Austria F1 qualifying: Hamilton gets pole, Rosberg comes second

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The final sequence of the qualifying taking place on a racetrack with drying in progress brought both Mercedes racing cars out the track, while the two drivers’ were trying to get the pole on the grid. Hamilton managed to be in command, stealing the pole from Rosberg by two tenths of a second.

The errors of the two were due to the pressure put by a racetrack which was becoming more and more buffing and subsequently faster, on a circuit where drivers make frequent errors. Lewis braked too late in the first corner, he blocked the rear and became a simple passenger up to the moment the car stopped in the area outside the racetrack. Rosberg was already pushing it quite hard to close in the gap between him and his teammate and, on the next to last corner, he came out widely, with the left side wheels running on the artificial grass surface. On contact with this damp surface, his tires turned cold and attacking the bend turned out to be impossible. Rosberg could not turn, stopped in the gravel and only got second spot on the grid, a position the German has already gotten used to.

Sebastian Vettel came in third, as his exertion was insufficient for him to close in on Mercedes, while Felipe Massa came in fourth. Right behind him, we find, once again, the 24-hour Le Mans race winner, Nico Hulkenberg. The German seems to be revealing new fighting capabilities, managing to break apart the Williams duo. Max Verstappen finishes seventh, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Kvyat , and Felipe Nasr also manages to set a good result, the 9th spot. Grosjean places himself on 10, after going through a malfunction of the braking system, which stopped him from a timed lap in the Q3. Marcus Ericsson, Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo all get a time inside the very same tenth of a second and finish 12th, 13th and 14th. Alonso manages to reach the Q2 and qualifies in the 15th position, but he was going to suffer a blow caused by a 25-place grid penalty, which his teammate Jenson Button was also set to endure.

Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo are also set to drop 10 grid places due to engine change. The disillusion of the qualifying session was Kimi Raikkonen, as the Finn failed to reach the Q3. The reasons seem widely unknown, as the main suspect si Kimi himself. His qualifying results leave much to be desired and this can negatively influence his future in the Ferrari squad. As usual, the grid is closed for the Manor team, Merhi first, Stevens second.

The race is set to take place tomorrow, at 2 p.m. CET.

PosDriverCarTimeGap
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1m08.455s-
2Nico RosbergMercedes1m08.655s0.200s
3Sebastian VettelFerrari1m08.810s0.355s
4Felipe MassaWilliams/Mercedes1m09.192s0.737s
5Nico HulkenbergForce India/Mercedes1m09.278s0.823s
6Valtteri BottasWilliams/Mercedes1m09.319s0.864s
7Max VerstappenToro Rosso/Renault1m09.612s1.157s
8Felipe NasrSauber/Ferrari1m09.713s1.258s
9Romain GrosjeanLotus/Mercedes--
10Pastor MaldonadoLotus/Mercedes1m10.374s-
11Marcus EricssonSauber/Ferrari1m10.426s-
12Carlos SainzToro Rosso/Renault1m10.465s-
13Sergio PerezForce India/Mercedes1m12.522s-
14Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1m12.867s-
15Roberto MerhiMarussia/Ferrari1m14.071s-
16Will StevensMarussia/Ferrari1m15.368s-
17Daniil KvyatRed Bull/Renault1m09.694s-
18Daniel RicciardoRed Bull/Renault1m10.482s-
19Fernando AlonsoMcLaren/Honda1m10.736s-
20Jenson ButtonMcLaren/Honda1m12.632s-