Championship leader Nico Rosberg claimed his ninth career pole position at Hockenheim while his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered a right-front brake failure, resulting in an early exit in qualifying.
With Hamilton out, Rosberg’s main threat for pole position honours came from Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.
After setting the pace on the first runs in Q3, Rosberg was unable to improve his time on his second run thanks to a slow first sector.
Despite Bottas going quickest in the middle sector, the Williams driver ended up 0.219 seconds slower.
As for Hamilton, the crash happened during Q1 when he locked up and went off at the Sachskurve after suffering what Mercedes confirmed was a right-front brake disc failure, forcing the session to be red-flagged.
The British Grand Prix winner was transferred to the medical centre complaining of pain in his knees, with the team subsequently reporting that he was “Okay, but sore after the crash”.
Although he had already set a lap time to make into Q2, Hamilton was unable to take any further part in the session so was classified P16.
Felipe Massa was third quickest for Williams, three tenths slower than team-mate Bottas, with Kevin Magnussen a superb fourth for McLaren.
Daniel Ricciardo again outqualified Sebastian Vettel, putting in a strong lap on his one remaining set of super-soft Pirellis in Q3 to beat his four-time world champion by three tenths.
Fernando Alonso was seventh, ahead of another star rookie, Daniil Kvyat, with Force India pairing Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez ninth and tenth.
Jenson Button failed to make Q3 after being relegated to P11 by Perez in the final seconds of Q2.
The 2009 world champion will join his fellow title winner Kimi Raikkonen, who was four tenths off Ferrari team-mate Alonso.
Jean-Eric Vergne was P13 after a late effort in Q2, which included a wild oversteer moment at the exit of the final corner, ahead of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
But Gutierrez must serve a three-place grid penalty for his clash with Pastor Maldonado at Silverstone, meaning he will start in P18, meaning Hamilton’s P16 will put him one position higher on the German Grand Prix grid.
Adrian Sutil was the fastest of the six who failed to reach Q2 after being bumped down to P17 by Grosjean late in the first segment of qualifying, with his run on super-soft Pirelli interrupted by the red flag thrown for Hamilton’s accident.
Jules Bianchi was the faster of the Marussias, around half-a-second slower than the Sauber, with Pastor Maldonado P19 for Lotus.
Kamui Kobayashi pipped Max Chilton to P20, but his Caterham team-mate Marcus Ericsson was unable to take part at all thanks to a hydraulic leak.
So a great week for Nico Rosberg. Got married, witness Germany winning the World Cup, signing a new Formula 1 contract with Mercedes and now pole position at Hockenheim.
As for Lewis Hamilton, he will be charging through the field on race day to make up lost ground on his team-mate and title rival.
Qualifying positions, Hockenheim:
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m16.540s
2. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m16.759s
3. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m17.078s
4. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m17.214s
5. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m17.273s
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m17.577s
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m17.649s
8. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m17.965s
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m18.014s
10. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m18.035s
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m18.193s
12. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m18.273s
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m18.285s
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m18.983s
15. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes no time
16. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m19.142s
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.787s*
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m19.676s
19. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m20.195s
20. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m20.408s
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m20.489s
22. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault no time**
107% time: 1m23.065s
*Three-place penalty for causing a collision
**Did not set a time within 107% of the fastest in Q1, requires a dispensation to start the race
The cause of Lewis Hamilton crash was a failure with the right front brake disc according to Mercedes. Autosport.com has the details.
The Mercedes Formula 1 team has revealed that a right front brake disc failure caused Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying crash at the German Grand Prix.
The Briton spun at the Sachskurve during the first session of qualifying, hitting the barriers hard and damaging his Mercedes car.
After telling his team over the radio that he suspected a brake problem had been to blame for the crash, a Mercedes investigation confirmed that Hamilton lost control of his car due to a right front brake disc failure.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff revealed later on that the brake disc had just been fitted to the car for qualifying.
Hamilton was taken to the medical centre after the crash, having complained of hurting his knees, but was given the all clear by doctors.
Mercedes said: “He’s OK but sore from the crash.”
Hamilton will start 15th for the German Grand Prix.
Despite being two tenths off pole position set by championship leader Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas admitted post-qualifying that Mercedes was out of reach. Autosport.com has the news story.
Williams driver Valtteri Bottas believes Mercedes was still too fast to outqualify on merit as he and team-mate Felipe Massa took second and third in German Grand Prix qualifying.
Bottas was pole-winner Nico Rosberg’s closest rival in both Q2 and Q3, but was two tenths adrift in both segments.
