2016 Chinese GP Qualifying Report
- Max Davies (@maxdaviespr)
- Apr 16, 2016
- 3 min read
Nico Rosberg claimed pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton failed to set a time in Q1 due to an Energy Recovery System failure in his Mercedes and will start from last position.
Rosberg’s gap of 0.515s over Ricciardo was slightly flattered as both Ferrari drivers made an
error on their final runs down at the Turn 14 hairpin when they looked a serious threat for pole. With his eyes on tomorrow’s race, Sebastian Vettel saved tyres and only made one run in Q3 on his way to fourth place.
On a slightly different strategy from the rest of the top ten drivers, Rosberg put on a set of the soft tyres to progress through Q2 and as a result will use the same compound when he leads the cars round on the formation lap tomorrow. Strategy-wise, he should be able to run longer in the first stint and thus build a comfortable lead while his rivals should have to pit earlier.
“I’m pleased of course,” The German declared. “The whole weekend has gone well. The car was handling well in qualifying, you know, so to get the lap done and to put it on pole, I’m happy about that of course. Not ecstatic, because of course Lewis had bad luck and his car broke down so the fight didn’t happen but anyways I’m pleased.”
Hamilton was frustrated, but announced his intention to start from the back of the grid rather than from the pit lane.
“There is no question in my mind on how I'm going to get my way through,” the defending world champion confirmed, “but you never know because it's a different track with different climate and different demand on the tyres. So whether or not we can get all the way up to third, I think that's going to be a very tough challenge.”
Valtteri Bottas took fifth position in the Williams, a mere 0.050s off Vettel, and a tenth of a second ahead of the second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat. Force India’s Sergio Perez took seventh ahead of the two Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen.
Q2 ended earlier than scheduled – a loose wheel on Nico Hulkenberg's Force India bringing out a red flag and resulting in the German qualifying 10th. The timing of the stoppage ruined the chances of many drivers hoping to get into the final session including Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Romain Grosjean and both Saubers.
Although this was not the first red flag of the day – courtesy of Pascal Wehrlein aquaplaning his Manor off the main straight and into the barrier – it was during this time that Mercedes first noticed an issue with Hamilton’s ERS.
It meant he was massively down on power on his aborted first lap in Q1 and subsequently led to his retirement from the session.
After 22 minutes of attempting to dry a rather large puddle under the two bridges on the start/finish straight, the session resumed, yet saw the Renault of Kevin Magnussen being eliminated alongside the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez, British rookie Jolyon Plamer, in the second Renault, and Manor’s Rio Haryanto.
Wehrlein and Hamilton will start at the back of the field.
Comments