Rosberg secures pole at home Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Germany, Hockenheimring

German Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in qualifying his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim, securing pole position for Sunday's race. Lewis Hamilton failed to topple his team mate due to a slight braking mistake while both Red Bulls will start from the second row of the grid.

Under sunny skies, even though dark clouds covered Hockenheim until 15 minutes ahead of the start of qualifying, the first session ended up to be a straightforward affair, with no accidents and no yellow or red flag at all. It did turn out as a close session, with first to last seperated by just 1.995 seconds.

Both Mercedes comfortably progressed as the fastest cars, even when being the only cars to complete Q1 on the soft tyres. All others opted for the super softs. At Ferrari and Red Bull, both drivers easily progressed as well, needed just one flying lap, along with Bottas and Hulkenberg. Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez extra laps on the same set of tyres, while all others opted for multiple outings.

In the close seconds, times tumbled and positions switched rapidly, with Palmer just making the cut for Q2 for the first time since the Australian Grand Prix. Out were Kagmussen, Wehrlein, Kvyat, Haryanto, Nasr and Ericsson.

In Q2, Mercedes were the first to get their drivers out, immediately setting a good lap and enabling them to watch the remainder of Q2 from their pit boxes. Red Bull also didn't mess around while Ferrari secured their positions later on in the session.

For McLaren, it was quickly obvious they wouldn't make it into Q3, with their first attempts only quicker than Palmer in the Renault. Their fears eventually proved correct, with both men eliminated, along with Palmer, Sainz and both Haas drivers.

In Q3 it was Lewis Hamilton who took the immediate initiative by topping both Ferrari drivers to take the top spot. Nico Rosberg meanwhile aborted his first attempt due to an electronic glitch on his car. Ricciardo and Verstappen subsequently set times quicker than the Ferraris while Williams opted to keep their cars in the box and go for a single run towards the end of the session.

When Rosberg returned to the track, he immediately set the fastest time, 0.123s ahead of his team mate. Hamilton did manage to improve another time, but not enough to take pole as he locked up his front right wheel in the approach to the hairpin, throwing away the advantage he had built up in the first section of the circuit. Red Bull secured started positions on the second row of the grid, once again ahead of both Ferraris.