F1 Quals: United States 2016

Time is running low on the 2016 season, and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, reigning driver's champion, is in serious trouble.  His teammate has a 30+ point lead and holds all the cards.  Hamilton needs to win out and hope something goes wrong with his teammate, but to win out, you've basically got to be on pole when the light go out.  So how'd Quals for the 2016 United States Grand Prix work out?  Here's the provisional grid:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:36.296	1:36.450	1:34.999
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:36.397	1:36.351	1:35.215
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:36.759	1:36.255	1:35.509
4	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer	1:36.613	1:36.857	1:35.747
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:36.985	1:36.584	1:36.131
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:37.151	1:36.462	1:36.358
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:36.950	1:36.626	1:36.628
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:37.456	1:37.202	1:37.116
9	FelipeRetired  Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:37.402	1:37.214	1:37.269
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:37.744	1:37.175	1:37.326
11	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:37.345	1:37.353
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:37.913	1:37.417
13	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:37.844	1:37.480
14	Esteban!	Haas Ferrari	1:38.053	1:37.773
15	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:38.084	1:37.935
16	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.040	1:39.356
17	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:38.308
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:38.317
19	Jenson Retired Button	McLaren Honda	1:38.327
20	Pascal's Wehrlein	MRT Mercedes	1:38.548
21	FelipeNot Retired Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.583
22	False Esteban	MRT Mercedes	1:38.806

The two Merc drivers split the first two Qual sessions.  Perhaps importantly, Rosberg was fastest in the second session.  This is important because the top 10 have to start on the tires they used for their fastest lap in Q2... and unlike everybody else, the Mercs used the Soft tires while everybody else used the Supersofts.  So in theory, Rosberg will have the advantage in at least the first stint.

Beyond them, Two-by-Two is was the rule of the day with only a wayward Force India to break up the first eight slots symmetry.  Major disappointment for American team HaasF1, who were chasing gremlins all practice.  Maybe things will go better for the race tomorrow afternoon!  Look for it on NBC-the-mother-network, and sometime thereafter, F1U!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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