Mercedes pair spin their way to another front row

2015 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying

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No one other than Mercedes has started a race from pole position in the past 12 months – but the manner in which they achieved their latest front row lock-out was most unusual.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both spun off on their final laps in Q3. But with no one able to beat them they will start the race from first and second, Hamilton on pole position for the seventh time this year.

However Kimi Raikkonen will start near the back of the grid after failing to make it beyond the first part of qualifying.

Q1

Qualifying began on a damp but drying track and intermediate tyres were the order of the day for the drivers at first. However it quickly became clear the track would be quick enough for slick tyres by the end of the session.

Williams initially took a punt on sending their drivers out on the soft tyres, but soon joined the rest in opting for the more aggressive super-soft compound. With the track improving with every passing lap, a frenzied battle to escape the clutches of the drop zone began.

Rosberg hovered perilously close to the cut-off point to begin with but escaped the bottom five with time to spare. So did Sebastian Vettel – but not the other Ferrari of Raikkonen. He had fallen to 17th as the final laps began but lost time in the middle sector of the lap and headed for the pits.

He was joined in elimination by Jenson Button, who had led the topsy-turvy session at one stage, and who now faces a penalty during the race as he will be unable to take much of his 25-place penalty.

Fernando Alonso, who faces the same penalty, made it through in his McLaren. However Sergio Perez, who was running behind him on the track, fell at the first hurdle.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

16Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’12.522
17Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’12.632
18Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’12.867
19Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’14.071
20Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’15.368

Q2

With the track now largely dry, Q2 was a more straightforward affair, and ended with the two Mercedes drivers on top. However Rosberg looked by far the more comfortable of the two, and his lap of 1’08.634 was a good four-tenths of a second faster than Hamilton could manage.

The sole remaining Ferrari of Vettel was next, and two places behind him was another driver who reached Q3 after leaving his team mate behind in Q1: Nico Hulkenberg.

Unsurprisingly it was Alonso who propped up the table at the end of Q2. Ahead of him Ricciardo lost out in a close three-way contest for 12th place. He also appeared to caused his team amte some aggravation, but it didn’t prevent Daniil Kvyat from reaching the final ten.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’10.374
12Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’10.426
13Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’10.465
14Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’10.482
15Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’10.736

Q3

Only one Lotus driver had made it through to Q3 but his involvement didn’t last long. Romain Grosjean reported a problem with his car’s brake-by-wire system, and despite telling his team he felt he could continue he was told to head for the pits.

The super-soft tyres were good for two flying runs at the beginning of the session, and after the first it seemed the status quo between the Mercedes drivers had been preserved – Rosberg was the best part of four-tenths of a second ahead. However on their second efforts Hamilton found the time he had been missing in the twisty middle sector, which moved him two-tenths of a second clear of his team mate.

The scene was set for a climactic battle between the two Mercedes drivers – but it was decided in the most unusual of circumstances. Hamilton’s car got away from him at the very beginning of the lap – he spun off at turn one as he hit the brakes.

That seemed to leave to door open for Rosberg to snatch pole position. But he ran wide in the penultimate corner, then skidded off at the final turn, losing a clear shot at beating his team mate.

Vettel did not quite have the pace to take advantage and had to settle for third place ahead of last year’s pole sitter Felipe Massa. Hulkenberg took fifth ahead of Bottas as the top six featured five Mercedes-powered cars.

Top ten in Q3

1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’08.455
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’08.655
3Sebastian VettelFerrari1’08.810
4Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’09.192
5Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’09.278
6Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’09.319
7Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’09.612
8Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’09.694
9Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’09.713
10Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes

2015 Austrian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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150 comments on “Mercedes pair spin their way to another front row”

  1. anticlimax :D

    1. What an excellent qualy!

      I think that the problem for Hamilton was that he was running to a system of a flying third lap (out lap, quick lap, flying lap), which is what achieved his fast time on the used super-softs in Q3. On the new tyres, his quick lap had to be a bit quicker than usual, because of the need to beat the clock. Then as he hooked it up for turn 1 on the flying lap – he lost it. With the damp track – no room for error!

      For Rosberg, he was consistently quicker than Lewis in the second sector…. so when Lewis beat him there, he amped it up even further, which caused him to overdrive the third sector.

