US Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg claims pole position as rain cuts short qualifying

Nico Rosberg will start from pole position for the US Grand Prix after he topped a qualifying session that was abandoned after Q2 and will line up alongside his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The session, which was postponed from Saturday due to severe weather at the Circuit of the Americas, got underway in wet conditions at 9am local time.

The entire running took place on the wet weather tyre, although race control still informed teams that they could not run the intermediate compound.

Rosberg was at the top of the timesheets when the rain intensified towards the end of Q2, which prevented any further improvements in that segment, and after a short delay Q3 did not take place altogether.

Speaking after the session, Rosberg said: "It's been a really good qualifying session, I felt comfortable in the car. It's difficult out there with the aquaplaning and everything because when it happens you just really struggle to have control over the car.

"I got a good lap together and it was with a used set of tyres so that was even better because for Q3 I had a new set to go, so I was feeling really good."

Hamilton said: "It was generally a good qualifying session, I think it was lots of fun for all of us. It was a bit of an anti-climax at the end, I was looking forward to going out [again]. I think we could have gone out and cleaned the track ourselves if all the cars were out.

"But I'm still happy with the 1-2 for the team and good for the fans to be able to see the cars run. There's a big crowd out there today so I hope the weather backs off a bit for the race."

Daniel Ricciardo, who topped Q1, will start the race in P3 ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniil Kvyat. Sebastian Vettel qualified fifth, despite spinning at Turn 10 in Q1 and glancing the barrier, but the Ferrari driver will drop 10 places on the grid due to an engine change penalty.

Sergio Perez beat his Force India teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, to sixth, with Kimi Raikkonen eighth in the second Ferrari. But the Finnish driver will also lose 10 places due to his own penalty for taking a new power unit.

Felipe Massa had only narrowly made it through from Q1 earlier in the session and ended qualifying in ninth, with Max Verstappen rounding out the top ten.

Fernando Alonso qualified in 11th, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean. Jenson Button, another spinner at the troublesome Turn 10, ended up in P14, just in front of Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus.

Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were both eliminated in Q1 at Sauber’s 400th Grand Prix, ahead of Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens. For most of the session both Manor drivers were not within the 107 per cent of the fast Q1 time, but both eventually made it inside the cut off and the American out-qualified his teammate for the first time.

Carlos Sainz qualified last after crashing his Toro Rosso in Q1 and causing a red flag. The Spaniard lost the rear of his car as he ran over the kerbs at Turn 3 and then hit the barriers, which broke his front wing and right-front suspension.

Qualifying results:

Pos

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m56.824s

2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.105s

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +1.145s

4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull +1.610s

5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +1.772s *Has grid penalty

6 Sergio Perez Force India +2.386s

7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +2.509s

8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +2.879s *Has grid penalty

9 Felipe Massa Williams +3.175s

10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +3.375s

11 Fernando Alonso McLaren +3.441s

12 Valtteri Bottas Williams +3.510s

13 Romain Grosjean Lotus +3.771s

14 Jenson Button McLaren +4.369s

15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus +4.780s

16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +5.388s

17 Felipe Nasr Sauber +6.370s

18 Alexander Rossi Marussia +7.352s

19 Will Stevens Marussia +7.702s