After a three week layoff and with only three races left in the season, and with two fewer teams and four fewer drivers competing in them, all eyes turned to Austin and the awesome COTA track for Saturday Qualifying for the US Grand Prix…
Rosberg claims Pole in Austin, Hamilton 2nd and Bottas again 3rd fastest in Quali
With the races dwindling down and starting position at a paramount Mercedes’ pilot Nico Rosberg regained a modicum of momentum by grabbing a dominant Pole position at the modern classic Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The German, who has seemed to psyched out by his English teammate ever since they collided at Spa, made a good start to his final come-from-behind Championship push by mastering the twisty COTA track to the tune of one second in front of his archrival. Hamilton, the Drivers points leader, appeared to struggle to get heat into his breaks but still was able to top Williams’ excellent third year driver Valtteri Bottas by half a second to ensure yet another Mercedes front row lockout. Bottas’ seems to have been consistently 3rd best in Qualifying in the second half of the season and his more senior Williams-Martini teammate Felipe Massa able to claim P4 Saturday. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took 5th but teammate Sebastian Vettel took only token part in Quali, as he is required to start from the pit lane Sunday due to his 6th engine change of the season regardless of any efforts he may have made.
Fernando Alonso was 6th fastest for Ferrari while teammate Kimi Railkkonen was a characteristic P9. Jenson Button was P7 and Kevin Magnussen P8 for McLaren but Button will be pushed back 5 positions on race day due to a gearbox change. Rounding out the Top 10 was a surprising Adrian Sutil for Sauber, who gave the struggling team a glimpse of hope for some possible points come race day after beating out both Force Indias.
And speaking of struggling teams, Caterham and Marussia will take no further part in the 2014 championship as both teams succumbed to financial woes and fell into receivership. While this unkind fate had been rumored for sometime about Caterham it comes as a particularly bitter pill to swallow for team Marussia, which scored its first ever Championship points in Monaco this year but also suffered the loss of the driver who scored those points, Jules Bianchi, to a critical head injury when he collided with a recovery tractor in the waning moments of the rainy Japanese Grand Prix a month ago. Regrettably there is no medical improvement reported on Bianchi’s condition.
Top 10 Qualifiers here:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.303 | 1:36.290 | 1:36.067 | 20 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:37.196 | 1:37.287 | 1:36.443 | 16 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:38.249 | 1:37.499 | 1:36.906 | 19 |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:37.877 | 1:37.347 | 1:37.205 | 20 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:38.814 | 1:37.873 | 1:37.244 | 17 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.349 | 1:38.010 | 1:37.610 | 16 |
| 7 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.574 | 1:38.024 | 1:37.655 | 17 |
| 8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.557 | 1:38.047 | 1:37.706 | 16 |
| 9 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:38.669 | 1:38.263 | 1:37.804 | 22 |
| 10 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:38.855 | 1:38.378 | 1:38.810 | 15 |
*Note – Button qualified P7, drops 5 grid spots for gearbox change; Kvyat qualified P14, drops 10 for engine change; Vettel qualified P17, starts from pit lane for complete power unit change
Complete Qualifying results available at Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s US Grand Prix airs live on NBC in the States beginning at 2pm EST. COTA is an exceptionally well-designed track with several opportunities to overtake and the race should be a good one — hope to see you then!
