue so pitted. It was discovered to be an ERS problem and this ended his session. Meanwhile, Wehrlein was caught out by the damp patch on the straight and lost control of the car. This brought out the red flag, delaying the session for 20 minutes. Vettel and Raikkonen went fastest after the restart, with Rosberg down in 6th. With Hamilton and Wehrlein out already, just four others were knocked out at the end of the session.
Haryanto was 20th, Palmer 19th and Guiterrez 18th. Magnussen set a time which brought him out of the drop zone, only to be knocked out again by Ericsson, he will start 17th.
Q2
The Ferraris once again set the ace initially in Q2, with Rosberg close behind. In the final two minutes, just as everyone was going onto their last flying laps, Hulkenberg’s wheel came loose and brought out the red flag once again. With no time to set a lap at the restart, many drivers lost out. Massa qualified 11th, with Alonso and Button 12th and 13th. This was a disappointing result for the McLaren’s who think they would have got a better time if the red flag hadn’t occurred. Also knocked out were Grosjean, Ericsson and Nasr.
Q3
Rosberg was the first to set a time, with a 1:36.111. Immediately, Raikkonen responded and took provisional pole by a tenth of a second. However, in the closing stages of Q3, Rosberg improved by over 5 tenths and set a 1:35.402. Ricciardo set a brilliant lap, bringing him up to second. Mistakes for both Ferrari drivers in Q3 meant they were unable to challenge Rosberg, or Ricciardo. Raikkonen will start 3rd, Vettel 4th. Bottas went fifth fastest, ahead of Kvyat and Perez. Sainz and Verstappen will start 8th and 9th respectively.
Hulkenberg qualifed 10th, however he received a penalty for releasing the car whilst unsafe. He will drop to 13th, promoting Massa, Alonso and Button to 1oth, 11th and 12th.
Therefore, the provisional grid for tomorrow is:
Rosberg, Ricciardo; Raikkonen, Vettel; Bottas, Kvyat; Perez, Sainz; Verstappen, Massa; Alonso, Button; Hulkenberg, Grosjean; Ericsson, Nasr; Magnussen, Gutierrez; Palmer, Haryanto; Wehrlein, Hamilton.