Nico Rosberg has claimed his first pole position of the season ahead of team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, by quarter of a second. His pole position time: 1:24.681.
The Mercedes duo were followed by Sebastian Vettel but his Ferrari counterpart did not have a great session as Kimi’s warmers burned his tyres. He qualified 7th.
Bottas was a second off Rosberg’s benchmark time in 4th place.
The Toro Rosso’s of Sainz Jr and Verstappen qualified an impressive 5th and 6th respectively.
Kvyat in 8th out-qualified Ricciardo in 10th. The Red Bulls sandwiched Massa.
Grosjean and Maldonado missed out on Q3. Grosjean complained of inconsistent car balance in the E23.
Alonso in 13th pipped Button in the McLaren team battle by 0.096 seconds.
The rest of the grid was two-by-two. Sauber, Force India and Manor.
Images Courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team




