Mercedes’ Rosberg continues hot start with pole in China; Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo sneaks into P2; Ferrari start a disappointing 3-4, while Hamilton relegated to the back
Sanity ws restored on Saturday as Formula 1 undid their gimmicky new 2016 qualifying format and went back to the tried and true down-to-the wire knockout qualifying that has served them in such good stead through the years. As a result, fans were once again rewarded with nail-biting tension as the teams rolled the dice and played strategy games right up until the Q3 checkered flag flew.
Coming out on top of all that late scrambling was Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, whose charmed start to the season continued with his first pole of the year. While it looked for most of the last session that Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen might just grab the top spot, Rosberg was able to put in a corker of a last lap at 1:35.4, advancing his ambition to rack up a hat trick of victories in the first three races. Making things even sweeter for the German points leader his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was already facing a 5-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change, failed to emerge from Q1 with an ERS problem. The current reigning Drivers’ Champion will start from the back on Sunday and will have to pull of a typically furious Lewis Hamilton sort of drive to secure decent points. As well as the prior two years have gone for the Englishman, 2016 has so far been nothing but star crossed.
Ferrari may be once again rueing strategy calls, as they waited until the dying moments to send out their ace Sebastian Vettel for his one and only Q3 lap. But in the tricky damp and windy conditions at the Shanghai Circuit, the German could manage a time only good enough for P4 against the more practiced drivers ahead of him. They included his teammate Raikonnen, who nonetheless must have been disappointed with his P3 after dominating the leaderboard for so much of the final session. Pipping him was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo with a very fast P2, a mere .5 behind Rosberg, showing that the Red Bull chassis has improved greatly over last year’s pig and is back in the mix for solid points and perhaps at Ferrari’s expense.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas laid down a strong final lap good enough for P5, Ricciardo’s teammate Daniil Kvyat was P6 and Force India’s Sergio Perez was a solid P7 after a very bad race for the team in Bahrain. However, Perez’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg was undone by a loose wheel nut that caused his tire to come off early in Q3. While Hulkenberg technically finished P10 he was demoted to 13th on the grid for the unsafe release infraction. (That moved Williams’ Felipe Massa into P10.) Rounding out the Top 10, the dueling Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were P8 & P9 respectively.
Top 10 Qualifiers in China:
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | NICO ROSBERG | MERCEDES | 1:37.669 | 1:36.240 | 1:35.402 | 16 |
| 2 | 3 | DANIEL RICCIARDO | RED BULL RACING | 1:37.672 | 1:36.815 | 1:35.917 | 13 |
| 3 | 7 | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN | FERRARI | 1:37.347 | 1:36.118 | 1:35.972 | 13 |
| 4 | 5 | SEBASTIAN VETTEL | FERRARI | 1:37.001 | 1:36.183 | 1:36.246 | 10 |
| 5 | 77 | VALTTERI BOTTAS | WILLIAMS | 1:37.537 | 1:36.831 | 1:36.296 | 13 |
| 6 | 26 | DANIIL KVYAT | RED BULL RACING | 1:37.719 | 1:36.948 | 1:36.399 | 14 |
| 7 | 11 | SERGIO PEREZ | FORCE INDIA | 1:38.096 | 1:37.149 | 1:36.865 | 15 |
| 8 | 55 | CARLOS SAINZ | TORO ROSSO | 1:37.656 | 1:37.204 | 1:36.881 | 15 |
| 9 | 33 | MAX VERSTAPPEN | TORO ROSSO | 1:38.181 | 1:37.265 | 1:37.194 | 15 |
| 10 | 27 | NICO HULKENBERG* | FORCE INDIA | 1:38.165 | 1:37.333 | 10 |
*Hulkenberg penalized 3 grid spots for unsafe release after tire came off on track.
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com
The broadcast for the Chinese Grand Prix begins at the ungodly hour of 2AM Eastern on NBCSports. Unless you plan to load up on NoDoz I suggest you set your DVR and watch it at your leisure. Hamilton fighting his way from the back of the field should be worth the price of admission alone.