Nico Rosberg hopes the hand of history will help him beat his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the top step on the podium in the British Grand Prix.
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Rosberg will start behind Hamilton after the world champion delighted a 110,000-strong crowd at Silverstone by claiming his eighth pole from nine races this year.
Hamilton, who leads Rosberg by 10 points in the championship heading into his home race, was 0.113 seconds faster than his Mercedes team-mate yesterday.
But bizarrely only four of the last 20 pole-sitters have won the British Grand Prix.
And on the two occasions Hamilton has triumphed at Silverstone – in his second campaign in 2008, and again last year – it hasn’t been from the front of the grid.
8th pole of the season, wow. I can’t believe it. Thank you to my amazing team! @MercedesAMGF1 #BritishGP #TeamLH pic.twitter.com/8r27UqsfaQ
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 4, 2015
Indeed, Hamilton started from pole here in his debut season and again in 2013, but finished third and fourth respectively.
Informed of the statistic in his post-qualifying media briefing, Rosberg said: “That is incredible and that is why I was quite happy not to be on pole today.”
With a broad grin on his face, Rosberg, who celebrated his 30th birthday earlier this week, added: “I know those statistics and the chances are much higher to win the race from second so I am quite pleased with that today.”
Hamilton secured his third pole at Silverstone in his first outing of the top-10 shootout. Neither he nor Rosberg improved on their laps in their final runs.
“The first lap was really good, so I was sure that I would be ahead of Lewis and I was disappointed to see that he was one-tenth ahead of me,” said Rosberg.
But the German, who was fastest in both practice sessions, remains confident he can upset the home crowd this afternoon.
#BritishGP #QUALI #F1 #TeamNR6 @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/6TbI3cKbcG
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) July 4, 2015
“This weekend was one of the biggest differences in terms of long-run pace over a practice session on Friday,” he said.
“Lewis was struggling quite a lot there so that is another hope that I have. It could be another thing which helps me tomorrow.”
This was Hamilton’s 46th pole of his grand prix career, which now puts him ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the pantheon of all-time qualifying greats. Only Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna have more poles than the British driver.
He said: “It is special to get pole on your home turf, the fans really do motivate me. I’m very fortunate to have had those two wins here but it is the banners out there, the flags, the team caps, the messages that get sent to me through social media. They create the atmosphere and that buzz.
“When I’m about to start my lap or when I finish my lap, looking out of the corner of your eye and you know those guys are there, they’re right behind you, so I hope that that wave of energy that they give will help to carry us tomorrow.”
Felipe Massa, who finished third last time out in Austria, leads an all-Williams second row with Valtteri Bottas starting fourth.
Kimi Raikkonen, whose future at Ferrari hangs in the balance, turned in one of his better qualifying displays of the season to edge out Vettel. The Ferrari pair will start fifth and sixth.
McLaren headed into their home race already in the midst of the worst season in their coveted history, and it didn’t get any better for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
Alonso had already predicted that McLaren would fail to make it out of Q1, and the double world champion’s worst fears were realised after a woeful performance.
McLaren, who have won a combined 20 drivers’ and constructors’ titles, will occupy the penultimate row of the grid with only the Manor drivers – Briton’s Will Stevens two seconds faster than team-mate Roberto Merhi – behind them.
Max Verstappen, the 17-year-old Toro Rosso rookie, had fared well in practice but he was left frustrated after qualifying only 13th. His team-mate Carlos Sainz will start five places ahead of him in eighth.
