GPI 2016 United States Grand Prix | Page 144

QUALIFYING REPORT There was very little to separate the pair on the twists and turns of Circuit of the Americas, where the Silver Arrows were again the dominant force, enjoying over half a second per lap advantage over their closest rivals. Rosberg said afterwards, “There was nothing specific. I preferred sector two and three and that is it. Lewis was quicker in sector one, that was it. Nevertheless we have seen this year qualifying is not all important and I still have a great chance from P2.” Next best were the Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, third and fourth respectively. More was expected from the energy drinks team after they finished 1-2 in FP3 a few hours earlier. But when it mattered, Mercedes turned up the wick and the Red Bulls found themselves half a second shy of the pace required to challenge the pace setters. Ricciardo summed up, “Not concerned about strategy. I expected it to be like this.Max wanted to try the softs and for me I wanted to super soft. I was more comfortable on that tyre in practice. Hopefully it will give me a better launch off line. Not close to Mercedes, we expect them to be hard to beat, but a buffer over Ferrari. We have a good chance in the race. We will see what happens. super softs will give me friendly grip off the line.” Over a second down on Hamilton’s best time were the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel, fifth fastest, and Kimi Raikkonen sixth on the timing screens.