Tag Archives: Formula 1

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Hamilton regains momentum in Canada with decisive win, Rosberg a non-threatening 2nd; Williams’ Bottas breaks through for P3

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After a gut-wrenching defeat in Monaco, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton righted the ship at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Sunday with a wire-to-wire victory. Having earned an emphatic pole it seemed nothing was going to stop the reigning World Champion from holding off his charging rival and teammate Nico Rosberg. Come race day, nothing did. Rosberg was never able to mount a real threat and in the end both Silver Arrows sailed to a seemingly comfortable 1-2 finish with the rest of the field well behind. Hamilton’s win reestablished his dominance in the Mercedes team and built his points lead back up to 17 after Rosberg’s lucky 2-race victory streak. It was a much needed return to form that demonstrated not only Hamilton’s peerless skill as a racing driver but also his mental toughness in the face of adversity after the bizarre own-goal in Monaco.

For team Mercedes as whole, Sunday’s GP represented an ominous return to their untouchable speed and metronomic precision as a unit, particularly when compared with Ferrari’s stumbles this past weekend. After starting 3rd with an outside shot at victory, Kimi Raikkonen threw away a probable podium for the Prancing Horse with an unforced spin in the hairpin after his first stop for tires. That enabled his fellow Finn, the excellent Valtteri Bottas, to snatch 3rd and hold off Raikkonen for the position until the end of the race, earning team Williams its first podium of the season. On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Sebastian Vettel started from 18th on the grid with a poor Quali due to mechanical issues and a self-inflicted 5-spot grid penalty for passing under the red flag in rainy practice. But Vettel had a storming drive, slicing his way through the field to finish a remarkable 5th. His outstanding 2015 Montreal effort should be played as Exhibit A whenever someone whinges about how you can’t pass in Formula 1. Exhibit B could be Bottas’ Williams teammate Felipe Massa. Massa also started way back in the pack in 15th after technical problems in Quali. Yet the veteran Brazilian managed to fight his way up to 6th with another gutsy, aggressive effort from a savvy pro. So if the battle for the win seemed like a fait accompli, the fight for points behind the 1-2 slots was a wild ride all race long. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Hamilton regains mojo after Monaco disaster, claims Pole in Canada; Rosberg just behind in P2 and Raikonnen flies flag for Ferrari in 3rd

The boys were back at it in Quebec for Qualifying two weeks after the bizarre and memorable Monaco Grand Prix. With heavy rain washing out a lot of Friday practice time, there wasn’t much dry prep for the drivers to show their true speed until this very sunny Saturday in Montreal. But if there were any doubts about Lewis Hamilton’s state of mind after the incredibly disappointing end to his dreams of victory in Monte Carlo the Englishman appeared to lay them to rest with the fastest lap in Q3, claiming Pole for Sunday’s race. It was the 44th of his career, perfectly matching the number on his Mercedes Silver Arrow. Putting behind him the inexplicable decision to pit late for fresh tires in Monaco that essentially handed his teammate Nico Rosberg the victory, the reigning World Champion has so far been the class of the field in Canada. And as fired up as he his to taste victory and wash away the last race’s bitter taste he should be very hard to beat come race day. Hamilton’s renewed dominance left Rosberg the one grumbling about tire strategy, as he questioned the Mercedes pit wall’s solutions for finding more grip in the Super Soft tires in the dying moments of Q3. In truth, he wound up only a little more than .3 behind Hamilton. But if he doesn’t manage to get by his nemesis early on Sunday Rosberg knows that his lucky two-race victory streak could be over.

With Sebastian Vettel’s qualifying coming to a stunning end in Q1 due to power-sapping electrical gremlins, it was left to Kimi Raikonnen to fly the flag for Ferrari. The Finn responded with his best effort of the year and grabbed P3, only .3 behind Rosberg, where he should be able to fight for a podium or pick up something even better if the Mercedes’ duo take each other out. His position for good points certainly looks more favorable than teammate Vettel’s, who will have to battle his way to the front from way back in 16th on the grid. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rebounded from his dreadful weekend in Monaco to take P4 and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve looks well suited to the FW37’s pure speed. However, Bottas’ teammate Felipe Massa did not get the chance to make use of that advantage, as he too was bounced in Q1 with power plant woes.