      For Vettel, he simply came out too late to hit the rhythm properly.

      Bottas’ lap was ruined by Rosberg.

    2. Based on qualifying errors it’s going to be hard picking out a driver of the weekend

  2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    20th June 2015, 14:09

    Needs many more grid penalties.

  3. Did Kimi have a mechanical issue?

    1. The team said no
      It might be traffic ?

      1. @malik Raikkonen was behind Perez who was behind Alonso on the last lap.

        1. @fastiesty: Thanks for the information. This might make the race more interesting :)

        2. @fastiety @erinha – Thanks

      2. Perez did say he was stuck behind ALO, with Kimi behind him again, so no space to take gap – must have worked against Kimi too. Still, Kimi didn’t look very good today at any moment.

  4. One Ferrari engineer set his timer wrong. This had to happen tomorrow…

  5. Lol, what a great ending. Shame Seb couldn’t quite get among the Mercs.

    As for Ferrari / Kimi / Hulk – case closed really.

    1. Yep. Ferrari need to hire Ricciardo!

      1. Yeah, because he was mighty fast today,…

    2. Both Kimi and Perez wwere stuck in traffic, unless they could switch off collision like in F1 game, there was no chance for him to get through Alonso. Great job by hulk though.

      1. Yes, and people keep saying that we need to add more teams just to cause traffic.

    3. Shame Seb couldn’t quite get among the Mercs.

      But his pace looks good and the Ferrari seems to be steadier in the tricky conditions of the track. I have a feeling that Vettel could be more than among the Mercs tomorrow. I hope so anyway.

      1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
        20th June 2015, 15:54

        @loup-garou I hope you are totally right!!!

      2. My expectation (as distinct from hope) is that the Ferraris will suffer more from cold graining and the Mercs will drive steadily away. Still, a mistake could come at any time.

        Though the interest will be in the midfield, most likely. Could be plenty of that anyway.

  6. They both screw up and they still get a front row. Where the heck was everybody else, pretty sure Rosberg’s off wrecked a lot of the last laps but come on that was the fields chance to have a laugh at Mercedes expense.

    1. Did Hamilton/Rosberg’s offs produce yellow flags then? I can’t really remember.

      1. Bottas’s lap is the only one im certain of by Rosberg, Hamilton was last man over the line so he didn’t affect anybody.

        1. Hulkenberg was last across the line – if he was going for another lap it would have been ruined immediately by Hamilton’s off.

    2. Well, you could say that it still turned out to be a good result :-)

      1. @bascb That’s a good spin on the situation.

    3. @addimaf1 They didn’t screw their banker laps.

  7. The look on Wolff and Lauda’s face when Lewis went out on 1st turn, is highlighted by the look on their faces when Rosberg went out on the last. It’s a funny situation but one wonders that both PR austrians have a much easier job when Lewis is happy.

  8. Looked like Rosberg’s lap would have been good enough for poll had the last 2 corners gone smoothly.

    Definitely an anti-climax but shows that even compared to last year at Austria the Mercs are further ahead than they were. Not even mistakes from both drivers prevented a 1-2.

    1. Rosberg said he was 2 tenths up on Lewis’ pole time, so it was going to be very close between them. However, I wonder on why they didn’t send out the Mercedes on 2 timed laps like the first run since it must have been down to tyre warmup the mistakes.

    2. Well @sparkyamg, in the press conference he said he was up 0,2s, ie. about the time HAM had on him, which meant he had to go for it – then lost that last corner. So might have been in the hundredths of second who got pole.

    3. but lewis probably would have gone even quicker on his final lap,considering he was also on fresh tyres.but he didnt even complete sector 1,so we’ll never know for sure

      1. Agreed, Lewis went too deep at turn 2 on his pole lap so without at least that mistake he would have been quicker than Rosberg on their last runs.

        1. @earmitage
          He didn’t go to deep.
          The lines were just wet that’s all.

  9. Amateurish stuff from the two Mercedes drivers, very frustrating for anyone who hoped to improve on their final lap. The best drivers are clearly not always the ones in the best car…

    1. Bottas lost his second attempt with the Rosberg yellow..

      1. But he needed it because he made two mistakes himself @fastiesty, hahostolze – maybe these cars weren’t so easy to drive on this track today. I don’t find it anticlimactic or amateurish, I just believe they were pushing to the limit. Which is great to see.

