Nico Rosberg put himself into the perfect position to extend his winning start to the 2016 Formula One season by claiming pole for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
The German’s chances of making it three wins from three races this year were enhanced by the exit of team-mate Lewis Hamilton early in the session.
Q1 began in dry conditions save for two large patches of water directly underneath the pods that cross the Shanghai circuit at either end of the main grandstand.
As such the bulk of drivers set out on their installation laps on intermediate tyres, including Hamilton, who was one of the first drivers on track. He was soon reporting the track to be dry but also called through to tell his team that he was having an issue with his power unit.
As he retreated to the garage for investigations, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein was working his way through a hot lap, on the supersoft tyres. As he crossed the line he was caught out not only by the standing water but by a bump in the track and he was pitched into the barriers and out of the session.
The session was red-flagged and circuit vehicles were despatched to clean the track leading to a lengthy delay.
The extra time didn’t help Hamilton, however. When the session restarted he emerged for a last-gasp attempt to set a time, but again the effort ended in failure and he returned to the garage, for good this time.
With Wehrlein and Hamilton out, the remaining four elimination spots were filled by Manor’s Rio Haryanto, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez and the second Renault of Kevin Magnussen.
Q2 saw Rosberg out on track early, but with the German on soft tyres. He jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:36.240 and as the session unfolded his time began to look more and more safe.
The German was eclipsed by the Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel but the German still cruised through to Q3 on the harder tyre. That now becomes his starting tyre, a strategy that could give him a significant advantage in the race.
His passage through to the final segment was eased by the fact that as Q2 wound down, Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India shed its front left wheel and he ground to a halt at Turn 10. The incident brought out the red flags again and with just 1m17s on the clock the segment would not be restarted.
And so to Q3. Rosberg now bolted on supsoft tyres for a straight fight and with his opening lap he took provisional pole with a lap of 1:36.111.
Daniel Ricciardo then made a surprise claim for a top three starting spot, with a time of 1:36.423. It handed him P2 but he was then pushed back by Raikkonen who put in a good lap to steal P1 with a time of 1:35.972.
Sebastian Vettel though sat out the opening run, saving a set of supersofts for the race, and the expectation that the Ferraris would improve in the final run.
Rosberg, though, had other ideas and with an early final run he set his rivals a tough target – lapping in 1:35.402.
In the end it was Ricciardo who went closest to denying the German a second career Chinese GP pole. The Australian jumped to P2 with a time of 1:35.917 and when Raikkonen made a mistake on his final run and Vettel failed to find the necessary pace with his solitary effort, Rosberg’s work was done.
2016 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.669 1:36.240 1:35.4022 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:37.672 1:36.815 1:35.9173 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:37.347 1:36.118 1:35.9724 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.001 1:36.183 1:36.2465 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.537 1:36.831 1:36.2966 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:37.719 1:36.948 1:36.3997 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.096 1:37.149 1:36.8658 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:37.656 1:37.204 1:36.8819 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.181 1:37.265 1:37.19410 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.165 1:37.333 11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:38.016 1:37.347 12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.451 1:38.826 13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:37.593 1:39.093 14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.425 1:39.830 15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:38.321 1:40.742 16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:38.654 1:42.430 17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:38.673 18 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:38.770 19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.528 20 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:40.264 21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 22 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
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