Nico Rosberg will start the today’s European Grand Prix from pole position after Lewis Hamilton crashed out.
Hamilton, who dominated the weekend in Azerbaijan, left the session red flagged when he clipped the barriers on turn 11, leaving Rosberg to take advantage and pick up his 3rd pole of the season.
Hamilton, who was four-tenth’s up on Nico Rosberg in the first sector of his lap, ended up planted in the barriers, as the three-time world champion will start 10th on the grid.
Hamilton later described it as “one of his worst qualifying sessions ever” as his recent resurgence came to end in his pursuit of Championship leader Rosberg.
HAM: “I wasn’t hitting the apexs and was poor in braking zones. If Nico gets a good start tomorrow he’ll be gone” pic.twitter.com/CekCRJOI8K
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2016
It wasn’t just Hamilton who was caught out by the tricky Baku circuit. Carlos Sainz, Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo to name a few all ended up in the exit lanes after misreading the blind corners.
Daniel Ricciardo, however did produce an exceptional final lap to pip Sebastian Vettel to second place. Vettel recorded the same time as Ricciardo however as the Red Bull driver achieved the time first, Ricciardo took 2nd on the grid.
RIC: “It was hectic. It was intense. Really happy to bounce back to the top three” #EuropeGP ?? #F1 #Quali pic.twitter.com/fRc6phA6WX
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2016
Vettel may consider himself lucky to have been out on the track as prior to qualifying his car witnessed ECU troubles, which were amended just in time to get his car out into Q1.
Force India excelled in the new street circuit of Baku, with Sergio Perez qualifying second. Perez, however will start in 7th due to a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change in practice.
Perez’ teammate Nico Hulkenberg was left disappointed following a misunderstanding in Q1 between himself and his race engineer, regarding how much fuel Hulkenberg had left going into the final stages of Q1.
Alike Hamilton and Hulkenberg, there was disappointment for Jenson Button, who fell at the first hurdle as he failed to reach Q2 for the first time this season.