        1. @bosyber True, he said his first attempt wasn’t great and Sky showed he gave up one lap after a minor error.

    2. There you go!

    3. Everybody has good and bad moments.

      Your guy made a lot of mistakes in Bahrein. Then what?

      1. +1. Apparently Hamilton and Rosberg should NOT make mistakes under any circumstances because of the mighty W06. But Vettel is allowed. Even in Canada Vettel had alot of hairy moments but he is an exception.

        1. IIRC, the only “hairy moment” was Hulkenberg spinning himself off when already behind the Ferrari having unsuccessfully defended. Vettel also didn’t even need to make mistakes to be criticised, booed and accused of cheating when he was winning in the “mighty” Red Bulls.

          1. Indeed. I mean it’s not like Alonso showed up Vettel twice in that race in terms of racecraft. Is it just me or are you not able to accept any criticism of Vettel?

          2. @blazz14 – I am able to accept criticism of Vettel, but you (and davej) must have been asleep for about 5 years you to claim Vettel is “allowed” to make mistakes and others not. Plus, is hahostolze even a Vettel fan?

    4. How not to love F1 fans and social media these days?

      People complain that the drivers aren’t being push hard enough: “F1 is easy.”

      People complain when drivers push hard and go over the limit: “what a bunch of amateurs!”

        1. Just absolutely amazes me frankly….

          And just shows how many ‘know it alls’ are willing to comment in the negative on today’s instant media, never of course having attempted anything as difficult as a simple licensed kart race qualy in changing conditions.

          There is nothing more chancy or difficult than getting the best lap in such conditions. But there is nothing easier than sitting with your ps4 and pretending you can do better and that its all about the engine… And that the best are in actual fact crap because they try hard enough to lose it in the dying moments of a changing grip track… Meanwhile adding to the it’s all ‘easy’ comments.

          Honestly annoys me – get out there, get a licence 2 or 4 wheel and go win some races in similar conditions even if it’s basic karts before making stupid ‘go with the current everything is crap because I say so crowd’ and then come back here and comment like that @Haho…..
          Everyone appears to want the impossible at the moment (5 winners of every race?!) but suggests no one is working hard to achieve a single win when it is clear they are right at the limit.

          How about a little praise for the fact they risked everything despite track conditions? Further anyone who has ever raced in the wet or similar conditions will happily tell you engine power has zero to do with it. Drive ability is everything. Some credit for the chassis beyond the pail?

          Or is your preferred driver/team not pole hence everyone else is an amateur?

          1. You tell’em buddy, this is real racing, the possibility of going from Hero to Zero in a nanosecond is what provides the “show”, even when the leader/s are half a lap ahead of the rest. Pity the tyres are only good for 2 laps though.

      1. +1
        I guess you can choose to see two professional drivers, including a 2-times world champion, pushing the car to its limit and beyond to get those extra tenths, or two ‘amateurs’ spoiling qualifying for the real drivers behind. It’s total nonsense and in the end just reduces everything interesting about the sport or any human endeavour to worthless irrelevance – nothing will ever disprove their ‘theory’ – but that’s their tiresome ‘right’.

    5. Bla bla bla.
      They got the front row because they made a good job on their first run. That’s it.
      Bash everything is the name of the game now.
      People raised their hopes for a Vettel pole and it didn’t work, so the first thing is to bash F1 on the internet.

      1. But don’t get sad, it’s really possible that Vettel can chalenge for the win tomorrow.

    6. All drivers made mistakes this weekend.

      I guess the whole grid is just a bunch of amateurs.

  10. Both drivers making mistakes when the track is at its fastest but still managing a 1,2!? That car is going to hand them lots of records.

    1. The yellow flags would have stopped anyone behind improving. Especially as I’m pretty sure the Mercs (with the exception of Vettel) were at the front of the pack.

      1. I think Hamilton was close to the back of the pack (he was behind Bottas anyway), but Rosberg was further ahead and his off spoiled at least Bottas’ lap – not sure if it spoiled other laps as well.

