BARCELONA: Nico Rosberg grabbed pole position as his Mercedes team completed a hat-trick of qualifying successes by sweeping the front row yesterday for today’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old German clocked a dazzling best lap time of one minute and 20.718 seconds to outpace his nearest rival and Mercedes team-mate Briton Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second. It is the third pole of his career.
After poles secured by Hamilton in China and Rosberg in Bahrain, this was a magnificent treble top for the resurgent Mercedes outfit as they outclassed their rivals at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Defending triple drivers world champion German Sebastian Vettel gave his best for Red Bull to qualify third ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus, local hero and two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean was seventh in the second Lotus ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, Mexican Sergio Perez in the leading McLaren and Briton Paul di Resta of Force India.
Perez’s McLaren team-mate Briton Jenson Button flopped again and qualified only 14th despite major modifications to their car.
On a mild and windy Spring day in Catalonia, with an air temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and a track temperature that hovered around 36 degrees, the session began slowly before Raikkonen set an early fastest lap.
After a short delay, the major teams emerged and Alonso thrilled his fans by going quickest before a final flurry in Q1 ended with Hamilton on top ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg and Vettel. At the bottom end of the field, last year’s triumphant Williams team saw both of their drivers fail to make the cut to Q2 and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, on pole in 2012 before winning the race, exiting after claims from Button that the Latin American had blocked him.
Out with Maldonado went his team-mate Finn Valtteri Bottas, Dutchman Giedo Van Der Garde of Caterham, the two Marussia drivers - Frenchman Jules Bianchi and Briton Max Chilton - and Frenchman Charles Pic in the second Caterham.
The Williams team’s newly-appointed deputy team chief Claire Williams said: “It’s not why we come racing - to not get any drivers into Q2, but we are not going to panic. It’s so competitive in F1 these days.”
Maldonado said: “It’s so different to last year... It is so difficult to do my best and the car is difficult to drive. It is a worrying situation.”AFP
