Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/349229
50 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 JULY 2014 Sport (+356) 800 737 70 Freephone: cabs t minivans t vip transport t luxury coaches t vintage buses 2138 9575 / 9921 5286 info@cabs.com.mt w w w . c a b s . c o m . m t FORMULA 1 Rosberg on pole as Hamilton crashes out NICO Rosberg gave the home fans exactly what they wanted as he raced to pole position in Germany on Sat- urday afternoon, but Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton had another miserable qualifying session, crash- ing out in Q1 when his right-front brake disc failed entering the Sach- skurve. Behind Rosberg, Williams claimed second and third with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, whilst McLaren's Kevin Magnussen and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five. By the time Q1 got underway the track temperature was already way higher than the 47 degrees Celsius from FP3, nudging 55 and getting closer to the 58 seen in FP2. That made it almost certain that error- free, single-lap runs on the supersoft Pirellis were at a premium. Despite that, Rosberg, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Lotus's Pastor Maldonado and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat all had off- track moments during the session. Of course, Hamilton's accident was the big news of Q1, occurring just after the Briton had set the second fastest time and then a pair of purple sectors on his next flying lap. A puff of smoke from the right-front tyre was just visible before the Mercedes snapped into a spin under braking. Hamilton, who was shaken but unin- jured in the accident, reported over the radio that something had failed as he'd hit the brakes. After a brief red-flag period while Hamilton's stricken car was recov- ered, the session resumed with Ros- berg immediately beating Bottas's 1m 18.215s to go fastest with 1m 17.631s, to the intense relief of the Mercedes chiefs. The German headed the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Vettel, as Bottas starred as the only drive to set his time on soft rubber. Further back, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg just squeaked into Q2 ahead of Sauber's Adrian Sutil, with 1m 18.927s to 1m 19.142s. Jules Bianchi was 18th for Marussia on 1m 19.676s, then came Pastor Maldonado's Lotus on 1m 20.195s, Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham on 1m 20.408s and Max Chilton's Marussia on 1m 20.489s. Marcus Ericsson didn't make it out as Caterham were unable to repair his car after a hydraulic leak from the throttle. Q2 began in 56 degree track heat with Rosberg setting the fastest time with 1m 17.109s. However, the Williams duo of Bottas and Massa were right behind him, the Finn managing 1m 17.353s on fresh su- persofts and on a similar set Massa improved on his previous time on worn rubber to lap in 1m 17.370s. It was a torrid session for McLaren's Jenson Button, who seemed to have done enough for 10th with 1m 18.193, only to be pushed down to 11th at the last mo- ment when Sergio Perez improved to 1m 18.161s for Force India. Behind Button, Kimi Raikkonen also failed to get through with 1m 18.273s in his Ferrari, as did Jean- Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso on 1m 18.285s, Esteban Gutierrez on 1m 18.787s in the lead Sauber and Ro- main Grosjean in the lead Lotus on 1m 18.983s. Hamilton, of course, did not run. The track temperature had si- dled up to 57 degrees as Q3 got underway, and once again it was Rosberg who came to the fore in his first run to secure pole position with 1m 16.540s. Bottas's response was 1m 17.057s as Massa managed 1m 17.340s. Both Williams drivers im- proved on their second runs, Bottas to a superb 1m 16.759s, Massa to 1m 17.078s, but though Rosberg didn't go quicker on his final run, his 1m 16.752s nevertheless just topped the Finn. Right at the end Kevin Magnussen jumped his McLaren up to fourth on 1m 17.214s, leaving Ricciardo to beat Vettel yet again; the Australian im- proved to 1m 17.273s, but the reign- ing champion didn't enhance his first-run 1m 17.577s. Fernando Alonso had to make do with seventh on 1m 17.649s for Fer- rari, which left him ahead of the continuously impressive Kvyat on 1m 17.965s. That left the Force In- dias on row five as Hulkenberg just pipped Sergo Perez, 1m 18.014s to 1m 18.035s. Taking into account Gutierrez's three-place penalty from Silver- stone, the grid will line up thus: Rosberg, Bottas; Massa, Magnus- sen; Ricciardo, Vettel; Alonso, Kvyat; Hulkenberg, Perez; Button, Raik- konen; Vergne, Grosjean; Hamilton, Sutil; Gutierrez, Bianchi; Maldona- do, Kobayashi; Chilton, Ericsson. (L to R): Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams, pole sitter Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 and Felipe Massa (BRA) Williams FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2014 Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.631 1:17.109 1:16.540 17 2 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:18.215 1:17.353 1:16.759 15 3 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:18.381 1:17.370 1:17.078 21 4 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.260 1:17.788 1:17.214 17 5 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:18.117 1:17.855 1:17.273 19 6 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:18.194 1:17.646 1:17.577 16 7 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:18.389 1:17.866 1:17.649 19 8 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:18.530 1:18.103 1:17.965 22 9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:18.927 1:18.017 1:18.014 21 10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:18.916 1:18.161 1:18.035 21 11 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.425 1:18.193 15 12 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.534 1:18.273 13 13 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:18.496 1:18.285 14 14 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.739 1:18.787 14 15 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:18.894 1:18.983 14 16 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.683 5 17 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:19.142 8 18 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:19.676 8 19 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:20.195 7 20 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:20.408 7 21 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:20.489 9 DNS 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault Note - Gutierrez qualified P14, but drops three places for causing collision at previous round. Ericsson failed to meet 107% requirement - races at stewards' discretion