Team Lotus looks to be making genuine strides after six race weekends with Romain Grojean and Pastor Maldonado P5 and P6 respectively. Now it remains to be seen if they can get a break from the woeful luck that has plagued them in 2015 and actually finish both cars in the points. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Hamilton sees certain win snatched away by team error, Rosberg seizes opportunity for victory in Monte Carlo; Vettel an opportunistic 2nd

Pics via GrandPrix247.com

In one of the most bizarre endings to a Grand Prix that you will ever see, Lewis Hamilton was denied certain victory on the streets of Monaco when his Mercedes team inexplicably decided to pit for fresh tires under a Virtual Safety Car late in the race. That was brought about by 17-year-old Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen’s rash attempt to pass Romain Grosjean with 15 laps to go and the Dutch teenager’s subsequent spectacular shunt into the safety barrier at Sainte Devote. But the F1 stewards quickly switched to an actual Safety Car due to the extent of the damage and the time needed for repairs. That left Hamilton stuck in the pits as his second place teammate Nico Rosberg steamed around on track to obliterate his once-formidable 21-second lead. By the time Hamilton rejoined the race he was behind not only Rosberg but also the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Despite his fresh super soft tires, passing in Monaco is about as easy as leaving the Casino with all of your money and Hamilton could never find a way by Vettel much less Rosberg. In one moment of major miscalculation, Hamilton not only saw the opportunity for his first-ever Monaco win vanish but also his Championship lead dwindle to a mere 10 points. After the race the normally volatile Englishman was admirably restrained in his public statements regarding the costly miscue but it was clear from his stunned face that he was gutted.

Rosberg for his part realized he had lucked into the win and while he seemed happy for the victory you could tell by his sheepish demeanor that it was not quite the way he wanted his very impressive third consecutive Monaco GP victory and second race win in a row to go down. Vettel, on the other hand, was overjoyed at his rival team’s blunder and was more than happy for Ferrari’s gift wrapped P2. As down as Hamilton was, Vettel was practically giddy.

Lost in all that chaos was team Red Bull’s best performance of the year. On the legendary street circuit where straight line speed is never the deciding factor, their down-on-power Renault engines wound up being very competitive, with an impressive career-best P4 for young Russian Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo driving a spirited and aggressive race to finish P5. Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonnen complained about slower cars impeding him all race long and had to settle for P6, while Force India’s Sergio Perez was more than happy to take 7th place for his best finish of the 2015 season and much-needed points for the team. Jenson Button scored McLaren’s first points of the year with a savvy veteran drive for P8 after teammate Fernando Alonso was forced to retire on Lap 42 with gearbox troubles. Again, the relatively week Honda engines of McLaren saw their disadvantage neutralized on the slow and twisty Monaco circuit but it was still a big boost for the desperate McLaren team. The final points were taken by a storming drive from Sauber’s rookie Felipe Nasr to come home P9 after starting from 14th on the grid and Toro Rosso’s other rookie Carlos Sainz who grabbed 10th with grit and persistence after starting from the pits due to a Qualifying day weighbridge infraction.

Williams had a disastrous weekend and finished out of the points, with Valtteri Bottas at P14 and Felipe Massa P15. The slow, twisty circuit at Monaco definitively proved that what ails Williams this year is not power, which they have in abundance, but downforce, which they sorely lack in relation to their rivals at Ferrari and Red Bull. If they don’t get that rectified it could be a very long second half of the season for last year’s comeback kids.

