Qualy: Rosberg storms to pole in Germany

Nico Rosberg will start his home grand prix from pole position after beating Lewis Hamilton in Saturday’s qualifying at the Hockenheimring.

Mercedes were in unstoppable form on Saturday afternoon as Rosberg and Hamilton completed the 1-2 in all three segments, including Q1 where they were out on the soft Pirellis.

There was, however, a bit of drama when it came down to the pole position shoot-out as Rosberg, despite being quickest of all in the first sector, aborted his lap and pulled into the pits.

Hamilton posted a 1:14.486 to take provisional pole while Rosberg, without a time to his name, was the first driver to venture out for a second run.

The German went purple in the first two sectors to cross the line with a 1:14.363. Hamilton responded with 1:14.470, which was 0.107s short of Rosberg’s best as he had a minor lock up.

Daniel Ricciardo won Red Bull’s battle with Ferrari as he qualified in third place ahead of Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. They were separated by seven-tenths.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest in his home qualifying, finishing ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa.

An incident involving Massa and Carlos Sainz will be investigated after qualifying with the latter appearing to impede the Williams driver.

Times
1 Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.363
2 Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.470
3 Ricciardo Red Bull 1:14.726
4 Verstappen Red Bull 1:14.834
5 Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.142
6 Vettel Ferrari 1:15.315
7 Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.510
8 Bottas Williams 1:15.530
9 Perez Force India 1:15.537
10 Massa Williams 1:15.615
11 Gutierrez Haas 1:15.883
12 Button McLaren 1:15.909
13 Sainz Toro Rosso 1:15.989
14 Alonso McLaren 1:16.041
15 Grosjean Haas 1:16.086
16 Palmer Renault 1:16.665
17 Magnussen Renault 1:16.716
18 Wehrlein Manor 1:16.717
19 Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.876
20 Haryanto Manor 1:16.977
21 Nasr Sauber 1:17.123
22 Ericsson Sauber 1:17.238