        1. It would have – it’s a shame but we also saw an awful lot of other laps spoiled in earlier parts of qualy which always makes it a lottery that the team need to try to three a needle through…

        2. DRS was disabled on the start/finish straight because of the yellow flag for Hamilton, so it did effect the end of other drivers Vetel, Hulkenberg etc., laps.

          1. Hamilton was the last driver. Vettel was amongst the first.

          2. Hamilton’s yellow flag did not effect the start of the lap but it did effect the end of the lap of drivers like Vettel who were ahead on the road, because they couldn’t use DRS from the last corner to the finish line as DRS had been disabled on the straight leading to the yellow flag incident in turn 1.

  11. It doesn’t feel right that the top 2 drivers are the ones who made the biggest mistakes. If only there were still one shot qualifying…

    1. @leftedf1

      I’m sure you’ll sleep much easier knowing Hamilton’s “mistake” wasn’t driver error.

      1. I still believe Merc should be punished. That’s the reason I want 1 shot quali. No room for error with team or driver

  12. Who is complaining the cars are too easy to handle?

    And look how hard these men have to push?

  13. Some statistics:
    * Despite being less than halfway through the season, Hamilton now has as many pole this year as he had in 2014 (7 poles).

    * Rosberg will need to get pole at 10 of the remaining 11 rounds if he wants to equal his pole count from last year (he had 11 poles in 2014).

    * Hamilton has started from pole at 22 different tracks. This means he has equalled the all-time record – Prost also started from pole at 22 different tracks. If Hamilton gets pole at Mexico he can break this record.

    1. @polo That last one is very interesting. With Baku on it’s way he can even surpass it.

      1. And perhaps Imola if that’s a thing.

    2. BTW, statsf1 shows different thing. Hamilton holds now the record.

      1. Well, he does technically hold the record now, but it’s shared with Prost.

    3. @polo ooh, Imagine now if Rosberg were to get every pole except for Mexico (Hamilton). That would be quite something!!

  14. One driver goes out of track on turn 1, the other goes out on last corner. Well that was quite an anti climax. I don’t know why Ferrari sent Vettel out so late in Q3, maybe if he had enough time for another lap he might have improved. But spins from both Merc drivers made it irrelevant.

    Great job by Hulk, Verstappen, Kvyat and Nasr…

    1. would have been better only if Hamilton had gone out after a fast second sector so that we could first get enthusiastic about it, then have a moment before the, “NO, well that means Rosberg, LOL no he didn’t” moments.

      I had a great time seeing drivers who really have to push their cars. If you keep feeling let down when they make a mistake, please don’t be surprised that both teams and drivers then like to take it easy and safely within margins instead of going full out once in a while.

      1. I enjoyed watching today’s qualifying. I am not blaming both Merc drivers for making mistakes, it happens to every driver. If anything i am bit disappointed that Vettel only did 2 flying laps in Q3 and I cant understand why Ferrari did this.

        It was anti climax for me because I was watching qualifying along with live timing app and suddenly I saw Hamilton name blinking on his last flying lap. Then Rosberg almost had a similar S1 time to Hamilton’s flap, a purple S2 and then his name also blinked within few seconds. I thought Rosberg will get pole once I saw his purple S2 but him going off track on last corner ended my hope.

        I love watching when F1 teams and drivers push themselves to their limits, infact I cherish when they send out cars while its raining in practice sessions which is a rare occurrence these days (happened in last race in Canada, before Hamilton aquaplanned and in today’s Fp3)

  15. Feel very disappointed here. That felt like a waste of an hour of my Saturday. Kimi out in Q1, Hamilton and Rosberg both going off, and Vettel not even being able to beat them.

    1. If you feel disappointed after one of the most exciting qualifying sessions of the last few years then I’d recommend you stop watching F1.

  16. LOL. What a headline, @Keithcollantine ! It certainly speaks volume. I absolutely love it.

    1. Have to agree, it was odd, but also, in my opinion, shows these guys were really pushing. Riveting sport and entertainment.

      1. Yep @bosyber. IMO these cars are great.

        IMO it’s so good atm people are desperate for it to be perfect, and complain more.

        My personal complaint is I needed two phones and a laptop to have a driver tracker and a full timing list with sectors.

        1. that is indeed a stupid problem that FOM really needs to solve @lockup – even if you pay, it still isn’t easy to get all information in a good format in one place.

