The force is strong in Lewis Hamilton – that’s the takeaway from qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix after the world champion took pole position in front of Star Wars creator George Lucas.
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Nico Hulkenberg is likely to start second on the grid, having gone third-fastest, despite a steward’s investigation to determine whether he failed to slow behind yellow flags.
Sebastian Vettel was next in line, but he also has a five place grid drop to take which means Jenson Button gains third place on the grid, a surprise to everyone including the British driver himself. I wasn’t disappointed.” said Hulkenberg “A great effort from the team.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen broke his car’s suspension in Friday’s practice, Rosberg added his name to the list on Saturday and was followed by Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Force India’s Sergio Perez in qualifying.
Nico Rosberg’s bid to win a hat-trick of consecutive races in Austria hangs in the balance after he dramatically crashed out of final practice.
The session began in warm conditions with a track temperature of 51 degrees Celsius, enough to give Ferrari confidence and cause concerns for some of the other teams.
Mercedes were as blisteringly fast as ever, Nico Rosberg setting the quickest lap ever round this circuit with the bumpy surface replaced with smooth asphalt for this year, but their drivers were not without mistakes too. Hamilton quickly set the pace with a lap of 1:06.228 before the rains hit bring qualifying to an end.
947 before Rosberg joined the fray.
Rosberg’s auto appeared to suffer a suspension failure and he was thrown into a spin that saw him crash off the barriers on the left off the track before coming to a halt.
Rosberg was unharmed and on his return to the garage was seen shaking his head in apparent anger at the accident, which did substantial damage to his vehicle.
“At the last corner, everyone is going off [with] four wheels – they wanted to make it better but actually they made it worse”.
Wolff said that showed changes to the Red Bull Ring’s new kerbs were necessary, but admitted it was hard to know the right solution.
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Ferrari and Red Bull both gained a potential strategic advantage with their starting tyres for Sunday’s race – super-softs instead of the riskier ultra-softs of Mercedes.