Top 10 finishers for the Monaco Grand Prix:

POS.	DRIVER	COUNTRY	TEAM	TIME	POINTS
1	NICO ROSBERG	GER	MERCEDES	1:49:18.420	25
2	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	GER	FERRARI	4.486	18
3	LEWIS HAMILTON	GBR	MERCEDES	6.053	15
4	DANIIL KVYAT	RUS	RED BULL	11.965	12
5	DANIEL RICCIARDO	AUS	RED BULL	13.608	10
6	KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN	FIN	FERRARI	14.345	8
7	SERGIO PEREZ	MEX	FORCE INDIA	15.013	6
8	JENSON BUTTON	GBR	MCLAREN	16.063	4
9	FELIPE NASR	BRA	SAUBER	23.626	2
10	CARLOS SAINZ	ESP	TORO ROSSO	25.056	1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next F1 race is in two weeks at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. We’ll see how Lewis Hamilton rebounds from Sunday’s stunning disappointment in Monte Carlo. My money is on the combative Englishman to come out swinging in Canada in an effort regain his once-unstoppable momentum. Hope to see you then when we find out what dramatic turns the championship saga takes next!

2015 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Hamilton reasserts authority in Monaco with dominant Pole for Mercedes, Rosberg relegated to 2nd; Vettel’s Ferrari a game 3rd

Personal engagements prevent me from intensive blogging on today’s qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix but I will say that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton laid down a marker for Sunday’s race with his first-ever pole in Monte Carlo. Rosberg locked up his tires on his final lap in Q3 and could not get closer than .34 back and Sebastian Vettel was a game P3 for Ferrari after it seemed that the Scuderia may have been primed for a surprise fast lap this weekend. The rest of the Top 10 for tomorrow’s Grand Prix are below, including no Williams but two highly-placed Red Bulls, two young Torro Rosso’s and one surprising Force India and Lotus respectively.

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	44	LEWIS HAMILTON	MERCEDES	1:16.588	1:15.864	1:15.098	28
2	6	NICO ROSBERG	MERCEDES	1:16.528	1:15.471	1:15.440	25
3	5	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	FERRARI	1:17.502	1:16.181	1:15.849	24
4	3	DANIEL RICCIARDO	RED BULL	1:17.254	1:16.706	1:16.041	28
5	26	DANIIL KVYAT	RED BULL	1:16.845	1:16.453	1:16.182	26
6	7	KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN	FERRARI	1:17.660	1:16.440	1:16.427	23
7	11	SERGIO PEREZ	FORCE INDIA	1:17.376	1:16.999	1:16.808	22
8	55	CARLOS SAINZ	TORO ROSSO	1:17.246	1:16.762	1:16.931	29
9	13	PASTOR MALDONADO	LOTUS	1:17.630	1:16.775	1:16.946	30
10	33	MAX VERSTAPPEN	TORO ROSSO	1:16.750	1:16.546	1:16.957	2

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race starts at 8AM EST Sunday morning and can be watched live on NBCSports.com. Hope to see you then!

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Rosberg reigns supreme in Spain, Hamilton forced to settle for hard-fought 2nd; Vettel in the mix for Ferrari with another podium

Pictures courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After being thoroughly dominated by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first four “fly away” races of the 2015 F1 season Nico Rosberg desperately needed to reestablish his bona fides as a championship contender. The question on everyone’s mind as the series returned to European soil this past weekend was a simple one: could he muster the will to throw a scare into Hamilton and truly make a fight of the championship? In Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix the world received an answer. Rosberg emerged form the three-week break refreshed and relaxed and proceeded to do some dominating of his own for a change. Starting from the pole, the sensitive German put his self-doubt and the rest of the field in the rearview mirror, checking out on the first corner of the first lap. With an all around impressive race weekend in which he was undoubtedly the fastest man on the track, Rosberg put Hamilton on the defensive for the first time this season and the victory revivified the prospects for an authentic intra-team battle for the championship. With Monaco coming up in two weeks, the jewel in Formula 1’s crown and a race Monte Carlo resident Rosberg has also won the past two years, it would seem to be game on again for the two Mercedes rivals.

Because of his teammate’s untouchability on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Hamilton’s race came down to damage limitation after a poor start saw him immediately overtaken by Sebastian Vettel Ferrari. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

The boys of Formula 1 are back after their 3-week layoff for the Spanish Grand Prix. And if it’s Saturday that means it’s 3 rounds of knockout Qualifying to determine who starts from the Pole on Sunday. Would Nico Rosberg finally get the better of his dominating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton? Or would Ferrari jump the Silver Arrows with their ever-improving performance?

