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Shanghai pole seals Hamilton’s hat-trick
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THE two Mercedes cars will unsurprisingly occupy the starting row at today’s 2015 Chinese Grand Prix after finishing one-two in yesterday’s qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton clocked 1 minute and 35.782 seconds to secure pole position for the third time in a row in the new season, while teammate Nico Rosberg lost out by only 0.042 seconds.
“It’s just four-hundredths (of a second) and that makes it even more annoying because it’s just very, very close,” said Rosberg.
It was also the Hamilton’s fifth pole overall at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“I just like the track, and I guess it suits my driving style though there are some tough combinations of turnings,” said the Briton
Ferrari was the Silver Arrows’ closest rival though third-placed Sebastian Vettel was still nearly a second off the pace, clocking 1:36.687. Williams came on strong as Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will start fourth and fifth, respectively, in today’s race.
“I am happy to make sure that we are right behind them (Mercedes),” said Vettel. “Compared to the practice session, the gap has already been closed, and hopefully it will be even closer tomorrow in the race.”
Kimi Raikkonen was sixth in the second Ferrari. From seven to ten are Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, and the Sauber duo Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.
Hamilton has been nominated for the Sportsman of the Year award at 2015 Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be staged in Shanghai itself in a few days’ time. However, given the tight back-to-back race schedule, the two-time world champion is unlikely to attend the ceremony at Shanghai Grand Theatre on Wednesday evening.
For McLaren cars, it was another early exit, as neither Jenson Button nor Fernando Alonso managed an entry to Q2 for the third straight race. They were 0.2 seconds below the cut line, finishing 17th and 18th.
The problem appeared in the third practice session in the morning itself. Alonso was forced to stop shortly after leaving the pits with smoke coming from the back of his car. The Spaniard helped marshals push the car off the track and then walked back to his garage where he had to stay the rest of the session. Briton Button was directed to return to the garage shortly after Alonso stopped.
“We couldn’t find a balance that really worked,” Button said. “However, we are making progress and the gap between us and the other cars has been shortened this week. It’s not as bad as what you see from the time sheets. It’s the first time we can play with rest of the cars out there. Hopefully, it will be better than in Malaysia.”
Alonso said that finishing the race is the priority now. He couldn’t see the team getting back among the top pack very soon, but said he was actually “enjoying the moment”.
“I’ve been on the circuit for 14 years. I had great years with Ferrari and I have finished that loop. Now I need new motivations, and I’m not enjoying the process of making progress together with McLaren,” said the Spaniard, who is one of the most popular drivers among Shanghai fans.
Today’s sunny forecast means not much suspense for the main race.
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