      2. It never happens in the race, though does it? Drivers seldom spin unless it’s wet. Just goes to show how conservatively they all drive during the race.

  17. Fernando Alonso given a 25 place grid penalty? There’s not that many cars!

    F1 needs to seriously look at the penalty system. It seems to me that these regulations are designed to make it harder for a team in trouble to start recovering.

    I agree penalties should be given for excessive engine changes, but 25 places is just idiotic.

  18. Maybe less talking Ferrari would be nice. They always get it wrong thinking they are with Merc haha.

  19. I don’t understand the issue with people complaining about the Merc drivers securing a 1,2 despite spinning out. These are two highly competitive drivers trying to eke out the very last drop of performance from their cars during a qualifying session.
    They were not cruising around, but trying to push each other till the very last corner. And after all, they both did better than anyone else on their earlier Q3 runs. Best car or not, they deserve their respective positions.

    1. +1! It’s not that they spun and still set their fastest time on the same lap. There’s a difference!

    2. People complain because they want to see THEIR OWN drivers winning – not Hamilton or Rosberg.

      So, they will use any excuse to bash the state of F1.

      Simple as that!

      1. Some of us just prefer to see good competition where mistakes are punished.
        The track was clearly getting faster and no one was up on the Merc cars in the final runs. i.e Merc cars can still beat the field by 3 tenths on a slower track so mistakes by their drivers at critical moments are not punishable in the same way as it would have been for other cars.
        As I said before, only Merc fans think that F1 is in a good state.

      2. +1billion – drives me nuts!!

    3. I don’t understand the issue with people complaining about the Merc drivers securing a 1,2 despite spinning out.

      You don’t understand people objecting to the Merc being so hugely dominant that even when its drivers screw up, they still qualify first and second?

      Best car or not, they deserve their respective positions.

      And you base that claim on what, exactly?

      1. You don’t understand people objecting to the Merc being so hugely dominant that even when its drivers screw up, they still qualify first and second?

        Because they qualify not on the lap where they screw up. Because they push hard in the first run and push even harder on 2nd run when they both ultimately failed. That’s racing spirit that I want to see in F1 drivers.

        And you base that claim on what, exactly?

        On they both getting there by posting a time faster than last year pole time. On 1st run. On damp track. To give you some perspective: Massa, the guy on pole last year, posting a lap that 0.4s slower that his lap last year.

        1. On they both getting there by posting a time faster than last year pole time.

          Yes, I’m sure that’s all attributable to the massive skill of Hamilton and Rosberg and has nothing at all to do with the car they’re driving.

          I’ve been following F1 since 2000. I’ve seen dominant cars before, if never any as dominant as the current era Mercedes. What I find odd about the current era is that we’re witnessing cars at least as dominant as any in F1 history, and yet people who just a few years back were complaining long and loud about “boring dominance” are now telling me they see nothing unusual.

          1. So you are telling me Hamilton has no skill? Did he not prove enough before? It is not like 2 Rosberg caliber non wc are driving tis thing and dominating a WC is dominating.

          2. Jean-Christophe
            20th June 2015, 19:06

            The car is good because they did a great job. Full stop. They should be praised for that. When was the last time Hussain Bolt lost a race? How many did Michael Johnson win? The guys worked their ass off to get the best car, the driver are pushing one another to the limit and we get childish comments like this. It only happens in F1.

          3. Are you serious? The Ferraris between 2000 and 2004 were even more dominant. In fact, they even had their own special tyres. Schumi was unchallenged with a subservient number two driver. Ifanything the RB of 2001 was just as dominant as last year’s Merc. Here’s a trick question- just what was the winning margin of the Red Bulls in 2011? What was the winning margin of the Merc’s last year? I am sure you will find those margins pretty similar/comparable.

            Of course, your driver Vettel should have made the most of today whne both Merc drivers screwed up. In fact Vettel cannot even beat Hamilton in inferior machinery regularly as Hamilton did countless times between 2010-2013 for pole. In fact Vettel/Webber failed to secure as many 1-2s and poles with similarly dominant cars in four years.

          4. *RBs of 2011.

          5. @davej

            In fact Vettel cannot even beat Hamilton in inferior machinery regularly as Hamilton did countless times between 2010-2013 for pole.