“We must again be really happy with the result we got today as a team,” said Bottas, who also started on the front row in Austria two races ago and is hunting for a third straight Formula 1 podium in Sunday’s race.
“I think Mercedes is still ahead. The lap I had at the end had no mistakes and was a really good lap, so I got the most out of the car today.
“It feels really good to be part of this team as we are really going in the right way. We are still focusing to get better and better, and we’ll try to do a perfect job and get maximum points tomorrow.”
Massa trailed Bottas by three tenths of a second in Hockenheim qualifying and admitted he had found a tough to do a flawless lap.
“I was struggling to put the lap together – I had some movement from the tyres and was not able to have a perfect car and put the perfect sectors together,” said the Brazilian.
“The car was not 100 per cent perfect in terms of set-up and Valtteri did a very good lap. But I’m still quite happy with the result and in the race the conditions and feeling are different.”
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel believes the Renault upgrades have been underwhelming. Autosport.com has the details.
Sebastian Vettel believes Renault’s software upgrades failed to provide the boost Red Bull needed in German Grand Prix qualifying.
Formula 1’s reigning champion team was optimistic that its engine supplier’s new package would help bring it closer to Mercedes at Hockenheim, but instead Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel ended up on row three in qualifying – beaten by both Williams and the McLaren of Kevin Magnussen.
Asked if the new Renault software had not worked, Vettel replied: “I don’t think as much as we were hoping for.
“We had an update on the car, but it didn’t bring us as much as it was supposed to.”
Ricciardo was more positive about Renault’s upgrades, suggesting the problem was more the pace of Mercedes’ improvement.
“I think we are getting a bit out of it – our speedtrap stuff is not as bad as it has been in previous races, so we are getting a bit out of it,” he insisted.
“But Mercedes is still improving. They came out of the box strong but it is not like they will rest there, they will keep finding improvements, so we need to double that just to see some results really.”
The Australian ended up outqualifying Vettel by three tenths of a second despite trailing him through Q1 and Q2.
Vettel put this down to a poor final lap on his part.
“I think it was generally better than this morning, I was fairly happy,” he said.
“On the last run we just didn’t seem able to be able to go with the track, I didn’t get a smooth lap and didn’t improve.”
Ricciardo reckoned he had improved through qualifying as well.
“Throughout qualifying I was not too comfortable, struggling a little bit, and I knew I had to pull something out in Q3,” he said.
“We tweaked the wing a little bit and tried different tyre pressures and it gave me a bit more confidence to get a few more tenths out of it.”
Fernando Alonso wants cooler track conditions on race day in the hope of improving Ferrari’s form. Autosport.com has the news story.
The Ferrari Formula 1 team is banking on cooler temperatures in order to improve its form at the German Grand Prix, according to Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard qualified seventh for the Scuderia at Hockenheim, helped by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton crashing out in Q1 after a brake disc failure, and Jenson Button failing to make Q3 in the improved McLaren.
Alonso said the F14 T struggles over longer runs in extreme heat, so expects to slip back in tomorrow’s race unless the weather cools off.
“Cooler temperatures this year seem to have an effect on us being a little bit more competitive,” Alonso said.
“We have a lot of tyre degradation, especially at the rear because we spin the tyres with the lack of downforce.
“When it’s hot this effect is a little bit bigger.
“I think in qualifying with the new tyres you mask some of the problems with the grip of the tyres, so I expect tomorrow to be a little bit tougher than the performance we showed today.”
Team-mate Raikkonen ended up down in 12th after a mistake on his final run in the second segment of qualifying.
The Finn said a water pump problem during Friday practice, followed by a fuel pressure problem in Saturday’s final practice session, had made things more difficult.
“I took the second set [of tyres] and for some reason I lost the rear end at Turn 2 and lost a lot of time and it was difficult to gain back after that,” Raikkonen explained.
“I just couldn’t put the lap down but the car felt pretty okay.
“We had problems yesterday morning and problems this morning so that doesn’t help.”
Lewis Hamilton looks set to be forced to start from the pitlane for the German Grand Prix, with Mercedes choosing to switch brake disc supplier following his qualifying crash.
The Briton had switched to Brembo discs on Saturday morning, but suffered a failure during Q1 on Saturday which pitched him in to the barriers at the Sachskurve.
With Mercedes aware that time is too short to guarantee that there will not be any more problems in the race, it has decided to revert Hamilton to Carbone Industrie discs for the race.
