Nico Rosberg will start his first-ever Formula One grand prix from the pole position slot after blitzing the field by half a second in Shanghai.
It only took Rosberg 110 starts, however, he won't be counting that number, rather he'll be cherishing the number one.
In a perfect lap to start Q3, Rosberg clocked a 1:35.121 to edge Lewis Hamilton by 0.505s.
But with Hamilton incurring a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change it will in fact be an all Mercedes front row as Michael Schumacher moves up from third to second.
Kamui Kobayashi was fourth quickest on Saturday and will therefore take the second row along with Kimi Raikkonen.
Jenson Button is up to fifth and will start with Hamilton alongside him.
The big surprise of qualifying was the downfall of Sebastian Vettel. Having claimed 15 pole positions last season alone, Vettel failed to make it into Q3, falling short as he qualified in 11th place.
Felipe Massa also didn't make it and will start P12 - that, though, was expected.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m35.121s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.626s + 0.505 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.691s + 0.570 4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.784s + 0.663 5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m35.898s + 0.777 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.191s + 1.070 7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.290s + 1.169 8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.524s + 1.403 9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m36.622s + 1.501 10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault No time Q2 cut-off time: 1m35.831s Gap ** 11. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.031s + 0.331 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.255s + 0.555 13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m36.283s + 0.583 14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m36.289s + 0.589 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.317s + 0.617 16. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m36.745s + 1.045 17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m36.956s + 1.256 Q1 cut-off time: 1m36.933s Gap * 18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.714s + 1.516 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m38.463s + 2.265 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m38.677s + 2.479 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.282s + 3.084 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.717s + 3.519 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m40.411s + 4.213 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m41.000s + 4.802 107% time: 1m42.931s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2
No comments:
Post a Comment