QUALIFYING REPORT
“I wouldn’t say my heart was in
my mouth, but yeah, obviously when
I came in and saw how close it was,
that wasn’t great,” said Hamilton.
“I went wide at Turn One. The rest
of the lap I pushed as hard as I could.
I was up on my previous lap, but of
course I knew that everyone else
would be quicker, so I lost too much
time there.”
“Very fortunate to get through and
so that’s why even though I’m second
I’m just grateful I got through and this
puts me in a position to be at least
be able to fight for the win tomorrow,”
added the reigning world champion.
One driver who did lose out was
Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn finished
Q2 in P14 and was eliminated along
with Grosjean in P11, Daniil Kvyat in
P12, Sergio Perez in P13, with Haas’
Esteban Gutierrez and Sauber’s
Felipe Nasr, in 15th and 16th
respectively.
After qualifying Red Bull team
principal Christian Horner called on
stewards to check that Rosberg lifted
during double-waved yellow flags.
Ricciardo had to abort his final
lap, and Horner told Sky Sports,
“What I need to check is that Rosberg
was behind Daniel, and managed to
get a purple middle sector.”
When told that Rosberg did lift for
the yellows, Horner replied, “With that
sort of laptime? That’s down to the
stewards to decide.”