Nico Rosberg grabbed pole position for Mercedes for the second year in a row, while team mate Lewis Hamilton had to settle for 2nd on the grid after a mistake on his second flying lap.
The Mercedes duo have dominated the early stages of the 2014 season, with a race win each and three pole positions between them. It was Hamilton who was the fastest in qualifying for the first two races in Australia and Malaysia, but despite topping the timesheets in all the practice sessions this weekend, he couldn’t match Rosberg’s time on his final run. A mistake by locking up going into the first turn meant that Hamilton’s flying lap was over before it had really begun, and in the end Rosberg didn’t have to put in a second time to ensure pole position.
Final pic… Pole man @nico_rosberg in full flow on @bbcf1 #bbcf1 @therealdcf1 pic.twitter.com/kJY6oxYInD
— suzi perry (@suziperry) April 5, 2014
Sebastian Vettel was the big-name casualty to go out in Q2, as the four-time champion was outqualified by his new team mate Daniel Ricciardo, who claimed third place. However due to a ten-place grid penalty for the Australian driver, handed out because of an unsafe release last weekend, Vettel will begin the race in 10th place, ahead of Ricciardo who moves down to 13th.
Ricciardo’s demotion means that Williams driver Valtteri Bottas moves up into 3rd, equalling his best qualifying result in Canada last year, while Force India’s Sergio Perez also managed to equal his best qualifying with 5th place on the grid. He will start the race comfortably ahead of team mate Nico Hulkenberg who lost out in Q2, finishing 12th.
It was good news for Kimi Raikkonen, who seemed to struggle with the car but managed to outqualify Fernando Alonso for the first time since joining Ferrari. The Finn took 6th place while Alonso only managed 10th after a power loss issue during the session.
Jenson Button managed to outqualify rookie team mate Kevin Magnussen for the second race in a row, while at Toro Rosso teenager Daniil Kvyat starts one place ahead of his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne.
Full Qualifying Results
1 ROSBERG 1:33.185
2 HAMILTON (+0.279)
3 RICCIARDO* (+0.866)
4 BOTTAS (+1.062)
5 PEREZ (+1.161)
6 RAIKKONEN (+1.183)
7 BUTTON (+1.202)
8 MASSA (+1.326)
9 MAGNUSSEN (+1.527)
10 ALONSO (+1.807)
11 VETTEL (Q2)
12 HULKENBERG (Q2)
13 KVYAT (Q2)
14 VERGNE (Q2)
15 GUTIERREZ (Q2)
16 GROSJEAN (Q2)
17 MALDONADO (Q1)
18 SUTIL (Q1)
19 KOBAYASHI (Q1)
20 BIANCHI (Q1)
21 ERICSSON (Q1)
22 CHILTON (Q1)
*10-place grid penalty for unsafe release in Malaysian Grand Prix, will start 13th
