Rosberg grabs pole with last gasp run in Q3, pipping Hamilton; Ricciardo P3 for Red Bull in Hockenheim
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg took pole for Saturday qualifying at his home Grand Prix in Germany, hooking up the best lap of the day after he had been unable to bank a timed lap in Q3 due to electrical issues. That put it all down to the last 3 minutes of the session and with the pressure on Rosberg came through, pipping his teammate and archival Lewis Hamilton by 0.1 seconds. Rosberg desperately needs a good result after a string of dominating performances by Hamilton saw the Englishman wrest the championship points lead from him so he can take some momentum and confidence into the upcoming August break.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was right behind Hamilton and his wunderkind teammate Max Verstappen took P4, showing once again that the Red Bull chassis-engine combo is the most improved in the paddock, outstripping Ferrari for the claim of second best to mighty Mercedes. As if to prove that point, the Ferrrais of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel lined up behind the Red Bulls in P5 and P6 respectively. Force India continued to show renewed strength, with Nico Hulkenberg grabbing P7 and Sergio Perez taking P9 on the grid. Perez split the two Williams, a team that has definitely taken a step back this year, with Valtteri Bottas only fast enough for P8 and Felipe Massa back in P10.
Top 10 qualifiers for the German Grand Prix:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:15.485 | 1:14.839 | 1:14.363 | |
| 2 | 1:15.243 | 1:14.748 | 1:14.470 | |
| 3 | 1:15.591 | 1:15.545 | 1:14.726 | |
| 4 | 1:15.875 | 1:15.124 | 1:14.834 | |
| 5 | 1:15.752 | 1:15.242 | 1:15.142 | |
| 6 | 1:15.927 | 1:15.630 | 1:15.315 | |
| 7 | 1:16.301 | 1:15.623 | 1:15.510 | |
| 8 | 1:15.952 | 1:15.490 | 1:15.530 | |
| 9 | 1:16.169 | 1:15.500 | 1:15.537 | |
| 10 | 1:16.503 | 1:15.699 | 1:15.615 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrows race airs live from Hockenheim beginning at 8AM Eastern on NBC Sports Network here in the States. Can Rosberg put a stop to Hamilton’s blistering momentum before the summer break? Hope to see you the to find out!