Nico Rosberg edged out Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to go fastest in Saturday’s practice session ahead of the German Grand Prix, with the Brit facing a potential 10-place grid penalty.
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Rosberg pipped championship leader Hamilton by 0.107 seconds in a dramatic qualifying segment at Hockenheim to ensure he will start out in front in his home grand prix on Sunday.
Rosberg heads into Sunday’s race at the 4.5-km Hockenheim track trailing Hamilton by six points in the standings, having ceded the overall lead to the Briton at the last race in Hungary.
Lewis Hamilton has increased his lead of the world championship to 19 points with victory of the German GP.
Rosberg dived late for the inside into Turn Six, as Verstappen moved to the right to defend in the braking zone – a manoeuvre which he has made something of a trademark, to the anger of the other drivers, who feel it breaks a gentleman’s agreement between them about a risky tactic.
In an action-packed race at Hockenheim, Ricciardo took second place on his 100th race, while Verstappen followed him home in third.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was the best of the rest on Friday, finishing in third, albeit more than half-a-second adrift of Rosberg. The stewards investigated, agreed and handed Rosberg a five-second stop-go penalty to be taken at his next pit stop.
He added: “It’s been a hard slog for everyone in the team for the whole year and obviously with ups and downs and difficulties we’ve had, the real strength, through and through, that they’ve shown these last races has been inspiring for me”.
“First please let me start with a big thank to the fans”, a beaming Hamilton said on the podium, with the absence of the boos that greeted him in Austria clearly leaving him somewhat surprised. “It didn’t make any difference that I was held longer than needed as I couldn’t challenge the Red Bulls after the penalty”, Rosberg said.
“That’s what I intend to do in the future, just to remove any discussion about whether a driver slowed down or not”, Whiting told reporters at the German Grand Prix. 842 back. His red Bull teammate Ricciardo was.
Rosberg headed out early for his second run on super-softs, presumably to give him the option of a second lap if required, and took top spot by just over a tenth of a second.
Rosberg was more than three-tenths of a second faster than his Mercedes teammate in both sessions.
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“Overnight we should be in a good position, and tomorrow it should be close as Nico is pretty quick here”.
