Even as he tried to fall back on the ol' "I'm grateful to the team for giving me a great car, blah blah blah" mode, you could tell Rosberg was crushed under the weight of the 6/10th Hamilton bested him by in Melbourne.
In his first run in Q3 Rosberg had an issue in the second to last corner an had to abort the lap. From his reaction at the press conference one might suspect Rosberg blamed that on a technical issue rather than a driver mistake but, either way, he was never faster than Lewis all session.
Of course everyone else got squashed too, P3 Massa was 1.3 seconds down to Mercedes, still a huge gap and, considering Williams have a the same engine, a testament to Aldo Costa's chassis.
Real close at Ferrari: P4 and P5 with Vettel and Raikkonen only 3/100th apart, The fight between the two Williams and two Ferraris should be very entertaining tomorrow.
Red Bull struggled with engine issues (or is it software issues?) and were happy to be in Q3 at
all, at least with one car.
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And then there was McLaren, six seconds off the pace. It's entirely possible Manor would wave been faster had they been able to start their cars (a whole other ridiculous story).
It's hard to picture Alonso, putting down the selfie stick and showing up to race a car that would be lapped after 15 laps of so.
But, as they say in Italy: "You wanted the bicycle? Now pedal"
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.327s -
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.921s 0.594s
3 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m27.718s 1.391s
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m27.757s 1.430s
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m27.790s 1.463s
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m28.087s 1.760s
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m28.329s 2.002s
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Renault 1m28.510s 2.183s
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m28.560s 2.233s
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m29.480s 3.153s
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m28.800s -
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m28.868s -
13 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m29.070s -
14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m29.208s -
15 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m29.209s -
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m31.376s -
17 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m31.422s -
18 Kevin Magnussen McLaren/Honda 1m32.037s -
Didn't expect McLaren Honda to be quite so far behind.
ReplyDeleteI dont see Alonso being "cleared to race" until Honda can make atleast Q2....but in the meantime, for his own sense of self, I get that he may need the reaffirmation that comes from having big arms and pecs ! He is looking pretty damn ripped, Certianly Hamilton can't beat him in the gym!!
ReplyDelete...sorry just have to say.....good thing Ron stepped in to oust Whitmarsh, clearly he was the issue!! Lol !!
ReplyDeleteMcLaren and Honda bet in a new "way" or philosophy. Super tight package that evidently is not paying off.
ReplyDeleteLet's see if McLaren at the end of the season if they are competitive... I guess that is we can say if they really blowout...
Still I'm glad to see them there... let see if the have the $$$ and the character to bounce back.
And yeah an Ron... it should be retired long time ago.
Hamilton was extremely well... Rosberg was not happy to be beaten when it really counts, after building his confidence in previous FPs. Vettel, he was ripping it and so was Bottas. Kimi not 100% at ease yet (ever?) and Massa taking his time and building it up to deliver that final performance. Sainz, Nasr and even Verstappen had a very good show of speed. RBR are in serious trouble. At the moment, maybe even more than McLaren. To me Honda clearly are not wanting the cars to stop and abandon and dialing the engines down (partially admitted that), adding to it's already slow pace at the moment. RBR are actually trying their best. Wouldn't be too surprised if Button finished tomorrow, and in a "decent" place but I will definitely NOT put money on it! Most likely they will both be retired, before turning into a pair of moving fireplaces on track.
ReplyDelete.001 between HUL and PER
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Kimi looked pretty good today though I think he got closer because on his final run he was sickers while Vettel was on scuffs
ReplyDeletethere was an awesome Ron Speak moment on the Sky broadcast if you can find it...
ReplyDeleteI like this quick analysis of the all "champ up" teams presented by Hill.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/HsSfOuZPpIY