Hamilton takes pole for the third time this season, beating his teammate Rosberg by over two tenths of a second. Verstappen impressed in his first qualifying for Red Bull, taking fourth place, 4 tenths off Ricciardo. Ferrari had a fairly disappointing session, with their drivers ending 5th and 6th on the grid for tomorrow.
Q1
Rosberg set the fastest lap of the weekend so far, a 1:23.002, to put himself fastest in the first session of qualifying. Hamilton was o.2 seconds off the pace in second. It was Verstappen, however, who impressed in the opening session lapping just 5 tenths of the pacesetter Rosberg.
As usual, it was Manor and Sauber who saw themselves in the drop zone. However, the big surprise was that Massa failed to make it into Q2 after he mistimed his final run. He will start 18th. An improvement for Button in the final seconds pushed Palmer out also.
Q2
Leading the standings by over 6 tenths to his teammate in Q2 was Lewis Hamilton, after putting in a brilliant lap. After Mercedes, the fastest driver was again Verstappen in his impressive debut for Red Bull.
Both Haas drivers were knocked out in this session, with Grosjean 14th and Gutierrez 16th. Between the two was Magnussen in the Renault. Sainz just made it through in the Toro Rosso, but his new teammate Kvyat was pushed down to 13th and out of Q3.
Hulkenberg and Button were the last to be knocked out, taking 11th and 12th respectively. Home driver, Alonso, pleased the fans by getting his McLaren into the top 10.
Q3
Hamilton was the first to go out in the crucial final qualifying session. However, he locked up in the entrance to turn 10 and ran wide. This allowed Rosberg to take provisional pole. Hamilton’s mistake let Verstappen in to 2nd provisionally. But this was not to be, as Hamilton fought back with a fabulous lap, setting a 1:22.000. Rosberg wasn’t able to respond to his teammate, his best just a 1:22.280.
Ricciardo’s single run in the closing stages of qualifying was enough to snatch third from his teammate Verstappen, who had looked so strong throughout the session. The two Ferrari drivers struggled to get in a clean lap, ending up 5th and 6th. Bottas, the only Williams driver to make it through to Q3, went 7th ahead of Sainz and Perez. Alonso was just 2 tenths off the Force India to take 10th.
Unless any penalties are added, the grid tomorrow shall be: Hamilton, Rosberg; Ricciardo, Verstappen; Raikkonen, Vettel; Bottas, Sainz; Perez, Alonso; Hulkenberg, Button; Kvyat, Grosjean; Magnussen, Gutierrez; Palmer, Massa; Ericsson, Nasr; Wehrlein, Haryanto