Formula 1

Rosberg takes Suzuka Pole as Mercedes dominate again

2 Mins read

Nico Rosberg beat his Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The German set a best lap time of 1:32.506s in the final part of qualifying to better the Brit by 0.197s, with Hamilton slightly on the back foot after crashing during his qualifying simulation run in the morning practice session.

Valterri Bottas was the only other driver to be within one second of top spot in third for Williams Martini Racing ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, while Fernando Alonso, who put all the rumours about his future to the back of his mind, qualified fifth for Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo was sixth as the Infiniti Red Bull Racing squad struggled, with his current team-mate Sebastian Vettel only ninth on the day it was announced he would be leaving the team at the end of the season.

In-between the two Red Bull’s were the two McLaren drivers, with Kevin Magnussen just ahead of Jenson Button, while Kimi Raikkonen completed the top ten in the second Ferrari.

Jean-Eric Vergne was the first of the drivers to be eliminated in the second part of qualifying, but a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change on his Toro Rosso sees him fall to twenty-first.

Sergio Perez inherits eleventh for Force India as a result, alongside Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso, who was earlier announced as Vettel’s replacement at Red Bull in 2015 while Nico Hulkenberg will start thirteenth for Force India ahead of the two Sauber’s of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez.

Pastor Maldonado was knocked out in the first part of qualifying by a last gasp quick lap from Sutil, but will start at the back of the grid after his engine change penalty from earlier in the weekend. His Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean therefore starts sixteenth.

Marcus Ericsson got the better of the MarussiaCaterham battle at the back, and moves up to seventeenth for Caterham after the penalties for Vergne and Maldonado. Jules Bianchi will start eighteenth for Marussia ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Max Chilton.

But no one was able to get close to the Mercedes duo all day, and unless they run into trouble, it is hard to see anyone getting involved in the battle for the win with them.

Pos Driver Nat Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes 1:33.671 1:32.950 1:32.506 13
2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1:33.611 1:32.982 1:32.703 13
3 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1:34.301 1:33.443 1:33.128 16
4 Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1:34.483 1:33.551 1:33.527 16
5 Fernando Alonso ESP Ferrari 1:34.497 1:33.675 1:33.740 16
6 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:35.593 1:34.466 1:34.075 17
7 Kevin Magnussen DEN McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.930 1:34.229 1:34.242 16
8 Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.150 1:34.648 1:34.317 17
9 Sebastian Vettel GER Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:35.517 1:34.784 1:34.432 17
10 Kimi Räikkönen FIN Ferrari 1:34.984 1:34.771 1:34.548 16
11 Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1:35.439 1:35.089 13
12 Daniil Kvyat RUS STR-Renault 1:35.210 1:35.092 13
13 Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1:35.000 1:35.099 13
14 Adrian Sutil GER Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.736 1:35.364 14
15 Esteban Gutierrez MEX Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.308 1:35.681 14
16 Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Renault 1:35.984 10
17 Marcus Ericsson SWE Caterham-Renault 1:36.813 6
18 Jules Bianchi FRA Marussia-Ferrari 1:36.943 8
19 Kamui Kobayashi JAP Caterham-Renault 1:37.015 9
20 Max Chilton GBR Marussia-Ferrari 1:37.481 8
21 Jean-Eric Vergne FRA STR-Renault 1:35.155 1:34.984 14
22 Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Renault 1:35.917 9

 

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