Nico Rosberg takes pole at Hockenheim, whilst team mate Lewis Hamilton crashes out in Q1 allowing Williams to take P2 & P3.
The session began with news that Marcus Ericsson would not be taking his Caterham out onto the track as the team discovered a hydraulic problem before the session. Therefore he was unable to set a time.
10 minutes in Q1 came Lewis Hamilton's crash. The Brit lost breaking on his way into turn 13 which resulted in his Mercedes to spin and crash into the tyre barriers. The session was immediately red flagged. Mercedes soon announced that it was a right front break disc failure that caused Hamilton's crash. A mandatory trip to the medical centre cleared that Hamilton was OK, just sore from the impact.
The session continued with just over 7 minutes left, and Rosberg who had yet to set a time when P1 on his first flying lap.
The end of Q1 saw Grosjean set a quick enough lap to push him out of elimination and pushing Sutil in, a tough weekend so far for the German. Drivers eliminated were: Sutil, Bianchi, Maldonado, Kobayashi, Chilton and Ericsson.
Q2 saw a class performance from Daniil Kvyat who got his Toro Rosso into the top 10 once again, out performing his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne. Raikkonen wasn't on form during Q2, frequently locking up and on his final flying lap he didn't manage to get his Ferrari into the top 10 unlike his Spanish team mate.
Both Force India's put on a show in Q2, managing to set good times that allowed them into Q3, a shock since they finished 15th and 16th at the end of Q1, only just saving themselves from elimination.
Button, Raikkonen, Vergne, Gutierrez, Grosjean and Hamilton were the drivers to be knocked out. Button narrowly missing out on the top 10 as he was pushed out by former team mate Sergio Perez. However Esteban Gutierrez has a 3 place grid penalty for his collision with Maldonado in Silverstone.
The top 10 shoot out began in the scorching heat, with the air temp in the 30s and the track temp reaching over 50 degrees as it has done all weekend. Nico Rosberg soon showed his speed and put his Mercedes into P1; at the end of the session he still held pole with a time of 1:16.540.
The real battle was between the two Williams' of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, the pair showing their speed all weekend. Bottas triumphed in this battle, claiming P2 with a time of 1:16.759, and Massa in P3 with 1:17.078.
Kevin Magnussen took his slowly improving McLaren to P4 with 1:17.214, equalling his best qualifying position in F1 in Australia at the beginning of the season.
Locking out the 3rd row are the Red Bull's of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel who set times of 1:17.273 and 1:17.577 respectively.
Close behind Vettel is Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who will start the race P7 after setting a time of 1:17.649. Sitting next to Alonso on the grid is young Russian Daniil Kvyat who brought his Toro Rosso into the top 10 for the 5th time this season.
Tying off the top 10 was the Force India's of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez; only hundredths of seconds separating the team mates as they set times of 1:18.014 and 1:18.035 respectively.
Images:
© Mercedes AMG Petronas
© McLaren
© Wikimedia
© Mercedes AMG Petronas
© McLaren
© Wikimedia
