Hockenheim, 19 July – Qualifying for the German Grand Prix was disappointing for Scuderia Ferrari. When the race starts at 2pm tomorrow, Fernando Alonso will start from seventh on row 4, while Kimi Raikkonen will be in twelfth place on row 6. There was drama in Q1, with the session being red flagged, after a technical problem resulted in Lewis Hamilton crashing heavily into the barriers. The session resumed for a seven minute mini-session in which both Scuderia men made it to the next part.
Alonso dealt with Q2 quite comfortably, but Kimi, after a good first timed lap, was unable to follow the majority in improving on his second, so he failed to make the cut to Q3 by a tenth.
In the final part, Nico Rosberg took pole for Mercedes in 1.16.540, followed by the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren. The third row is an all Red Bull affair, with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose lap was just 72 thousandths faster than Fernando’s.