Qualifying Report - The City's Ideal Spot

By Dan Knutson

It's going to be extremely difficult to overtake during the race around the 20-turn track in Azerbaijan's capitol city of Baku, so starting from the pole puts Nico Rosberg in the ideal spot in the city to win Sunday's European Grand Prix. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton will start tenth, far from ideal, after crashing in the final minutes of qualifying.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Ferrari - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Williams Mercedes - Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull TAG Heuer - Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen . Force India Mercedes - Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Renault - Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer. Toro Rosso Ferrari - Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz. Sauber Ferrari - Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. McLaren Honda - Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Manor Mercedes - Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto. Haas Ferrari - Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.

While other drivers complained about the bumpy track, Hamilton, who had been quickest in all the practice sessions, relished it.

"One thing for sure, these drivers they moan so much, so much, about so many things," he said. "It's really bumpy down the main straight and you can't really see Turn 1 that well when the car's vibrating so it's really hard but that's a part of racing.

"But these guys want it to be smooth, like smoother than ever and have no vibrations and no bumps and they want to take all the character and life out of these tracks. I'm glad that this has bumps but I guarantee you today there's going to be some people that say those things and I'll just sit there and smile!"

The ambient temperature at the start of qualifying was 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Centigrade.)

QUALIFYING 1

Q1 lasted 16 minutes. Naturally, Rosberg and Hamilton were quickly quickest. Bottas, his car repaired after it hit a drain cover in FP3, took third place ahead of Verstappen. Rosberg's 1:44.136 was the fastest lap of the weekend so far.

Ferrari drivers Vettel and Raikkonen did not to go out for an early run as their cars were being checked over.

Rosberg now lowered his time to a 1:43.685.

With six minutes to go, Magnussen was 16th and Haryanto 17th, so they were on the bubble of making the cut to Q2. Vettel was on the track now, and he slotted into seventh place. Perez grabbed third. Raikkonen also got into the top 10.

With two minutes to go, Sainz was 15th, Gutierrez was 16th and Haryanto 17th. Then Gutierrez jumped up to 10th.

In the final moments Sainz improved up top seventh.

The six drivers who were eliminated at the end of FP1 were: Haryanto, Wehrlein, Button, Magnussen and Palmer. It was the first time this season that Button had not made it out of Q1.

The fastest 16 drivers who moved on to Q2 were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Bottas, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Vettel, Gutierrez, Massa, Grosjean, Alonso and Nasr.

QUALIFYING 2

"Q1 finished with everyone on super soft, which should be the set choice from now on," Pirelli tweeted.

Q2 lasted 15 minutes, and indeed the super soft was the tire of choice among the drivers.

Bottas clocked a 1:44.477 in the early going while Hulkenberg had a spin but did not hit the wall.

Then Rosberg rammed in a lap at 1:42.520.

With seven minutes to go, Grosjean was 11th and just outside the cut, but then he moved to seventh and now Sainz was in the 11th spot. Alonso, Gutierrez, Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Nasr were also outside the top 10 at this stage.

Verstappen dug himself out of the hole and went up to third.

Hamilton was now down in tenth. With two minutes to go, he went off at Turn 7 and had to abort his lap. He did a last gasp lap and moved into second with 1:43.526. Ricciardo also made it into the top 10 but Hulkenberg did not.

The six drivers who were eliminated at the end of FP2 were: Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Alonso, Gutierrez and Nasr.

"Well it cannot be any worse than this," Alonso ranted. "It cannot be any worse - the traffic." Hulkenberg was also upset after a miscommunication with his engineer over how much fuel was left in the car.

The fastest 10 drivers who moved on to Q3 were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen, Kvyat and Massa.

QUALIFYING 3

Q3 lasted 12 minutes. Would Rosberg finally be able to unseat Hamilton?

Ricciardo got things rolling with a lap of 1:45.228, but he was quickly demoted by four other drivers including Perez who did a 1:43.515.

Now Hamilton and Rosberg were on their fliers. Hamilton botched it and went off at Turn 15 while Rosberg clocked a slow lap because of the yellow flags caused by his teammate.

The order was Perez, Vettel, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Bottas with three minutes to go. Now Rosberg and Hamilton were again on fliers. But Hamilton hit the wall at Turn 10 and the red flags came out just after Rosberg set a 1:42.758.

Now the order was: Rosberg, Perez, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen with two minutes and five seconds remaining. Verstappen had yet to set a time.

It would be a rush for the drivers to get in a warm-up lap in order to do one last flying lap before the checkered flag. Everybody went out except Rosberg and of course Hamilton. Ricciardo headed the queue. All eight drivers made it around in time.

Ricciardo vaulted up to third, but Verstappen could only manage ninth.

The top 10 qualifiers were: Rosberg, Perez, Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Kvyat, Bottas, Verstappen and Hamilton. Perez, however, will have to take a five place grid penalty after getting a new gearbox to replace the one damaged in his FP3 accident.