Defending champion Lewis Hamilton has put himself in the best possible position for a race win on Sunday by qualifying ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg, but the gap between them was only two tenths of a second. Red Bull locked out the second row of the grid, a full half a second off the pace of the Mercedes pair.
Jenson Button dropped out in Q1, finishing in 19th place, after finding himself held up by Jolyon Palmer on their final flying laps. Both drivers were confused and annoyed by the situation but Palmer got through to Q2 and didn’t get a penalty, so probably had the better end of the bargain. Fernando Alonso did manage to get his McLaren through to the second session and qualified 12th overall just behind Sergio Pérez.
Pérez had to watch teammate Nico Hülkenberg sail into the top ten, with Force India picking up a seventh place grid slot ahead of both Williams drivers, who they are fighting with in the constructor’s championship.
Filed under F1Minute
References Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Jolyon Palmer, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg
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