            Are you serious?
            2010- One pole
            2011- One pole, but had the car for more (mistakes costing him at Monaco, Hungary, Italy, Abu Dhabi for instance)
            2012- Not an inferior car on one lap pace, plus Red Bull were nowhere near dominant, as this was one of F1’s most competitive years ever
            2013- Not an inferior car on one lap pace

            Seriously davej, in trying to defend Lewis & Mercedes (which is understandable), you don’t half spout some nonsense.

          6. As I said, this year they do that time on 1st run on damp track compared to Massa’s time last year where he set it on final run on dry track. And Massa himself who also has improved car this year (compared to his Williams last year) only managed to set 0.4s slower lap time. That alone should be enough to show how hard Hamilton and Rosberg push themselves.

  20. Hamilton was 0.3s ahead of Vettel, yet the gap can be even bigger if Hamilton and Rosberg didn’t mess up their last laps.

    And keep in mind the lap times here are the lowest in the season, so on the average track the gap will be even bigger.

    My guess is on an average lap, with nobody making mistake, Ferrari is .6 behind Mercedes. Which means their 3 tokens upgrade didn’t really work as they expected

    1. i agree,nico and lewis final laps,without the mistakes,would have been even quicker for sure,being on fresh tyres.

    2. It’s not just the engine. Mercedes are beating everyone in the corners. Thats why the Mercedes powered cars of Williams, Lotus and Force India can’t match them.

      1. When you have so much power you can afford to run more downforce than other cars who have to run less rear wing to get more speed on the straights.

        1. pastaman (@)
          20th June 2015, 15:47

          Yes, but what’s the excuse if you have the same engine?

          1. When was the last time a customer team beat a factory team in the championship?

          2. Alex McFarlane
            21st June 2015, 11:48

            Same engine, different software. Another reason why the manufacturers have an edge over customer teams.

  21. Definetely one of the best qualifying ever. It’s rare to see circumstances when both men (Hamilton and Rosberg) feels its their to lose. And lose they both did, by the pressure. Hamilton got it wrong since practice until Q2. He finally nail it on 1st banker lap but he sure know Rosberg is still a big threat. Rosberg himself probably quite shocked when he see Hamilton suddenly got lot improvement and surpassing him in Q3. So, the pressure is on for both of them. Hamilton probably feels he can’t improve much more on sector 2 so he need to push hard in sector 1 and 3 and spun in 1st corner. Luckily Rosberg is ahead of him, but that means he also don’t know Hamilton spun and have a good reason to think that Hamilton will improve, so he had to keep pushing all the way, and lost it in final turn. So I guess the real winner is the pressure :)

    1. Even if Rosberg had known that Hamilton had spun off, he still would’ve needed to push – at the end of the second sector he was only about half a tenth up on Hamilton’s time – he needed to push in sector 3 or he might not have beaten Hamilton’s banker lap anyway.

      1. Yes. That’s why this is such a great qualifying. Especially if you in Rosberg position who arguably has been dominated so far this season, and this is the weekend when you performed consistently better since practice. You definitely want to get that pole to start your momentum. I’m sure that’s why he looked so gutted when walking back to the pits.

  22. Kimi would start at P14, thanks to penalties of RBRs and McLarens. Its not as bad as it looks.

    1. Yes it is, ridiculous job from him.
      He should be on the first or second row.

  23. looks like RB10 + Ric was unique combination.

    1. @antoine-de-paris

      Apparently the chassis wasn’t the problem…

    2. Ya, that one is really baffling me at the moment. I wonder if RBR are going too aggressive with DR’s setups and trying too many new things while Kvyat is setting into steady setup.

    3. If Kvyat’s car was having as many problems as Vettel’s did last year, Dan would still look good by comparison. The unique thing about Ric + RB10 was that the engine in Ric’s RB10, unlike every other Renault engine on the grid, worked very reliably.

  24. Looks like Hamilton’s spin was probably caused by having one of his rear wheels on the wet white paint:
    Video
    Picture

    1. @polo That was what I thought, and I was very surprised that nobody, not even the sky commentators, had picked up on that.

    2. Yes, I thought the same when I watched the slow-mo. I was surprised Jonny Herbert didn’t pick it up.

      My own opinion is that the Merc engine is too powerful for the chassis – the opposite of the RBR.