Rosberg serves notice with dominant Pole for Mercedes, Hamilton 2nd fastest; Vettel snags P3 for Ferrari

Pictures from GrandPrix247.com

Nico Rosberg returned from the three-week break after Bahrain refreshed and up for the fight in Barcelona. The German contender and last year’s championship runner-up served notice to his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton that he was not ready to concede this early in the season. He laid down an untouchable lap midway through Q3 that clocked in at a mega fast 1:24.681. And despite having a chance to overtake Rosberg with his typical last lap heroics, Hamilton could not quite manage it this Saturday. He was a mere .267 behind and will settle for P2 on the grid. It remains to be seen if Rosberg can make it happen in a race and with Hamilton winning 3 of the first 4 Grand Prix another victory for the Englishman would be hard to overcome. Still, Rosberg seems even more comfortable than most at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Formula 1’s default test track, and a win could do wonders for his badly shaken confidence, as well as the Championship battle as a whole.

Ferrari had mixed qualifying results in their return to Europe after showing steady improvement in each of the “fly away” races that start the season. Sebastian Vettel was back on form and was able to grab 3rd position barely half a second behind Hamilton. But Kimi Raikkonen, who placed an impressive 2nd in the last Grand Prix in Bahrain, struggled after one of his fresh sets of tires was bizarrely burnt beyond using by the warming blankets and had to settle for P7. That left Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in prime position to capitalize and the young Finn didn’t disappoint, hooking up a fast lap good enough for 4th on the grid. His teammate Felipe Massa was not nearly as quick and ended up a rather inexplicably poor P9, not what the desperate-to-overtake-Ferrari Williams team was looking for at all.

The youthful Torro Rosso duo of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, whose combined age is only 37, continued to impress in their rookie seasons. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

In desert thriller Hamilton holds off charging Raikkonen for 4th straight win; Rosberg has late off under fire from Kimi, settles for 3rd

Pictures courtesy GrandPrix247.com

In a thrilling battle between Mercedes and hard charging Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton was able to come home for the win in Bahrain even as his breaks began to fail, his fourth straight victory to start the season and an astounding 10th Grand Prix win from the last 11 races. The laps ran out before Kimi Raikkonen’s onrushing Ferrari could catch Hamilton’s Silver Arrow and the Finnish former champ had to settle for 2nd, albeit his first podium since returning to the Scuderia last year. The Iceman had an excellent race and once again it seemed that the strategists on the pit wall for Ferrari somewhat outsmarted Mercedes. Ferrari split their tire strategy between Sebastian Vettel and Raikkonen, and Kimi was able to do a long, very effective middle stint on the harder medium tires. That enabled him to finish on the softer, faster options and take the fight to the two Mercedes in front who were, like Vettel, both on the harder compound. When Rosberg had brake woes of his own while being hounded by the Iceman on the penultimate lap and went skidding off track, Raikkonen was able to pounce. He wrested 2nd place from the German contender and brought joy to the hearts of all of those who love the famed Prancing Horse of Maranello even if he didn’t have the time to really have a go at Hamilton for the win.

Kimi’s teammate Sebastian Vettel had a bit of a ragged race and struggled to keep his SF15-T securely under him throughout. In the end the German former 4-time World Champion was forced to make an extra pit stop for a new front wing after damaging his original by running wide through gravel and the rumble strips while dicing with a fired up Rosberg. That consigned Vettel to battling it out with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas for the rest of his run and he was unable to pass the talented Finnish up-and-comer. Bottas held on for an excellent 4th for his and Williams’ best placing of the year and Vettel had to settle for what must have seemed a disappointing P5 after making the podium in the first three Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo drove a solid race to boost struggling team Red Bull’s morale and grab a solid 6th place. But characteristic of their season, even that strong points run was not without some bad news, as Ricciardo’s engine expired in rather spectacular fashion while taking the checkered flag. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Hamilton’s Mercedes still tops the time sheets but Ferrari for real and gaining as Vettel out-qualifies Rosberg again

