Rosberg romps to first 2015 pole
Nico Rosberg has beaten Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the first time in 2015 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Rosberg, after looking in control for the entire afternoon session, set the pole time of 1 minute 24.681 seconds on his first Q3 run, with Hamilton twice unable to beat the benchmark.
“I needed it sooner rather than later,” said Rosberg of his breakthrough pole. “It’s one step in the right direction to winning the race this weekend.
“It was a good day in the office for sure.”
Hamilton, in a performance akin to his 2014 qualifying efforts, was unable to improve his time during his second run, which left him 0.267 seconds behind his teammate.
The Briton complained about being unable to balance the car during practice, which culminated in a dramatic spin in FP3.
“I generally didn’t have the pace today,” confirmed Hamilton. “Generally I don’t know if I had the balance where I’d like it.
“I did my best with it, and there’s still a lot to play for tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel qualified in third place and half a second behind Hamilton in a Ferrari that is still no match for the Mercedes over one lap.
The Scuderia upgraded 70 per cent of its car, including the installation of as many as 16 new aero parts, but the significant step expected didn’t materialise.
Despite the anticlimax, the German said the team wouldn’t be disappointed with the result.
“I think disappointed is the wrong word,” he said. “It’s great to keep confirming that we’re right behind [Mercedes].”
Vettel is the only driver other than Hamilton to win a race so far this season, and Ferrari has thus far been taking the fight to Mercedes via race strategy rather than pure pace.
Noting that Ferrari looked closer on long-run pace during practice, Mercedes saved a set of medium tyres during qualifying to ensure all strategy options remained open to them in the race.
“Strategy is going to be important,” said Rosberg. “It’s a big advantage to have an extra set of tyres.
“Overtaking is also more difficult at this track, so starting in front is a particularly big advantage here.”
Ferrari split its qualifying strategy, saving Vettel an extra set of medium tyres, while giving teammate Kimi Räikkönen, who complained of low grip for most of the day, an extra set of hards.
“We’d have loved to be a little bit closer,” said Vettel. “But I think we still should be in good shape tomorrow.
“I hope for a good race, but you have to say those two guys are doing a good job. They’re quick, and they have confirmed that so far.
“Tomorrow we can be a bit closer, but we’ll see.”
Valtteri Bottas qualified three tenths of a second behind Vettel in fourth, four-tenths of a second ahead of rising star Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Sainz hailed his result, immensely popular amongst his home fans in light of Fernando Alonso’s lack of pace with McLaren, as “very special”.
The Spanish driver’s Toro Rosso teammate Max Verstappen was a further tenth behind in P6, and almost half a second ahead of the quickest Red Bull Racing entry.
Daniil Kvyat was fastest for RBR in P8, with Kimi Räikkönen splitting him from the junior team in seventh after the Finn complained the Ferrari lacked mechanical grip.
Kvyat, who has been anonymous for much of the season so far, will have had his confidence boosted by outqualifying teammate Daniel Ricciardo by two places, with the second Williams of Felipe Massa in between.
QUALIFYING TWO, P11—15
Despite its allusions to a great leap in performance on the horizon, Lotus was made to look overwhelmingly average by the Barcelona circuit.
Romain Grosjean, outqualifying teammate — and one-time Spanish Grand Prix winner — Pastor Maldonado by 0.1 seconds, but was himself four-tenths of a second behind the Kvyat’s Red Bull, which set the Q3 cut-off time.
Though knocked out in Q2, McLaren ended up just three-tenths of a second behind the Lotus cars. Fernando Alonso led Jenson Button one-tenth, putting the McLaren-Honda reunion one second out of the top ten.
The second Sauber of Felipe Nasr qualified slowest of the sessions and one tenth of a second ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson in Q1’s P17.
QUALIFYING ONE, P16—20
Every driver bar Hamilton, Rosberg, and Vettel set their fastest lap using the medium compound, spreading the field generally according to car pace.
Button and Alonso stole the show by making McLaren’s first Q2 appearance of the season, while Force India made obvious its lack of development by qualifying slowest of all, bar Manor.
Marcus Ericsson couldn’t get a lap together to make it through to Q2, heading Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Perez.
Will Stevens continued to dominate his teammate by posting a lap 0.8 seconds faster than the junior Roberto Merhi.
2015 SPANISH GRAND PRIX: QUALIFYING RESULTS
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.681 | Pole |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.948 | 0.267s |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:25.458 | 0.777s |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:25.694 | 1.013s |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1:26.136 | 1.455s |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1:26.249 | 1.568s |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:26.414 | 1.733s |
| 8 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1:26.629 | 1.948s |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:26.757 | 2.076s |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1:26.770 | 2.089s |
| Q2 | ||||
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1:27.375 | 2.694s |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1:27.450 | 2.769s |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1:27.760 | 3.079s |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1:27.854 | 3.173s |
| 15 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.005 | 3.324s |
| Q1 | ||||
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.112 | 3.431s |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.365 | 3.684s |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.442 | 3.761s |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:31.200 | 6.519s |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:32.038 | 7.357s |
The 2015 Spanish Grand Prix starts at 10PM AEST on Sunday night.