Rosberg beats Hamilton to Japan pole

Mark Bryans 14:58 04/10/2014
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  • Leading from the front: Nico Rosberg.

    Nico Rosberg sealed what could prove to be a crucial pole position ahead of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix as he beat Mercedes team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton into second.

    The German put in two fast runs in the final 12-minute qualifying session to claim an eighth pole of the season as he looks to close the three-point gap Hamilton holds at the top of the championship standings. Qualifying positions could end up being vital if the poor weather conditions, caused by the closing-in Typhoon Phanfone, hit the track as expected on race day.

    Williams took third place courtesy of Valtteri Bottas, who has been the closest to the Mercedes pair for much of the weekend so far.

    There was hardly anything to separate the Mercedes cars in the opening two qualifying sessions as they both pushed hard.

    Hamilton was quicker in Q1, albeit by just 0.060 seconds, with Rosberg setting the pace in Q2 with an even smaller gap back to his team-mate. But Hamilton, who had crashed out late on in final practice, had no answer to his rival in the final and most telling session as Rosberg, who expressed his disappointment on missing out on pole in Singapore with a cry of 'damn it' over his team radio, was much happier this time out.

    The gap between the title contenders was less than two tenths with the Mercedes locking out the top two spots for every session of the weekend.

    Bottas could not push the Mercedes but will be happy to sit third, with team-mate Felipe Massa just behind in fourth.

    Fernando Alonso, who looks to be moving on from Ferrari with Sebastian Vettel set to step in, took fifth and was over eight-tenths quicker than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen – who was 10th, having had a new power unit installed before qualifying began.

    Vettel's departure from Red Bull was confirmed on Saturday morning and he had a poor session, only able to seal ninth place having had problems in free practice.

    The sister Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth, with the McLaren pair of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button also quicker than Vettel.

    Both Rosberg and Hamilton are now preparing for what looks increasingly like being a wet race, with the former of the opinion that rain could increase their margin over the chasing pack.

    "I'm here to try and win and it was a great day today," said Rosberg. "It is only one step on the way but it was a real pleasure today because the car is so amazing to drive.

    "We are as prepared as we can be – we are expecting it to be wet. The last time we experienced the wet was in Spa when we were really quick, if it rains it could be even better for us."

    Hamilton praised the speed shown by Rosberg and admitted he was not quite hooked up for the session.

    "Nico was extremely quick today," he said. "I did the best I could, my guys did a fantastic job to rebuild my car after I binned it. Today, I just wasn't really feeling it, I was still fast but Nico was fantastic. Tomorrow is the day you get the points and I'm looking forward to the tricky weather." 

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