Rosberg takes pole in Mercedes front row lock-out for China

Nico Rosberg has secured his maiden pole-position for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix after an absolute scorcher of a lap which saw the German qualify half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton. With Lewis Hamilton set to take a 5-place grid penalty, it will be a Silver Arrow’s lock-out on the front row for the first time since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

The first session of qualifying started with Ferrari offering no confidence to Felipe Massa, with the team stating they needed a miracle for Massa to progress to Q3. Paul di Resta was the first driver out in Q1, and subsequently set the first timed lap of a 01:38.190 before the top teams’ emerged with Jenson Button going fastest.

The times then began to tumble as Ferrari became the first team to opt for the soft Pirelli tyre compound, which saw Massa shoot to the top with a 01:36.556. With other midfield teams following Ferrari regarding tyre choice, Grosjean, Alonso and then Perez went fastest as the session came to a close. Jean-Eric Vergne was unfortunate to drop out after Q1, along with the usual suspects of the two Caterham’s, Marussia’s and HRT’s.

As Q2 got underway, the Sauber’s of Kobayashi and Perez were first out. It was the Sauber of Kobayashi that initially went fastest with a 01:35.962 before the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg showed his hand and set a 01:35.725. The attention then turned to the midfield, and the battle to progress to Q3. With the Ferrari of Felipe Massa expected to drop out after Q2, no-one could have expected the other big name who was to join him as reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel dropped out after qualifying a lowly 11th on the grid. This being the worst qualifying result for Vettel since the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix when the German qualified 16th in the rain at Sao Paulo.

When the qualifying session resumed for Q3, 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen was straight out for Lotus, setting the initial benchmark with a 01:35.989. That was until Nico Rosberg stunned the opposition with a 01:35.121, nearly a second quicker than the Lotus of Raikkonen. Michael Schumacher was unable to match his team-mates time, setting a time half a second off Rosberg’s sensational lap.

Lewis Hamilton was only able to split the two Silver Arrows, also roughly half a second off Rosberg’s time. With Nico Rosberg so confident his time couldn’t be beaten, he was seen wandering off down the pit-lane with his helmet off clearly under the belief pole-position was his.

As the final qualifying period came to a close, the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi went 4th in an equally stunning qualifying effort. With Hamilton yet to take his 5-place grid penalty, Kobayashi will get promoted to 3rd on the grid with Raikkonen alongside him in 4th.

With Mercedes, Sauber and Lotus the three top teams on the grid for tomorrow’s race, the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix is shaping up to be a highly exciting 56-lap race. Can Mercedes convert pole into victory, or can Hamilton or Vettel wade their way through the field and reclaim what would be a stunning victory?

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