With the change of brake disc specification being a breach of parc ferme rules, it looks likely that Hamilton will be forced to start from the pitlane.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said after qualifying that the German car manufacturer was speaking to the FIA about the situation, as it hoped Hamilton could still start on the grid because the change was only being made on safety grounds.
“We have had a brake failure which means we are obliged to make sure that the car is running safe tomorrow,” said Wolff. “That means switching the brakes supplier.
“If this results in starting from the pitlane is not yet discussed, and we have not yet brought the decision on that. But we are discussing that with the FIA.
“And I would even go further: obviously many teams are running that brake material so that safety discussion probably needs to be extended.”
Mercedes was still not sure whether or not Hamilton would require a gearbox change for Hamilton as well, which would drop him five places anyway.
Hamilton, who frequently switches between different brake disc suppliers, said his decision to switch from Carbone Industrie to Brembo was based on feel.
“You can choose the brake that perhaps doesn’t bite as much at the beginning but has more bite later on, has less fade,” he said.
“In these temperatures there can be fade on some brakes – I chose these ones because they have more stopping power which means I can brake later.”
Wolff denied that Hamilton’s switch of brake discs was a gamble in safety terms, because Brembo actually appeared to be the more conservative supplier.
“Brembo had a failure earlier in the year, and they upgraded the discs to what is supposedly the safest disc,” explained Wolff.
“They put a lot of research in to the carbon disc so there was no gamble whatsoever. It was just a matter of what suits your driving style.
“Both of them have been trying both brake materials every weekend, or almost every weekend.”
Source: Autosport.com
Lewis Hamilton’s German Grand Prix qualifying crash put Formula One’s brake suppliers in the spotlight on Saturday after Mercedes raised safety concerns about the discs used by the Briton.
The incident also showed how sensitive individual drivers are to subtle differences in rival products and how much chopping and changing goes on behind the scenes over a race weekend.
Mercedes blamed Hamilton’s accident on the failure of a new right front brake disc manufactured by Italian company Brembo.
The Briton’s team mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg, who qualified on pole, was using different front discs after opting for a type supplied by French manufacturer Carbon Industrie.
Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff said it was normal practice for drivers to switch between suppliers according to circuit characteristics and their individual styles of driving.
“They play around all weekend with it,” he said.
However, he also indicated Hamilton would have to change to the same brand as Rosberg for Sunday’s race as a precaution because there was insufficient time for Brembo to carry out technical checks.
Wolff said Mercedes had suffered a similar Brembo failure in testing in Barcelona earlier in the year on Rosberg’s car, after which the supplier had upgraded the product.
The Austrian suggested the fresh failure, which left Hamilton unhurt but facing a hard drive through the field on Sunday, could have implications for rival teams.
“We have had a brake failure which means we are obliged to make sure the car runs safely on Sunday,” he said. “Many teams run that brake material, so that safety discussion maybe needs to be extended.”
Hamilton said he had used discs from all three Formula One suppliers – the other being U.S.-based Hitco – in his time and preferred the Brembo ones because they suited his more aggressive style.
“There’s so many different brake materials around and when you hit the brake pedal you want to have a lot of bite,” he explained. “You want to make sure that when you do hit them (the brakes), and you hit them hard, they have as much stopping power as possible without locking up.
“From circuit to circuit, whether the track’s really grippy or not, you can actually choose the brake that perhaps doesn’t bite as much at the beginning but has more bite later on, or has less fade,” he added.
“I chose these ones because they had more stopping power which means I can brake later.”
Rosberg told reporters the car’s brakes were one of the areas he had not been 100 percent happy with and he had experimented with different kinds this season.
“It’s been an ongoing process,” he said. “Every other weekend trying different things, we try and do back-to-backs wherever possible of various things…and then I always go with what I feel most comfortable with.”
Rosberg said the difference between the brands was subtle but important.
“It’s a lot to do with feel and comfort, not absolute performance,” he said. “There’s also that, but a lot of it is comfort.”
Source: Reuters
Rob Smedley was impressed by the performance from Kevin Magnussen in which the McLaren driver qualified in fourth position. Autosport.com has the story.
Williams performance chief Rob Smedley says his team is watching out for McLaren after being impressed by Kevin Magnussen’s performance in qualifying for Formula 1’s German Grand Prix.
Magnussen qualified fourth for Sunday’s Hockenheim race – his best result since the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne.
Smedley, whose drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa qualified second and third, said Magnussen’s performance had caught his attention during the final part of the session.
“The midfield is very tight. If you look at what Kevin Magnussen did today it was very impressive – I was probably watching him more than I was watching our two cars in Q3!” Smedley said.
