Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/576901
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2015 57 WILLIAMS were the Silver Ar- rows' biggest rivals, with Valtteri Bottas third and Felipe Massa fifth, split by the Ferrari of Se- bastian Vettel, whose team mate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth. Dan- iel Ricciardo was seventh for Red Bull, ahead of Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Force India's Sergio Perez. Kvyat ended up tenth after walk- ing away from the wreckage of his heavily-damaged RB11. The Rus- sian put a wheel on the grass on the run up to the hairpin and lost control, before hitting the barri- ers and barrel rolling to a halt. He will start Sunday's race from the pit lane, once his rebuilt car has been re-scrutineered. The action-packed session be- gan with Rosberg, who had com- plained of funny noises and feel- ings from his Singapore engine in FP3, reporting hesitations from it when he was leaving the garage in Q1. That didn't stop the Mercedes man from going quickly, however, albeit not quite as quickly as his team mate. It was Hamilton who set the pace as Mercedes stuck ex- clusively to the hard Pirelli tyres, the Briton lapping in 1m 33.595s and then 1m 32.844s. Rosberg was close, however, getting down to 1m 33.015s, but the best that Ferrari could do was Raikkonen's 1m 34.171s. A late problem for Max Ver- stappen ruined Sauber's hopes; the Toro Rosso driver lost power and stopped at an odd angle at the hairpin, and the resulting yellow f lags lost Marcus Ericsson - who had a hairy half spin at Spoon Curve earlier - his chance to go through. Verstappen was lat- terly penalised three grid places for parking his car in dangerous fashion. The other Sauber of Felipe Nasr also suffered as a result of the caution, as did Marussia's Alex- ander Rossi who will race at the stewards' discretion after failing to record a lap within the 107 per- cent Q1 time requirement. The man closest to the Q1 cut- off was McLaren's Jenson Button, who ended up 16th and under two-tenths back of team mate Fernando Alonso - the last man to make it into Q2. The Englishman was unhappy however: his crew suggested he'd lost his Q2 chance through the yellows, he said it was their fault for not informing him of the correct engine setting to use ahead of his final run. Ericsson ended up 17th, ahead of Nasr and the Marussias of Will Stevens and Rossi. Q2 saw Rosberg turn the tables to set the pace with 1m 33.632s from Hamilton on 1m 32.789s. The closest anyone else got was Raikkonen on 1m 33.361s, with Massa right behind his old team mate on 1m 33.377s for Williams. This time it was Nico Hulken- berg who led those who failed to make it through. The German occupied his habitual place of 11th with 1m 34.390s, ahead of Carlos Sainz on 1m 34.453s for Toro Rosso, Pastor Maldonado on 1m 34.497s for Lotus and Alonso on 1m 34.785s for McLaren. Ver- stappen didn't record a time after his earlier problem left his STR10 out on the track. Hulkenberg, of course, takes a three-place grid penalty for his clash with Massa in Singapore. Into Q3 and Rosberg and Ham- ilton were evenly matched on their first runs, with the Eng- lishman taking the fastest sector one time away from the German, but Rosberg got the nod with the best sector two and three times and thus recorded 1m 32.584s to Hamilton's 1m 32.660s after the latter locked up and ran wide at the hairpin. Everybody was getting ready for their final runs when Kvyat lost control of his Red Bull approach- ing to the hairpin, tearing off both wheels and f lipping before coming to rest. It was a very nasty looking accident, but the Russian was unharmed and got himself out of the car. However, with only 38s remaining, it was decided that the red-f lagged session would not be restarted. Thus, unless further penalties follow, the grid will provision- ally line up: Rosberg, Hamilton; Bottas, Vettel; Massa, Raikkonen; Ricciardo, Grosjean; Perez, Sainz; Maldonado, Alonso; Hulkenberg, Button; Ericsson, Nasr; Verstap- pen, Stevens; Rossi, Kvyat (pit lane start). Sport FORMULA 1 Qualifying: 2015 Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. N. Rosberg Mercedes 01:32.584 16 2. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:32.660 15 3. V. Bottas Williams 01:33.024 11 4. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:33.245 11 5. F. Massa Williams 01:33.337 12 6. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:33.347 10 7. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:33.497 17 8. R. Grosjean Lotus 01:33.967 19 9. S. Perez Force India no time 16 10. D. Kvyat Red Bull no time 15 11. N. Hulkenberg Force India 01:34.390 13 12. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:34.453 15 13. P. Maldonado Lotus 01:34.497 13 14. F. Alonso McLaren 01:34.785 8 15. M. Verstappen Toro Rosso no time 8 16. J. Button McLaren 01:35.664 6 17. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:35.673 5 18. F. Nasr Sauber 01:35.760 6 19. W. Stevens Manor 01:38.783 5 20. A. Rossi Manor 01:47.114 5 Rosberg on pole after Kvyat accident Yesterday's qualifying session at Suzuka finished in dramatic fashion after Daniil Kvyat crashed his Red Bull at the end of Q3, leaving Mercedes' Nico Rosberg on pole, less than a tenth of a second up on team mate Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg on pole for the Japan Grand Prix Horner confirms pit lane start for Kvyat RED Bull team boss Christian Horner has confirmed that Da- niil Kvyat will be forced to start Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix from the pit lane after his heavy qualifying crash. Kvyat lost control of his car in the closing stages of Q3 at Su- zuka after touching the grass through Turn 10, resulting in a sizeable impact with the barri- ers, and dramatic flip. Kvyat was later cleared of any injuries at the circuit's Medical Centre, but extensive repairs will mean that he has to start the race from the pits, rather than his original 10th-place grid slot. "The most important thing to- day is that Dany is alright after what was a very big accident in Q3," said Horner. "It's a testament to the strength of these cars and shows why safety is always our priority in this sport. "Clearly, we will have a very long night producing a car for him to race tomorrow. He will have to start from pit lane and has nothing to lose so he will be running an aggressive race." Daniel Ricciardo will start from seventh on the grid in the sister Red Bull.