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Lewis Hamilton scored his fourth pole position of the season by out-qualifying Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg’s 1:25.400 by two tenths off a second in today’s qualifying session in Barcelona.
Rosberg looked in much better shape today, coming on top in FP3 as well as during the first two legs of qualifying. However, when it mattered the most, Lewis Hamilton again had that slight edge over his teammate.
Daniel Ricciardo emerged on top in the battle for best of the rest with a lap time of 1:26.258. However, there were fewer smiling faces on the other side of the Red Bull garage with Sebastian Vettel having to pull his RB10 to the run-off area after losing power. He will start tomorrow’s race from a lowly 10th place.
It was a strong day for two Finns on the grid with Valtteri Bottas putting in an exceptional lap to qualify his Williams in fourth place and Kimi Raikkonen coming on top in the intra-team battle at Ferrari. Felipe Massa, in direct contrast, was only ninth fastest while Fernando Alonso will line up in seventh place for his home race.
Romain Grosjean was sandwiched between the two Finnish drivers, after he put his Lotus in Q3 for the second race running, underlining the pace hidden beneath the E22.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button did a formidable job of putting his McLaren in Q3 after two disappointing races for the Woking-based outfit. The team is hoping to at least return to the points with the updates they’ve brought to the first European race of the season.
McLaren and Lotus’ positive qualifying showing came at the expense of Force India, whose both drivers missed out on the final leg of qualifying. The Barcelona circuit hasn’t been a strong venue for Force India in the past and the trend seems to have continued in 2014.
Further down, Daniil Kvyat qualified his Toro Rosso in 13th place while his teammate Jean Eric Vergne didn’t venture out of his car at all in Q2 following a mechanical issue.
Mechanical problems also halted Kevin Magnussen’s qualifying, with the result that the Danish driver will start tomorrow’s race in 15th pace.
Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado were the first few drivers to be eliminated in Q1 along with the Caterhams and the Marussias.
