• David Coulthard’s Inside Track
The 30-year-old said afterwards: “before it was close in the other direction, now it’s close in the other direction. I’m enjoying the moment and happy to be on pole again.”
Hamilton said: “I’ve generally been struggling with the car a little bit all weekend. We’ve been making some changes. Nico was just really quick today.”
Kimi Raikkonen (left), Nico Rosberg (centre) and Lewis Hamilton
The early signs in qualifying were ominous for anyone but the silver cars. The two Mercedes were nearly two seconds faster than the rest. While Hamilton and Rosberg sat calmly in the garage, the rest scrapped around to make it through to the second part of qualifying. Amazingly, Jenson Button put his McLaren in ninth, but his team-mate, Fernando Alonso, could only manage 17th after getting a puncture on his final lap.
Once again speculation continues to swirl over Alonso’s future this weekend. Having confirmed he will be with the team next year, Ron Dennis, the McLaren chairman, said it is possible Alonso could take a sabbatical in 2016 if the car is uncompetitive.
• Cheat row erupts between Mercedes and Ferrari
“He will definitely finish his career in McLaren,” Dennis said. “I have an open mind to anything. Some of the ideas have involved those sorts of considerations – sabbatical years.”
Then asked if he would consider a year off, Alonso replied: “No, not really.” These two never seem to manage to be on the same page.
But Mark Webber, the former Red Bull driver and friend of Alonso, summed it up perfectly when he told the BBC: “He is a ticking bomb. Give him two or three days in testing if the car is uncompetitive I think he’ll have a year off.”
Back in qualifying, the biggest shock came when Sebastian Vettel, one of the stars of the season, went out in 16th place. His Ferrari appeared to be well down on power, but Vettel said: “There were no issues with the car. We thought we had enough to get to Q2 but we were wrong.” A few years ago he came from the back to finish third, so all is not lost for Sunday’s race.
In the second segment Romain Grosjean, in his final race for Lotus, had to stop the car on the side of the track. It epitomised up his final few years with the struggling team. Button, meanwhile, qualified 12th. Hamilton again led the way.
But in the final shootout for pole Rosberg found his form. Hamilton improved on his second lap, but so did his team-mate. His perfect run at the wrong time continues.