Qualifying in Hockenheim today was dry, hot and a little bit scary. Come with me below the fold to find out what went down in Germany…
Rosberg claims Pole for Mercedes at home Grand Prix, Bottas & Massa 2nd & 3rd for Williams; Hamilton crashes out in Q1
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg rebounded from his disappointing DNF a fortnight ago at Silverstone by setting a scalding lap time to seize Pole for the German Grand Prix at sizzling Hockenheim. With track temperatures approaching 130 degrees Fahrenheit (55 Celsius) the young German Championship points leader was able to get the most out of his Super Soft tires and hold off Valtteri Bottas’ surging Williams by .2 seconds in front of his home fans. Filipe Massa was just behind his Finnish teammate’s pace by a mere .3 to earn 3rd on the grid.
At the other end of Rosberg’s elation, his teammate Lewis Hamilton had another twist of bad luck despite seeming to have put misfortune behind him with his satisfying win in England in the last GP. About midway through the first Qualifying session, Hamilton suffered right front brake failure at high speed, snapping his car into several spins and then a tire barrier nose first. Hamilton was shaken up but not seriously hurt thankfully. His standing time to that point was good enough to put him into Q2 but the car was badly damaged and so turned no further laps. The English contender is therefore technically qualified for 16th on the grid for tomorrow’s race although there is a possibility he may have to start from the pits if Mercedes chooses to change brake suppliers in reaction to the failure, which could be interpreted as a breach of parc ferme rules. In any case, his team has a lot of work to rebuild the wounded Silver Arrow overnight and the driver an equal amount to rebuild his confidence.
McLaren’s rookie sensation Kevin Magnussen outperformed his veteran teammate by placing 4th fastest to Jenson Button’s 11th. Fernando Alonso also severely outpaced his Ferrari teammate, coming home 7th to Kimi Raikkonen’s 12th. The two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo & Sebastian Vettel showed decent overall speed, taking 5th and 6th on the grid respectively and young Russian junior team driver Daniil Kvyat took 8th position for Scuderia Torro Rosso. Force India rounded out the top 10 with Nico Hulkenberg in 9th and Sergio Perez taking 10th.
Top 10 Qualifiers from Hockenheim here:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:17.631 | 1:17.109 | 1:16.540 | 17 |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:18.215 | 1:17.353 | 1:16.759 | 15 |
| 3 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:18.381 | 1:17.370 | 1:17.078 | 21 |
| 4 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:18.260 | 1:17.788 | 1:17.214 | 17 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:18.117 | 1:17.855 | 1:17.273 | 19 |
| 6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:18.194 | 1:17.646 | 1:17.577 | 16 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:18.389 | 1:17.866 | 1:17.649 | 19 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:18.530 | 1:18.103 | 1:17.965 | 22 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:18.927 | 1:18.017 | 1:18.014 | 21 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:18.916 | 1:18.161 | 1:18.035 | 21 |
Complete Qualifying results here at Formula1.com.
In other news, F1 announced over the weekend that it had banned the use of FRIC suspensions (Front and Rear Interconnected Suspension) because some teams had made such modifications that it could be construed as a moveable aerodynamic device, which are banned under the current regulations. The main team this would appear to hurt would be Team Lotus-Renault, who are already far behind the 8-ball this year and invested heavily in modifying this technology. There is some thought that Team Mercedes might also see a detriment to their performance with the FRIC systems’ removal from their chassis but with their straight-line performance advantage on the rest of the field, I wouldn’t shed any tears just yet. For the gearheads among you, you can read more about the technical aspects of these complicated FRIC systems here.
Live coverage of the Grand Prix of Germany begins tomorrow at 7:30 Eastern on CNBC here in the States.