“It was energising for all the people down at McLaren.
“It’s a big team that you have to pay a lot of respect to, that can come back at you very, very quickly.”
McLaren upgraded its car for Germany, including a new rear wing, and the team’s racing director Eric Boullier said Magnussen had benefited from this, the removal of FRIC suspension, and the constant improvement it has made across the season.
“Every race we bring a couple of tenths and the package has started to work,” Boullier explained.
“Silverstone was a little bit more optimistic thanks to the weather, but already the car was delivering something better.
“If you look back over Canada and Austria maybe you didn’t see so much, but all these races we keep bringing parts and downforce, and coming back to a normal track layout you just step up a couple of positions.
“[Also] our FRIC system was not as extreme as maybe some other teams.”
Magnussen felt he got the most out of the improved MP4-29 and said he enjoyed driving the car in qualifying.
“Today the car felt very good – I really was able to push and really drive it like a go-kart,” he said.
“It has felt good before, but today I think the new bits on the car worked and we got the most out of it.”
Magnussen’s team-mate Jenson Button failed to make Q3 by just over three hundredths of a second, but the 2009 world champion did not feel he could have matched the Dane’s pace, even if he had enjoyed a cleaner run.
“I’ve struggled most of this weekend to find a balance,” Button explained.
“A lot of it was to do with braking. We changed the car quite a bit for qualifying and it was much better, but obviously it’s very late in the day to start making big changes, so we couldn’t tweak it through qualifying.
“I think we could have got into the top 10 – I had traffic from [Romain] Grosjean in the last sector that cost me a couple of tenths – but I don’t think I would have had Kevin’s pace.”
Championship leader Nico Rosberg admits that his front row start alongside Valtteri Bottas made him feel half Finnish. Autosport.com has the details.
After declaring himself “100 percent German” heading into his home German Grand Prix, Mercedes’ Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg was happy to be called half-Finnish on Saturday.
The son of Finland’s 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg took pole position at Hockenheim with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas alongside for Williams.
It was, declared veteran Finnish reporter Heikki Kulta, the first time two Finnish drivers had qualified together on the front row in Formula One.
Asked whether he agreed, Rosberg smiled at the journalistic spin and replied: “Yes, I agree.”
When the reporter returned to the theme later, the German clarified his position – while happy to go along with the spirit.
“You’re going for it today,” grinned the 29-year-old, who has been celebrating Germany’s World Cup soccer win all week. “For you, I am half Finnish. But just for you. And for the fans in Finland.
“And it’s one and a half Finns on the front row. Which is also a record. So it’s a historic day. And I hope the Finns can be really proud.”
Rosberg, who was born in Wiesbaden to a German mother but grew up in Monaco, made his original comment about being 100 percent German after British team mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton jokingly suggested Hockenheim was not a home race.
Finland has had three F1 world champions – Rosberg senior, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen.
Double world champion Hakkinen retired in 2001, before 2007 champion Raikkonen had made his first front row appearance as his McLaren replacement.
Heikki Kovalainen was also a race winner for McLaren in 2008 but never shared a front row with Raikkonen.
Romain Grosjean has no doubts that Lotus has been hurt by being forced to remove its FRIC suspension system for this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
With Lotus – then running as Renault – having pioneered the return of interconnected suspension to Formula 1 in 2008, the team was one of the outfits most likely to feel its loss.
Amid a particularly difficult weekend for the team, with Grosjean due to start 14th, the Frenchman is clear that Lotus has suffered more than others.
When asked by AUTOSPORT if the team’s difficulties in Germany could be explained by having no FRIC, Grosjean said: “Let’s put it this way – Lotus has been using it for longer than other teams. So yes.
“It is seven or eight years that we used it on the car, so all developments have been made around specific ride heights and where the floor should be.
“So if you remove the FRIC you have to raise the ride height and you get out of the window. So it did cost us quite a bit.
“The car is not undriveable, it is quite nice to drive, but we miss some downforce.”
Teams have had less than a fortnight’s warning about the potential loss of FRIC, so there has not been scope for dramatic car redevelopment yet to recover any losses.
Grosjean thinks that it may well take weeks for Lotus to get on top of its latest troubles.
“I don’t think it will be for Hungary,” he said. “It is very difficult for us, but on the other hand it could be positive as we find a new way to improve the car, to improve the aero around the new design.
“So it will take time. We need to get in the windtunnel to work around those areas, and CFD, and see what we can do. But on the other hand it could find us some solutions to our problems.”
Source: Autosport.com