Nico Rosberg boosted his hopes of regaining control of the world championship on Saturday when he claimed pole position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
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“He is taking the penalty now because the two circuits coming up, Spa and Monza, are so long and it’s easier to recover from starting at the back of the grid than at, say, Suzuka in Japan or Singapore”.
Mercedes were hampered by this more than others in free practice, as they have a auto that already does not find as much time on softer tyres compared to their rivals.
“I might get past three cars and then the rear tyres are gone”.
Kimi Raikkonen – who is twice Verstappen’s age – qualified.166 behind Rosberg in third, getting ahead of Vettel right at the end.
The session was run in continuing sweltering conditions with an air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and the track at 44 degrees – utterly unexpected by tyre suppliers Pirelli and numerous teams who made aggressive tyre selections in advance, expecting much cooler weather. He had one flying lap and briefly sat third behind Verstappen, but the Ferarris finished the session over the top of him more than a tenth of second faster.
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has been hit with a 35-place grid penalty after his team installed a new power-unit in his auto yesterday.
“We just weren’t quick because it’s very hot out there and because the Pirelli tyre pressures are very high here for this weekend”.
“We have struggled with the balance of the auto this weekend but he managed to secure the strategic advantage of making it through Q2 on the soft tyre”, said Toto Wolff.
The odds are heavily stacked against him turning it into a win however. No driver in Formula One history has ever won from the final spot on the grid.
Force India start sixth and seventh with Sergio Perez leading Nico Hulkenberg, whilst the Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were split by the McLaren of Jenson Button.
Given this, Mercedes took the opportunity to make multiple power unit changes – meaning a further and meaningless 25-place drop in a race of 22 cars. However if the team have to fit a further new power unit, he will fall one place behind Hamilton. Esteban Gutiérrez qualified his Haas in 13th place but will take a five-place penalty for impeding another auto during practice and will start 18th on the grid; his team-mate Romain Grosjean is in 11th.
Out with them went Swede Marcus Ericsson, who also has a 10-place penalty, Russian Daniil Kvyat and French debutant Esteban Ocon.
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It rendered his qualifying session pointless, and after only four laps he went back to the garage.
