This has been a different F1 weekend for me as I was unable to watch the qualifying live on TV! I'm spending the weekend at a summer cottage by a lake where I've spent all summers when I was a kid. So it has been a weekend filled with enjoying the sun and swimming in the lake! And of course keeping myself updated of all the Formula 1 news via Facebook and Twitter!
I watched the qualifying later on in the evening when it was shown on TV as a replay. Q1 was very dramatic indeed as Hamilton faced a brake failure suddenly at turn 13 and the Briton crashed to the barrier! His front right brake disc broke and the crash meant that Hamilton's qualifying was over when there were 7minutes left in the clock! What a devastating qualifying for Hamilton once again! The recent races have shown that Mercedes aren't as invulnerable as previously thought! The second runs were made on the supersofts and Rosberg topped the timesheets followed by the Red Bull duo Ricciardo and Vettel. Sutil in his Sauber was the first driver to be knocked out of Q2.
Q2 had some dramatic turns as well. I was a bit worried when I saw Vettel driving all four wheels off track at the final corner as not respecting the track limits had been an issue in the last couple of races! Luckily at Hockenheim the stewards didn't penalize for that as there was no clear advantage gained for that. Rosberg was the fastest man in the second session but both Williams drivers were right at the German's tail! I was happy about Williams' pace but absolutely devastated to see that Kimi was out of the final session! The Iceman's weekend had been all but problem-free: the Finn had faced issues with water pump and gas pump already in the free practice sessions. His team-mate Alonso on the other hand was able to make it among the ten fastest! I'm starting to feel desperate because of all these problems that Kimi keeps facing every race weekend! Though Kimi wasn't the only world champion to be knocked out of Q3: also Button in his McLaren didn't manage to make it into the decisive last session! Button qualified 11th and Kimi 12th.
Q3 was business as usual. The only surprise was the fact how much Williams had been able to decrease the gap to Mercedes! Rosberg did conquer pole once again but the Finnish Williams driver Bottas made an astonishing lap and was only two tenths of a second behind Rosberg! His team-mate Massa couldn't quite match Bottas' pace and the Brazilian qualified 3rd being a few tenths slower than his team-mate. McLaren's Magnussen took surprising P4. What was really disappointing was that Ricciardo once again outqualified his team-mate! Ricciardo qualified 5th whilst Vettel ended up 6th. Sebastian had had promising pace in the previous sessions but in Q3 the German couldn't pull together a perfect lap. Alonso in his Ferrari qualified 7th, Kvyat in his Toro Rosso 8th and the Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez completed the top ten.
The race this afternoon might turn out to be really interesting one as weather forecast has predicted possible thunderstorm during the race! One thing I'm sure about: this time the Williams duo can seriously challenge Rosberg for the win! Although the FRIC suspension systems have been removed from all cars it hasn't effected the pecking order in any significant way. Hamilton's fate in terms of his starting position still maintains unclear. Mercedes will change his brake supplier due to the brake disc failure which normally would cause him a penalty and the Briton would have to start to the race from the pit lane. On the other hand Hamilton's brake issue is clearly a safety issue so there might be no penalty by the FIA on the safetygrounds. On the other hand there have been talks about a gear box change for Hamilton as well, which would automatically lead to a 5-place grid drop. So let's see what happens in terms of Hamilton as the start approaches... I do hope to see both Kimi and Sebastian jumping positions already at the start! And to be honest, I really wouldn't mind if I saw Bottas winning the race and standing on the top step of the podium ;)n TV
Now I'll jump into the lake and enjoy swimming before heading home to watch the race live on TV!
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