      On the Merc bashing front, are the people who complain today that Merc got a 1-2 despite spinning the same people who will complain tomorrow about fuel saving and tyre management?If you don’t go off occassionally – especially on a damp track – then, in my opinion, you are not trying hard enough ;-)

    3. Dude…THe tyre is barely half a centimeter on the line lol. That is so far from the contact patch of the tyre. Not enough to cause the spin. The comentators arent idiots.

  25. Nasr again showing a good performance.
    Sauber already is not enough for him.
    Very good driver.

  26. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
    20th June 2015, 15:14

    @xtwl @keithcollantine do Merc boys have to use those (already quite flatted) tyres they used during the spins at the start?

    1. They start the race with the tires they set their Q2 time with, which I think was odd when it was introduced. Since Q3s get an extra set for it there is no danger of the ‘old’ days of some teams not doing any running in Q3 to save tires.

      1. Its more to prevent teams that “lucky enough” to get into Q3 effectively forfeiting their run by just going out then come back in again without setting a time like McLaren used to do last year. It bad for the show when only 4-6 cars trying to set best time in what should be the final and most important part of qualifying.

      1. @xtwl look at who is tagged next to you. The man is keeping you as a source of right information. You should be proud :)

        Am i right @omarr-pepper ;)

        1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
          20th June 2015, 21:18

          @evered7 yep, I usually tag keith or some of the friends here who are usually accurate on comments / stats (such as andae23 or fer-no65 too!). Now I’ll keep your name in mind as well evered!

          1. @omarr-pepper My pleasure and privilige.

  27. Looks like Kimi is over at Ferrari. The scramble for his seat will make the second half of the season interesting. Ricciardo is said to be in a watertight contract for next year, so who could it be? I can’t believe how massively Alonso has ballsed his career up.

    1. before we sing the praises of Ricciardo, his performance has been as dismal in the last few races as Kimi’s. It’s one of the reasons Ferrari waits on drivers over a period of time – to see how well they perform year after year, not just based on one great year, or one poor year. Hulkenberg is currently one of the more consistent drivers year after year – and the win at Le Mans certainly looks good on his CV (and Ferrari has a rich Le Mans history).

      1. @uan Ideally it should be Hulkenberg in my opinion, but who knows.

        But I cannot see Kimi being there any longer. He has had is time, sad as I am to say it. Today was a disgrace.

  28. At least today we won´t have anyone calling it a Monaco..

  29. The Merc qualifying has been pretty well covered.

    Turning further down the grid, Bottas again unimpresses in qualifying.

    Seems Ricciardo needs to focus a bit less on being a “champion who never was” and focus a bit more on the task at hand, including beating his teammate (I mean, isn’t that the ultimate motivation for a driver?). He was last of the RB/TR drivers. It looks like Kvyat is kicking up his game after getting an earful from Marko.

    1. @uan Too bad the hype came crashing down so quickly. Fella was on cloud nine after beating Vettel last year.

      But now needs a chassis change and yet gets whipped by Kvyat in qualifying. Poor guy. Maybe a jump to Williams will help.

      1. @evered7

        He’s fortunate he beat Vettel last year, it certainly upped his stock. It helped that he was ultra motivated as well for any hint of a podium – he picked up some wins by being in the right place at the right time. But we have a saying in the US. There’s a difference between being born on 3rd pace and hitting a triple.

        I think the only difference between him and Vettel last year was Vettel didn’t quite have a handle on the rear tires. This year the rears are more durable.

        I would give him until Hungary before turning from gentle ribbing to deeper questioning. But for a driver who many want to rate among the top 3 in the sport (including Alonso – though that might be more a dig at Vettel), he needs to raise his game. I do think he’s a little distracted and that can definitely take a couple tenths off a driver’s performance.

        1. @uan He certainly was in the right place at the right time and being upgraded from a midfield car to a front runner in Downforce certainly helped I suppose. He had the pace last season no doubting that but top3 was a bit OTT.

          It is strange that he is suffering in the second season of the formula. I thought he would have adapted to all the intricacies of the car by now and would know its strengths and weaknesses to exploit.

          Kvyat is coming back strong after a less than brilliant start though.

