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Rosberg Takes 1st Pole For Mercedes In China

SHANGHAI, China- For the first time in a formula one race since 1955, when five time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio put his Mercedes on pole position at Monza, Nico Rosberg took the German marquee’s next step on Saturday by taking the fastest time in qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of China at the Shanghai International Circuit. Lewis Hamilton finished second, and Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher took third.

“It’s a very special day for me because this is my first pole in Formula One, and the first for a Silver Arrow since 1955.” Recalled Rosberg on the company’s famous history. “Firstly it was a strange feeling because I was watching the end of Q3 from the FIA garage as we decided to save a set of option tires for the race, and I couldn’t do anything but watch! Seeing that I finished at the top of the timesheets and with half a second in hand made me the happiest man today. Thanks to the team, everyone here and in the factories, who have done a great job to develop and improve our Silver Arrow.”

Sergio Perez started things off by recording the fastest time in the first session as Jean Eric Vergne, and all the drivers from Caterham, Marussia and HRT failed to advance to the next sessions. However, the real action developed in the next phase, as Mark Webber’s last minute 1:35:700 won him the session, but his Red Bull teammate and current world champion Sebastian Vettel, failed to advance by getting his car only up to 11 th position for race day, just missing out on going to the final session. Felipe Massa on the other hand, got his Ferrari into the top ten, only to be bumped out at the last few minutes and finishing in 12 th , continuing his disappointing season.

“There was no problem with the car, but I couldn’t get the final few tenths.” Stated Vettel. “I was happy with the laps I did in Q2, but they weren’t quick enough and we couldn’t make it in to Q3. We have a long race ahead of us tomorrow and the car did feel good, so in terms of race pace we should do better tomorrow. We weren’t fast enough and we have to accept it. We start from P11 tomorrow and see what we can do from there.”

Massa, on the other hand felt more disappointed.

“On the one hand I am obviously unhappy not to have made it through to Q3 but, on the other, I have to be pleased with my position if I consider where we were this morning at the end of FP3.” He said. “In the afternoon, the situation improved, the car had much more grip and I managed to be more competitive, but I couldn’t say exactly why. Probably the track conditions changed in a way that suited us. We hope to continue like this tomorrow afternoon and to bring home a good result: it’s really needed right now! I so much want a normal race, a calm one in which I manage to do my job well and pick up some points. I still don’t have any and the moment has come to remove this zero from the classification.”

Rosberg held the cards right away in the last phase, keeping a 1: 35:121 right from the start of the session, which was enough for the German to relax minutes before the end. The grid from third down was changing every few seconds, until Sauber’s Kamui Kobyaschi took fourth place, his best qualifying spot for years. Kimi Raikkonen, despite having a DRS problem the previous day, kept his Lotus high up the grid, finishing in fifth. Jenson Button finished a quiet sixth, while Webber was seventh, Perez disappointed in eighth, while Fernando Alonso could do no better than ninth in his Ferrari. Frenchman Romain Grosjean rounded out the top ten by not even going out onto the circuit.

Considering that Hamilton will be pushed back to seventh because of a changed gearbox, Both Rosberg and Schumacher actually will be starting on the front row that will make it interesting on what will happen when the lights go out at the start of the race on Sunday. But Rosberg himself is very open minded and is honored by the opportunity to start next to a legendary driver.

“We don’t know what will happen in the race tomorrow, and it will be a challenge to stay in front, but for the moment, I will enjoy starting next to Michael from the front row which is also very special to me.” Finished Rosberg.

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