Nico Hulkenberg lines up on the 2nd row at Silverstone; Perez on P7

David Bodapati July 5, 2014

332 5 minutes read

Nico Hulkenberg will line up on the second row of the grid for the team’s local race at Silverstone with teammate Sergio Perez qualifying in seventh place.

P4 Nico Hulkenberg VJM07-04

Q1: 1:41.271 Q2: 1:37.112 Q3: 1:38.329

Nico: “That worked out really well for us and I’m very happy to come away with fourth place on the grid. On days like this you just need to be in the right place, with good timing and a little bit of luck. The track conditions were changing so much and at the end of Q3 I’ve never seen a track dry so quickly. There were a few spots of rain in the middle of the session, but on my final lap it was completely dry. Fourth place sets us up nicely for tomorrow, but it’s hard to know exactly where we stand in terms of race pace. We definitely made some progress with the car balance overnight with some tweaks and it was a lot less windy today, which worked in our favour. There is an interesting grid, which will hopefully make for an exciting race for the fans.”

P7 Sergio Perez VJM07-02

Q1: 1:42.146 Q2: 1:37.350 Q3: 1:40.457

Sergio: “Today leaves us with mixed feelings. It was very good to get both cars in Q3 and ahead of some of our most direct competitors. Had they offered us this result before the session, we would have been satisfied; however, it is also disappointing as we know we could have had an even better result. We were in P3 up to the last lap, but when the track improved and I went out for a last run I ran a bit wide in turn 12 and lost all the temperature from my tyres. I also had to let some cars through and that made it a big problem for me. Otherwise I am confident we would have improved enough to stay in the front two rows. It’s a shame because we were making the tyres work really well until that moment and we were making the most of the conditions. Still, it is a very positive result and we should have a good opportunity to convert it into a good race and a lot of points. Silverstone is a very difficult place to overtake and track position is very important, so I am confident in that respect.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director

“Today we had a very good result, which is always very nice in our home race. We have placed both cars in Q3 in very difficult conditions, which is a great credit to both the team and our drivers: we were on the right tyre at the right time and we reaped the rewards of some good strategy calls. It is a shame Checo was not able to finish his second lap as we thought we could retain his good position, but fourth row is still a very positive place to start and he has shown us before that he can make up positions come race day. Nico was impressive as he pulled a great lap when it mattered on a drying track. Starting fourth and seventh gives us a very good chance to score points and continue our battle in the constructors’ championship. Race pace is one of our strongest assets so we can look forward totomorrow with confidence.”

FIA release adds:

Nico Rosberg took his fourth pole position of the season in dramatic style at Silverstone, the German snatching top spot in the session in the final corners of his final lap in a rain-hit session that saw championship rival Lewis Hamilton finish sixth after abandoning his final run.

Behind Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel claimed his first front-row start since the Malaysian Grand Prix and Jenson Button grabbed a surprise third spot for McLaren at his and his team’s home race.

The session opened in relatively dry conditions and after banker laps on intermediate tyres, which left Hamilton in charge, ahead of Ricciardo. Throughout the opening laps, however, drivers were reporting that the track was dry enough for slick tyres.

Kobayashi was the first take on mediums but was soon back in the pits with a technical problem. The Japanese driver finished outside the 107 per cent cut-off, as did team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

The switch to slick rubber sparked a chaotic final few minutes as the field desperately tried to exploit the improved conditions. In the scramble for lap tyime it was perhaps inevitable that some would be caught out, either by traffic or by the conditions, as rain began to fall again in the closing moments.

The surprise was that it was Ferrari and Williams in trouble. Fernando Alonso spun on his final flyer and missed the cut, finish in 19^th place, one ahead of Raikkonen, who had to abandon his runa due to yellow flags brought out by spins elsewhere. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was 17^th, ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, both drivers having wild slides during their final laps.

Elsewhere FP3’s quickest man, Sebastian Vettel scraped through in 16^th, behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Jenson Button was fortunate, too, making it through to Q2 in 14^th place despite having his best lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

Q2 offered more uncertainty. The start of the segment was run on intermediate tyres following the shower at the end of Q1 but halfway through the track dried sufficiently for slicks to be used and again there was a scramble to put in a good lap. This time though, no front-runners were caught out and eliminated were Romain Grosjean, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton (who delivered an excellent performance for Marussia), Esteban Gutierrez, Pastor Maldonado and Adrian Sutil. It was a rough session for Sauber. Sutil did not take part in Q2 having spun out in Q1 and late in Q2 Gutierrez also spun off, the rear of his Sauber hitting the barriers hard.

Top spot in Q2 was occupied by Hamilton, the Briton recording a lap of 1:34.870, three tenths clear of team-mate Rosberg but a huge 1.4s ahead of third-placed Vettel.

The final session was as thrilling and surprising as the first. The timesheet after the first runs had a predictable look to it, with Hamilton on top ahead of Rosberg. But with five minutes to go the track conditions again became marginal. Button was told to pit and adopt a wait and see attitude.

When the time came to gamble or stay put however, some were once again caught out. Lewis Hamilton was one of them. The Briton went out but seemed to decide there was no time to be gained so abandoned his lap. Rosberg, by contrast, along with several others, felt differently.

Sebastian Vettel claimed provisional pole but Rosberg had yet to cross the line. When he did so the gap was huge, with the German having almost 1.4s over Vettel. Button was a surprise third for McLaren, with Nico Hulkenberg fourth for Force India. Kevin Magnussen completed a good day for McLaren by taking fifth place and Hamilton qualified sixth. Seventh place went to Sergio Perez in the second Force India, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull. The final top 10 positions were filled by the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne respectively.
2014 British Grand Prix – Qaulifying Result
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.380 1:35.179 1:35.766 21
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:45.086 1:36.410 1:37.386 19
3 Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.425 1:36.579 1:38.200 24
4 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:41.271 1:37.112 1:38.329 19
5 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:42.507 1:37.370 1:38.417 23
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.058 1:34.870 1:39.232 19
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.146 1:37.350 1:40.457 20
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:44.710 1:38.166 1:40.606 18
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:41.032 1:36.813 1:40.707 21
10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:43.040 1:37.800 1:40.855 21
11 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:43.121 1:38.496 17
12 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:41.169 1:38.709 17
13 Max Chilton Marussia 1:42.082 1:39.800 14
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:43.285 1:40.912 16
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:43.892 1:44.018 15
16 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:42.603 No time 8
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.318   5
18 Felipe Massa Williams 1:45.695   5
19 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.935   6
20 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.684   7
21 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:49.421   7
22 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:49.625   8