          A lot of people used it

          1. Well it’s quite easy to explain really. RIC was bumped up from Toro Rosso last year. For him the Red Bull must have been one big fat wet dream. No matter how bad the engine was, everything about the car was way better than anything he’d ever experienced. To him the RB10 would have felt like the pinnacle of racing cars. For Vettel on the other hand it was one big massive downgrade, in about every aspect possible.
            Add to that the difference in motivation: RIC longing to prove himself against his almighty Teammate and ready to scrape together every point and podium that came his way, while Vettel knew from the very first day of testing (or even before that) that there was just about no chance of him fighting for a WDC as he had done the previous five years. Maybe there were more important things around, like becoming a father or seeing your fatherly friend turned into a pitiful vegetable.
            It’s easy to see how VET might not have been quite as determined about the 2014 season as he was in previous years.
            And there is a certain analogy to RIC and KVY in 2015.
            As tough as the going might seem at Red Bull this year, KVY is probably pretty happy because for him it’s all nonetheless a big improvement and a huge step forward.
            All he wants to do right now is compare well to his teammate who recently beat a four time WDC.
            And if he can actually beat his teammate he’ll more or less be a made man in f1. How’s that for motivation?
            Meanwhile RIC is deeply disappointed with this years car as a whole, the engine is worse than last year, and apparently the chassis itself isn’t up to scratch either. Instead of becoming a championship contender he’s qualifying behind the Toro Rossos at the moment.
            However, now is the time to see if RIC can take on the challenge and get his priorities back in order or else he might risk wasting all that reputation he got out of last year. I wish him the best!

          2. @MH Well Ricciardo can’t lose motivation in one year. And Vettel came off a scintillating season in 2013 to being nowhere in 2014. Maybe the lack of motivation is understandable for Vettel but not so for Ricciardo.

            It is time for him to show that he can be a leader in the team. Not be on the good times bandwagon.

  30. If you doubted that there was a de facto number one in the World Eric team, you only had to see Toto and Niki laughing after Roberg spun out.

    The tantrums worked last year and they continue to do so.

    1. they laughed because it was straight after lewis spun.very unique,crazy situation.they still got the 1-2,so why not laugh about it.i laughed too.

    2. They laughed because they’d bust been guaranteed a 1-2. Vettel just crossed the line and didn’t split the two drivers. No one else could improve due to yellows. Nico didn’t hit the wall so no real harm done. Why not have a good laugh at that ?

  31. i like that title!!

  32. so the mistake apparently wasnt lewis fault afterall “The spin I am not 100 per cent, I thought I had made a mistake into Turn One, but I’ve just been with the engineers and it doesn’t look like it so we are now investigating to try and understand it,” Hamilton said.

    “So that is comforting for me as I was angry at myself, but it is a combination of things.

    “I thought I had just braked too hard really, but I braked the same as I did on the previous run. When I had the spin here last year it was immediately when I hit the brakes, but this one the car was slowing down and perhaps with the gearshift the rears just locked completely.

    “It was pretty strange so they are going to look into it and I am sure we will get to the bottom of it.”

    1. Interesting.

    2. It didn’t look quite right to be just a mistake. Scary if he goes into the race before they get to the bottom of it.

  33. Interesting qualyfying session.Hamilton seems to be out of touch the whole weekend untill q3.but he produced a banker lap when needed that stunned everyone especially Rosberg and Ferrari garage as they fancied a chance to split the mercs.great show by both merc drivers.They both produced good laps before the final run.They may or may not improve but the spin shows the highly competetivness of the duo.good laps by hulk and massa too.

  34. So Hamilton keeps spinning all the way in practice and then spins once again in Q3 after setting provisional pole? Something fishy there :)

    1. Wasn’t this his first spin of the weekend ?

  35. I love this track! On the surface it seems fairly easy, but it can be quite tricky. There are no perfect laps from any driver, only laps with the least mistakes. Especially after the rains. Yes the track was drying but it was quite green. Nearly every driver has been caught out at some point this weekend so far. Expecting more moments like this in the race tomorrow.

  36. Mark in Florida
    21st June 2015, 2:05

    Tomorrows race, Lewis wins Rosberg cries and Vettle comes in third. Think I’ll probably watch something else.

    1. Mark in Florida – Please do give us some more predictions :)

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