F1 2016: Rosberg on pole, Hamilton to start from the back in China

Nico Rosberg has claimed pole position for the 2016 Chinese GP. The result is Rosberg’s first of the season ensuring a Mercedes car on pole since the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix.

The first qualifying session, Q1 went underway with a drying track after a downpour earlier in the morning. A couple of wet patches left on the start finish straight where Pascal Wehrlein lost control of his Manor which led to the session being red flagged.

During the course of Q1, Lewis Hamilton mentioned loss of power from his Mercedes power unit during his lap on the radio. In the pits, Hamilton and the Mercedes team hoped to rectify the problem with the ERS system of the car but failed to do it in time. Hamilton had set no time in that session which put him at the back of the grid. The Brit was also to go into the race with a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, the penalty now puts him in 22^nd place behind Wehrlein.

In Q2, Rosberg stayed on the soft tyre to set a time of 1:36:240 mins. It was Ferrari’s opportunity to shine but decided to use the Super Soft tyres instead. Raikkonen set the fastest time of the session, and Vettel out did Rosberg’s time. But even on super soft tyres, both Ferrari’s were only about a tenth ahead of the time set by Rosberg who stood in third behind behind the two Ferrari’s in that session.

Nico Hulkenberg brought the session to an early and unexpected close when his front left tyre came loose forcing him to retire. The session was red flagged upon which Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean, who were waiting to set a second time couldn’t manage to get them selves out of Q2 elimination as the session wasn’t to restart due to the lack of time left on the clack. With the rest of the session terminated, all four drivers were eliminated along with both the Sauber’s of Ericsson and Nasr.

The incident with Hulkenberg is currently under investigation by the stewards for an ‘unsafe release’. The German Force India driver could face a grid penalty for the race.

Kimi Raikkonen was expected to rain on the Mercedes parade after his Q2 time and his provisional pole time in Q3. But Rosberg set a blistering time in Q3 to take pole on his second run. Raikkonen and Vettel both made mistakes on their hot lap upon which Daniel Ricciardo capitalised and put himself along side Rosberg on the front row. Ferrari had to settle for Row 2 with Raikkonen in 3^rd and Vettel in 4^th.

2016 F1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING (16/04/2016)
Shanghai International Circuit – 5.451km, 16 turns

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:35.402, 16 laps
2. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing) 1:35.917, 13 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:35.927, 13 laps
4. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:36.246, 10 laps
5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:36.296, 13 laps
6. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull Racing) 1:36.399, 14 laps
7. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:36.865, 15 laps
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) 1:36.881, 15 laps
9. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso) 1:37.194, 15 laps,
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) – NO TIME, 9 laps
11. Felipe Massa* (Williams) 1:37.347, 8 laps
12. Fernando Alonso* (McLaren) 1:38.826, 10 laps
13. Jenson Button* (McLaren) 1:39.093, 10 laps
14. Romain Grosjean* (Haas) 1:39.830, 12 laps
15. Marcus Ericsson* (Sauber) 1:40.742, 10 laps,
16. Felipe Nasr* (Sauber) 1:42.430, 10 laps
17. Kevin Magnussen** (Renault) 1:38.673, 9 laps
18. Esteban Gutierrez** (Haas) 1:38.770, 9 laps
19. Jolyon Palmer** (Renault) 1:39.528, 9 laps
20. Rio Haryanto** (Manor) 1:40.264, 9 laps
21. Pascal Wehrlein** (Manor) – NO TIME, 2 laps
22. Lewis Hamilton** (Mercedes) – NO TIME, 3 laps

*Eliminated after Q2
**Eliminated after Q3