Nico Rosberg was delighted to overcome an early scare in Q3 to claim pole position for his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Saturday, his twenty-seventh career pole position.
The German racer put his Mercedes AMG PETRONAS machine to the top of the time sheets with a great second run, having had to abort his first run due to an electronic issue in the final sector of the lap, but his time of 1:14.363 was enough to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.107 seconds.
Rosberg even did the pole lap with more fuel in his car than there should have been after his mechanics did not remove the fuel from his aborted run before giving him the fuel for his second run.
“That was a difficult qualifying for me!” revealed Rosberg. “I had an electronic problem with my throttle on my first quick run in Q3, so I had to abort. That meant I had a bit more fuel on my final run. I did a pretty good lap but I wasn’t sure if that was enough.
“I’m very happy to start from P1 at my second home race. It was awesome to hear the fans cheering for me after my run.
“It’s a great atmosphere here in Hockenheim and I can’t wait for tomorrow. I hope we can put up a good show and that I can win this Grand Prix.”