For a moment during Q2 in Bahrain on Saturday it appeared that Mercedes was sandbagging the field, holding something back only to blow everyone away and again prove their untouchable dominance. But while Lewis Hamilton ‘s Silver Arrow remained the car and driver to beat, claiming his remarkable 4th straight Pole to start the season, Ferrari proved that they are genuinely up for the fight with Sebastian Vettel outpacing Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg to seize 2nd on the grid for Sunday’s race. After last week’s excuse-making whinging during the post race press conference for his second best performance respective to his dominant teammate and rival, Rosberg must’ve been absolutely muttering to himself after Q3. Because not only will he have to deal with Vettel in front of him but he will likely find himself harassed from behind by the other Prancing Horse of Kimi Raikkonen, who took P4 and seems to have found his good form again in this year’s vastly improved model. One thing’s for certain: the opening lap tomorrow should be very interesting at the least and perhaps even completely fraught and frantic as those four blokes jockey for an edge. But somehow I reckon Hamilton will sail away from the mayhem behind him and the others will be left to pick up the positions from second on down. That is if Vettel doesn’t shove the Englishman straight off the track on the front straight.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Williams again showed decent Qualifying pace but it remains to be seen if they can manage their tires well enough in a Grand Prix to return to the podium after their terrific 2014 season. Valtteri Bottas drove an excellent Q3 fast lap to pip teammate Felipe Massa for P5 by less than half a second. Daniel Ricciardo gave Red Bull some hope after teammate Daniil Kvyat was bounced out of Q1 with power plant gremlins. The Aussie ace was able to grab P7 with a gutsy fast lap that was just an eyelash behind Massa. Likewise, Nico Hulkenberg broke through for troubled Force India for the first Top 10 starting position for the team this year: the excellent German driver will start P8 on Sunday. Rookie Carlos Sainz out-qualified his 17-year-old teammate Max Verstappen in P9 and Romain Grosjean grabbed P10 for up-and-down Lotus.

McLaren had a Jekyll and Hyde weekend with Fernando Alonso’s Honda-powered MP4-30 showing dynamic improvement from the beginning of the season to come home P14. But Jenson Button’s car was plagued by electronic issues throughout Friday practice and they bit him again today when he failed to complete a qualifying lap. The English former champion will start dead last and hope he can fight his way through the field and at least finish the race. Finally, Sauber’s Cinderella start may be about to strike midnight, as Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson could do no better than P12 and P13. But that’s Formula 1 — if you’re not improving race to race you’re going backwards.

Top 10 Qualifiers for the Bahrain Grand Prix:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.928	1:32.669	1:32.571	16
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.919	1:33.623	1:32.982	12
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:34.398	1:33.878	1:33.129	16
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:34.568	1:33.540	1:33.227	15
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:34.161	1:33.897	1:33.381	16
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:34.488	1:33.551	1:33.744	16
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:34.691	1:34.403	1:33.832	15
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:35.653	1:34.613	1:34.450	15
9	55	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:35.371	1:34.641	1:34.462	18
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:35.007	1:34.123	1:34.484	20

Complete Qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s day-into-night race in the desert at Bahrain International Circuit begins at a very civilized 11AM here on the East Coast of the US and can be seen live on NBCSN. Ferrari is getting closer to be sure but do they really have the race pace to grab another win over King Lewis & Mercedes and pull the upset like Vettel did in Malaysia? Well worth finding out tomorrow so I hope to see you then!

