Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole at Suzuka
Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix. with a time just a tenth of a second faster than the Brits.
In a hectic session, the German produced a brilliant final run to set a 1:30.647, a time just 13 one-thousandths of a second faster than the Briton.
On a track where overtaking is difficult, this pole could prove crucial for Rosberg as he tries to extend his championship lead, but the man in second has won this race the past two years.
Mercedes were, unsurprisingly, feeling confident in the first part of qualifying, heading out for their flying laps on medium compound tyres. Immediately, Rosberg went top of the timings, with Hamilton taking the P2 spot.
Red Bull followed their lead, heading out on medium tyres for their first outings, putting them behind the Mercedes duo in third and fourth. Later on in the session, Red Bull put soft tyres on their cars and sent them back out for an exploratory lap, but decided later on that it wasn’t needed, and returned to the pits.
Ferrari wasn’t feeling as confident, sending their drivers out on soft tyres when they left the pits for the first time. It meant that their drivers went to the top of the timings, Sebastian Vettel just faster than Kimi Raikkonen, but it was only two-tenths of a second faster than Rosberg’s time on the medium tyres.
The surprise of the session was McLaren Honda. After a strong Malaysia GP, a lot was expected of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, but the Suzuka track isn’t a great track for the McLaren team. Button had been struggling all weekend and, in the drop zone midway through the session, it looked like it was going to be another disappointing session for the Brit.
Button improved, but so did many of the drivers behind him and the 2009 champion dropped back down to 17th in the closing seconds of the session as Williams’ Valtteri Bottas improved on a flying lap.
Alonso wasn’t in the clear, though. He had set a faster lap time only three-hundredths of a second faster than his teammate and was on the edge of the drop zone whilst Renault’s Kevin Magnussen was still on a faster lap.
With Magnussen’s teammate having already jumped up out of the drop zone to go 15th, it was a tense time in the McLaren camp as Magnussen made his way around the track on his final lap, but Magnussen couldn’t get out of the drop zone, allowing Alonso through to Q2. Just.
In the second qualifying session, it was Mercedes fastest again. This time, the pair put on soft compound tyres and their first lap times put them out of reach of Ferrari and Red Bull behind them. At the time, Rosberg was faster than Hamilton.
It was Ferrari that would take the best of the rest position in the session, beating Red Bull to third and fourth.
Williams were, once again, leaving it late to send their cars out. New soft tyres were strapped onto the Martini sponsored cars with three and a half minutes left on the clock, giving them just enough time to set a single flying lap.
But on a circuit where only perfection is good enough, that would turn out to not be the best decision.
Bottas hit traffic on his flying lap and a lock up at the last chicane compromised his lap as he drifted far beyond the apex. The Finn managed to jump up to eighth, faster than his teammate Felipe Massa, who could only manage 10th on his one flying lap.
Behind them, though there were drivers still on their flying laps. Crucially, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
Hulkenberg’s fastest lap took him P7, which would knock Massa out of the top 10. His time was then beaten by Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez, putting Bottas right on the edge of the drop zone, with Perez still on a fast lap.
The last man over the line, the Mexican jumped up to tenth meaning both Bottas and Massa were knocked out, a blow to Williams in their battle against Force India.
Behind them, the two Toro Rosso’s followed with Daniil Kvyat ahead of Carlos Sainz with Alonso and Jolyon Palmer completing the top 16.
In the final qualifying session, it was Hamilton faster than Rosberg after the first run for the first time this weekend. The world champion two-tenths go two tenths of a second faster than his teammate and four-tenths clear of Raikkonen, the best of the rest. The gaps between the next four drivers – predictably Ferrari and Red Bull – were much smaller with half a tenth of a second separating P3 from P6.
Haas and Force India, the only other teams to make it into the top ten, decided to save tyres and only complete one flying lap in Q3, making for a busy track in the closing stages of qualifying.
The Mercedes strapped on new soft compound tyres, turned their engines up, and headed out once more. It looked like there was going to be nothing between the two of them. Rosberg, the first of the two out, set a purple sector one time, only for Hamilton to go faster.
Ahead of them on track, Verstappen crossed the line to go third, only to be bumped down to fourth when Raikkonen took the checkered flag to go second, splitting the two Mercedes.
Rosberg was purple again in the second sector, this time managing to go faster than his teammate. It wasn’t a perfect final sector for the German, but Rosberg still managed to go fastest with a 1:30.647.
Hamilton improved on his own lap time, but was just over a hundredth of a second slower than Rosberg, putting the German on pole for the ninth time this season.
Raikkonen was the best of the rest, followed by Vettel, Vestappen, and Ricciardo. Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez completed the top ten.