Nico Rosberg overcomes throttle glitch to claim F1 German Grand Prix pole position

Nico Rosberg scored an important psychological blow by beating his Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the German Grand Prix, despite only completing one run in Q3 due to a problem on the throttle.

Hamilton held provisional pole position after the first runs in the final part of qualifying as Rosberg abandoned his lap despite being fractionally up on the Briton’s time through the first two sectors. It was later confirmed that an electronics glitch caused engine and throttle problems, which meant he had to return to the pits to get those issues fixed.

This did not take long and Rosberg was sent out to complete his sole Q3 run with a few minutes of the session remaining. Although he was given a extra lap of fuel just in case he encountered any problems, the German delivered a time of 1m14.363s, which was just over one tenth quicker than Hamilton’s previous best.

The world champion then had a clear chance to respond and although he was 0.1s faster than Rosberg in the first sector, a lock-up at the Turn 6 hairpin ultimately cost Hamilton as he wound up 0.107s adrift of pole. He denied that this was the problem in a monosyllabic performance in front of the media after the session. He managed just 58 words in total in response to three questions in the press conference.

Clearly annoyed with himself, he felt he had everything he needed to take pole.

If you add together his three best sectors from Q3 you get an ideal Hamilton lap of 1m 14.303s, enough to take pole ahead of Rosberg's 1m14.363s. However's Rosberg's ideal lap, adding his fastest Q3 sectors together was 1m 14.293s.

It was a straight fight and this makes it a more valuable pole for Rosberg and one he will hope to capitalise on in the race.

Speaking after the session, Rosberg, who secured his fifth pole of 2016 and the 27th of his career, said: “It was a great feeling and just a great lap. Not only was it just one lap that I had but I also had extra fuel because to make sure I had enough fuel for two laps if a mistake or something happened, so I had fuel for three laps.

“There was some more time in the bag there so I was really satisfied with that one, that was cool.”

Both Mercedes drivers ran soft tyres only during Q1 so they have new supersoft and soft tyres for the race. Simulations say it is close on pace between two and three stops and there are a number of ways to attack the Grand Prix, so it should be a fascinating strategic battle tomorrow on a track where you can overtake, which encourages aggressive strategies.

Behind the Mercedes pair, Daniel Ricciardo led Max Verstappen to third and fourth for Red Bull, but the Australian driver will start the race on tyres that did two more laps in Q2, which may put him at a disadvantage during the first stint of the race tomorrow. Nonetheless Ricciardo believes that Red Bull is much closer to Mercedes on long run pace, based on Friday practice, than on single lap pace.

Kimi Raikkonen beat his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel to fifth, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finishing seventh.

Valtteri Bottas ended up eighth for Williams, just 0.02s behind Hulkenberg, and one spot in front of the second Force India of Sergio Perez, as Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten.

In Q2, Esteban Gutierrez briefly looked like he would become the first Haas F1 driver to progress to Q3 but late improvements from Perez and Massa relegated him to 11th.

McLaren’s Jenson Button qualified 12th, one place in front of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, who was hit with a three place grid penalty for impeding Massa at Turn 2 mid-way through Q2.

Fernando Alonso could only manage 14th in the second McLaren as the double world champion ran wide over the kerbs at the exit of Turn 12 on his final lap, which cost him time and a chunk of bodywork.

Romain Grosjean qualified 15th in the second Haas, but the Frenchman will lose five places on the grid for taking a new gearbox, while Jolyon Palmer, who made it through to the second part of qualifying for the fourth time this season, finished 16th.

In Q1, Kevin Magnussen qualified 17th for Renault. The Danish driver had improved with his final lap but was pushed down by other drivers going faster after he crossed the line.

Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein ended up just 0.001s behind Magnussen in 18th, one place in front of Daniil Kvyat, who will start 19th for Toro Rosso.

Rio Haryanto, who is the subject of much speculation over his seat with Manor, finished 20th, ahead of the Sauber pair of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.

German Grand Prix Qualifying result:

Pos

1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1m14.363s

2 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1m14.470s +0.107s

3 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 1m14.726s +0.363s

4 Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1m14.834s +0.471s

5 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 1m15.142s +0.779s

6 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 1m15.315s +0.952s

7 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India 1m15.510s +1.147s

8 Valtteri Bottas, Williams 1m15.530s +1.167s

9 Sergio Perez, Force India 1m15.537s +1.174s

10 Felipe Massa, Williams 1m15.615s +1.252s

Q2

11 Esteban Gutierrez, Haas 1m15.883s

12 Jenson Button, McLaren 1m15.909s

13 Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso 1m15.989s

14 Fernando Alonso, McLaren 1m16.041s

15 Romain Grosjean, Haas 1m16.086s *Has grid penalty

16 Jolyon Palmer, Renault 1m16.665s

Q1

17 Kevin Magnussen, Renault 1m16.716s

18 Pascal Wehrlein, Manor 1m16.717s

19 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso 1m16.876s

20 Rio Haryanto, Manor 1m16.977s

21 Felipe Nasr, Sauber 1m17.123s

22 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber 1m17.238s