2015 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton dominates for Mercedes in China leaving Rosberg a disgruntled 2nd; Vettel strong again for Ferrari in 3rd

Pics from GrandPrix247.com

Lewis Hamilton sailed to victory on Sunday after a dominating race weekend in China as Mercedes put the sting of their Malaysia defeat at the hands of Ferrari and Seb Vettel in the rearview mirror. Winning at the Shanghai circuit for a record 4th time, the English points leader and defending World Champion looked miles ahead of the rest of the field: he started from Pole, got away to an aggressive start that put teammate and rival Nico Rosberg decisively behind him and then managed the race from the front for a seemingly effortless win. With Rosberg taking 2nd place about the only thing that did not go according to script for Mercedes were their number two driver’s gripes in the post-race news conference that Hamilton had been deliberately slow and so forced him back into dicing with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari rather than competing for the win. Truth be told Rosberg’s words sounded like a man desperate to regain an edge after being thoroughly dominated by Hamilton at the end of last season and into the first three races of 2015. It simply doesn’t seem that Rosberg has the pace — or the psychological fortitude after watching last year’s title hopes slip away — to threaten his supremely confident teammate anymore.

Vettel was rather fortunate to grab the last place on the podium because, while he drove a typically strong race, his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was actually catching him up as the laps wound down. But a Safety Car brought out by hard luck Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen’s on-track engine failure on Lap 54 insured that the race would finish under yellow and that Vettel & Raikkonen’s positions were fixed. Nonetheless, it was encouraging to see the Finnish former champion, who had started from 6th on the grid, begin to really get to grips with the performance of his SF15-T, blowing by both Williams early in the race and bringing the fight to Vettel at the end. If Ferrari’s win two weeks ago in Malaysia was probably more of a fortunate victory rather than a true challenge to Mercedes dominance there could at least be the spectacle of a good intra-team rivalry brewing at the Scuderia going forward.

Further back in the top 10, Williams provided more evidence that despite their Mercedes power they have not been able to match Ferrari’s improvements so far this season. Continue reading →

2015 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Mercedes roars back in China: Hamilton seizes Pole, Rosberg 2nd; Vettel strong again for Ferrari to grab 3rd on the grid

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton reasserted their authority in China on Saturday, with the English reigning World Champion and points leader laying down a blistering qualifying lap for Pole for Sunday’s race that no other challenger could match. After Ferrari’s Malaysian upset two weeks ago that saw the Mercedes brain trust ruing tire strategy and questioning their overall performance the Silver Arrows were back to their untouchable ways, with Nico Rosberg a mere four one-hundredths behind Hamilton but nearly .8 ahead of previous Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel’s Prancing Horse. While fans and pundits had hoped Ferrari’s impressively improved form heralded the beginning of a true two-team battle for the Constructors’ Championship it seems more likely now that Malaysia was the exception not the rule.

The two Mercedes-powered Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas struggled with handling at times but not flat out pace and claimed P4 and P5 respectively. That split the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who also appeared to have a hard time holding on to his car, away from his faster teammate and left the Finn settling for 6th on the grid. Daniel Ricciardo had a good run for troubled Red Bull, taking a strong P7. But as if to reinforce the RB-11’s vulnerabilities, his teammate Daniil Kvyat was plagued by rear brake and ERS issues and was out in Q2. The young Russian will start a lowly P12. Romain Grosjean had a strong performance for Lotus with a P8, again showing that the team has the pace to compete for points if not quite the reliability or consistency from their drivers (Pastor Maldonado was out in Q2 at P11). The two Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson continued to show that they had inherited the title of “little team that could” from scuffling Force India and rounded out the Top 10 with P9 and P10 respectively.

Despite showing significant improvement over the each of the first three race weekends, the McLarens of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso still could not make it out of Q1. They will start at the back of the field in P17 and 18 ahead of only the two hapless Manor-Marussia cars.

Top 10 Qualifiers here:

Pos	No	Name	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:38.285	1:36.423	1:35.782	12
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:38.496	1:36.747	1:35.824	12
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:37.502	1:36.957	1:36.687	17
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:38.433	1:37.357	1:36.954	15
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:38.014	1:37.763	1:37.143	15
6	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:37.790	1:37.109	1:37.232	17
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:38.534	1:37.939	1:37.540	18
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:38.209	1:38.063	1:37.905	20
9	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:38.521	1:38.017	1:38.067	16
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:38.941	1:38.127	1:38.158	15

Complete qualifying results available at Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race is another overnighter here on the East Coast and airs live on NBCSN at 2AM. Let’s see if anyone has anything for Hamilton and Mercedes. I tend to doubt it.

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