Lewis Hamilton will start from the front of the Nrburgring grid thanks to a last-gasp lap that snatched pole position away from home favourite Sebastian Vettel.
As has been the case right through the first half of the 2013 F1 season, pole position for the German Grand Prix was a battle-royal between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. At the last Hamilton grabbed pole from Vettel by a tenth of a second, with Mark Webber a further tenth back. The two teams looked strong throughout the hour and provided the only runners capable of making it out of Q1 on the much-slower medium compound Pirelli.
With Germany hosting the ninth round of the 2013 F1 World Championship, the list of pole position winners now has a pleasing symmetry to it, with Hamilton joining team-mate Nico Rosberg and Vettel on three poles each. However, the Briton had looked a long-shot at the start of the session, having endured a rough FP2 and FP3 in which he struggled to get his car to perform.
We were miles off! he said in the post-qualifying FIA press conference. I was a good eight-tenths of a second off, I wasnt comfortable with the car at all. We went back into the truck and we just worked hard, tried to analyse everything and made lots and lots of changes. I just hoped that it would work and fortunately the car was beneath me and I was able to put in the times we did.
Despite failing to secure top spot in front of a partisan audience at his home grand prix, Vettel did not look too disconsolate.
It looks like we are much closer to them here than we were in Silverstone so I think weve made some progress and have all confidence for tomorrow, he said. We had a good run yesterday, looking at the race. I think we did our homework and now, obviously, its up to us.
In the opening session the drivers from Williams, Caterham and Marussia were eliminated without fanfare. Q2 offered up a lot more excitement. As the clock wound down, Rosberg remained in the garage, apparently confident that his earlier lap of 1:30.326 would beat the cut-off but in the closing stages, with the chequered flag flying and the track improving, McLarens Jenson Button pushed Rosberg out to 11th, posting a time of 1:30.269.
It was a major blow to Rosberg who would have been readying himself for a tilt at a fourth pole of the season. I was really shocked when I saw the times falling in Q2 today and realised that I was in P11, he said. I didn't see it coming and we just underestimated how much the track would ramp up in terms of grip and lap time. I could have been on the front row today.
Eliminated with Rosberg were the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil, McLarens Sergio Prez, Esteban Guiterrez for Sauber and Toro Rossos Jean-Eric Vergne.
The drivers making it through to Q3 had a difficult choice to make: run or not run? While pole position would be set on the soft tyre, practice demonstrated that the medium compound was by far the stronger race tyre. Many cars kept their options open by doing outlaps but in the end only six cars continued on to set times on the soft tyre. Behind the top three Kimi Rikknen took fourth, only hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean, and Toro Rossos Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth for the second weekend in a row.
As the end of the session approached, Ferrari decided to set lap times on the medium tyre, with Felipe Massa beating out team-mate Fernando Alonso by less than a tenth. They will line up seventh and eight. Behind them McLarens Jenson Button did not set a time and will start ninth, with Saubers Nico Hlkenberg alongside in tenth.
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m29.398s2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m29.501s +0.103s3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m29.608s +0.210s4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m29.892s +0.494s5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m29.959s +0.561s6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m30.528s +1.130s7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m31.126s +1.728s8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.209s +1.811s9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes No time set10 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari No time set
Q2 11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m30.326s +0.501s12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m30.697s +0.872s13 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m30.933s +1.108s14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.010s +1.185s15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m31.010s +1.185s16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m31.104s +1.279s
Q117 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m31.693s +1.146s18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m31.707s +1.160s19 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m32.937s +2.390s20 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m33.063s +2.516s21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m33.734s +3.187s22 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m34.098s +3.551s
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