Lewis Hamilton takes a crucial pole position ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as Haas’s Romain Grosjean records Haas’s best ever qualifying.  

12/11/16

Magnussen confirmed to join Haas

Kevin Magnussen will leave Renault and join Haas for 2017 alongside Romain Grosjean. Magnussen will take the second seat alongside Grosjean, forcing Esteban Gutierrez out of a drive for 2017. This means that only Sauber and Manor are to confirm their driver line-ups for next year.

Q1

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are the first two cars out on the track with Hamilton the quicker of the two on a 1:11:511 compared to a 1:11:815. Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen are next on a 1:12:100 and a 1:11:957. Sebastian Vettel emerges on track with 12 minutes to go as Ferrari were fixing a hydraulic issue on his car. Williams look to have the upper-hand on Force India this weekend so far. With 5 minutes to go, Jenson Button, Pascal Wehrlein, Esteban Ocon, Felipe Nasr, Marcus Ericsson and Kevin Magnussen are in the drop-zone at the moment.

Nasr and Ericsson cannot make it to the second part of qualifying along with Magnussen. Button, Wehrlein and Ocon can’t make it through as well. Q1 ends with Lewis Hamilton quickest ahead of Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen.

Out: Nasr – 22nd, Ericsson – 21st, Ocon – 20th, Wehrlein – 19th, Magnussen – 18th and Button – 17th.

Q2

Esteban Ocon is under investigation by the stewards for impeding Jolyon Palmer in Q1 at turn 4. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are again both on track first and its Hamilton who gets the better of the both on a 1:11:238 compared to Rosberg’s 1:11:373. Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen cannot topple Hamilton at the top. With 5 minutes to go, Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat and Jolyon Palmer are in the drop zone at the moment.

Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean make it into the top 10 with Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas failing to do so for Williams. Q2 ends with Lewis Hamilton quickest ahead of Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen.

Out: Palmer – 16th, Sainz – 15th, Kvyat – 14th, Massa  – 13th, Gutierrez – 12th and Bottas – 11th.

Q3

Q3 starts with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg bring the first two cars out on the track with Hamilton again getting the better and going on provisional pole position with a 1:10:860.  Rosberg isn’t far behind on a 1:11:022. Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo aren’t far behind Rosberg, lapping in the mid 1 minute 11s.  With two minutes to go, the drivers head back out on track and its Hamilton who will appear when the chequered flag falls. Hamilton lowers the bar on a 1:10:736 but what can Rosberg do? Its close but its Hamilton on pole with Rosberg only managing a 1:10:838. Raikkonen jumps from 6th to 3rd and Romain Grosjean finishes 7th.

Top 10: Alonso – 10th, Perez – 9th, Hulkenberg – 8th, Grosjean – 7th, Ricciardo – 6th, Vettel – 5th, Verstappen – 4th.

Top 3: Raikkonen – 3rd, Rosberg – 2nd and Hamilton – 1st.

Qualifying results

1.Hamilton  2.Rosberg  3.Raikkonen  4.Verstappen  5.Vettel  6.Ricciardo  7.Grosjean  8.Hulkenberg  9.Perez  10.Alonso  11.Bottas  12.Gutierrez  13.Massa  14.Kvyat  15.Sainz  16.Palmer  17.Button  18.Magnussen  19.Wehrlein  20.Ericsson  21.Nasr  22.Ocon*

Ocon* was given a 3 place grid penalty by the stewards after Qualifying for impeding Jolyon Palmer during Q1.