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European GP qualifying: Nico Rosberg secures pole after Lewis Hamilton crashes

18.06.2016 [18:43]
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Baku, June 18, AZERTAC

Nico Rosberg has claimed pole position for the European GP after team-mate Lewis Hamilton crashed out in an action-packed qualifying session, according to Sky Sports.

After mistakes at the end of Q2 and on his first flying lap in Q3, Hamilton hit the wall at Turn 10 in an extraordinary culmination to a thoroughly wretched session for the world champion.

"I had a fantastic rhythm on Friday but zero today," Hamilton told Sky Sports. "It will be damage limitation from here. I was just not on it today."

Provided that Mercedes can repair his car for the race without triggering a penalty, Hamilton will start the race from a distant 10th.

"Clearly he has lost an opportunity because the car was good enough for the front row," said team boss Toto Wolff. "But it is tricky around here."

Prior to his qualifying disaster, Hamilton had dominated the weekend, topping the timesheets in all three practice sessions.

But after Rosberg began to show signs of a revival by setting the pace in Q1, Hamilton had to abandon his first flying lap in Q2 after Nico Hulkenberg spun, made another on his second, and only belatedly secured a place in the top-ten shoot-out with just seconds to spare.

However, another mistake then followed at the start of Q3 and was almost immediately followed by an even more costly error through the tight and twisty section of track past Baku's medieval castle as he clipped the wall, wrecking the right-front of his Mercedes W06.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo will line up alongside Rosberg on the front row with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel third. The pair set identical lap times but Ricciardo will be given the superior grid slot because he crossed the line first.

Although Force India's Sergio Perez was second fastest in Q3, the in-form Mexican will take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change necessitated by his crash in Practice Three.

"It feels like pole," said Perez. "Obviously I am still a bit angry from the mistake of this morning but very happy and the lap we put together in Q3 was very strong."

Jenson Button was just 20th on a miserable afternoon for McLaren's former world champion while both Renaults will start on the back row. "Rubbish," was Jolyon Palmer's succinct but indisputable assessment of the team's afternoon.

1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:42.758

2 Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:43.515

3 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:43.966

4 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:43.966

5 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:44.269

6 Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:44.483

7 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:44.717

8 Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:45.246

9 Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:45.570

10 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2:01.954

11 Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:44.755

12 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:44.824