After a hugely tumultuous week for the F1 community in which both the Marussia and Caterham teams were placed into administration, I'm sure plenty in the paddock were simply looking forward to returning to business with this weekend's American Grand Prix at the stunning Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The news of both Marussia and Caterham looking likely never to return too F1 has sparked frantic talk about F1 needing to make itself more financially sustainable, something the smaller teams have been preaching for a long time.Back to matters on track and F1 returned once again to the hugely popular American Grand Prix at COTA, an immediate favourite since it's debut in 2012. The AMG Mercedes duo were well in front of the rest again in practice with the Williams and Red Bull's looking their closest challengers.
The Q1 session seemed slightly deflated with only 4 cars now dropping out in both Q1 and Q2 sessions this weekend as the grid only sits at 18 cars. The circuit was busy from the moment the green lights went out, with Nico Rosberg initially setting the pace with a 1m38.848 laptime in the opening minutes.
It quickly became apparent the two AMG Mercedes drivers were very closely matched this weekend as both title rivals Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton traded fastest laps in Q1 throughout the session, with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas not far behind both of them also. Roughly halfway through the session Sebastien Vettel ventured out for his sole lap of qualifying, purely so he was within the 107% rule so he could start today's race from the pit lane, after a complete power unit and gearbox change for this weekend.
Going into the final minutes Lewis Hamilton finally put himself on top for certain in Q1 with a 1m37.196 lap in the final two minutes of the session. This stunning lap was a full second quicker than Bottas in second also. Down at the wrong end of the grid with the absence of Marussia and Caterham it was the usual suspects above them who were forced out of qualifying after Q1.
The only surprise was Jean Eric Vergne missing out in 15th for Scuderia Toro Rosso, as he stakes his case to remain at Toro Rosso for 2015. Esteban Gutierrez starts 16th in his Sauber with Sebastien Vettel technically 17th although he starts from the pit lane as Romain Grosjean messed up his final qualifying lap so starts 18th.
Once again lots of cars ventured out early in Q2 and once again it was the two AMG Mercedes who were setting the pace, although this time it was Nico Rosberg setting the pace as Hamilton was several tenths down. From here after the initial runs it was remarkably quiet on track as everyone returned to the pits, preparing themselves for their final runs in the closing minutes.
Nico Rosberg solidified his impressive pace in the final seconds as he went several tenths quicker, whilst at the back Pastor Maldonado was agonizingly close to making Q3 in 11th for Lotus-Renault, as Sergio Perez disappointed in 12th from Sahara Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg in 13th as Daniil Kvyat rounding out those eliminated in Q2 in 14th.
From here the usual protagonists steeled themselves for Q3, with the initial first run showing that pole would be hotly contested as both the Williams and Bottas and Felipe Massa battled Rosberg and Hamilton. After Rosberg went fastest on his first run once again the track went quiet as everyone saved their new set of tyres for the final minutes of qualifying. From here the pole shoot out seemed relatively sedate as Rosberg improved his time by several tenths to a 1m36.067 as Hamilton struggled and could not beat his first run time to remain in 2nd.
From here Valtteri Bottas qualified 3rd as Felipe Massa completed row 2 to also show how strong Williams is looking this weekend. Daniel Ricciardo was 5th in the sole Red Bull as Fernando Alonso came home 6th in his under powered Ferrari.The two McLaren's were 7th and 8th with Jenson Button ahead of rookie Kevin Magnussen, although Button is relegated 5 places for the race after taking a new gearbox for the race.
From here the final row was made up of Kimi Raikkonen in 9th and the star of qualifying in 10th was Adrian Sutil, who dragged the uncompetitive Sauber into Q3 for the first time this year, just at the perfect moment also as the team also announced yesterday Marcus Ericsson would join the team for 2015. After qualifying perfectly set up the race, this afternoon should be very interesting to watch the two AMG Mercedes battling at the front as they appear very evenly matched this weekend.
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