adminLewis Hamilton headed a Mercedes one-two in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix despite both cars going off on their final laps of the session. Hamilton did enough on his first lap in the top 10 shoot-out, lapping 0,2secs quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton then spun at Turn One on his final lap, leaving Rosberg the chance to beat him, only for the German to spin at the final corner on his lap.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third from Williams’s Felipe Massa.
It was nip-and-tuck whether Rosberg would have beaten Hamilton — he was slower than the world champion in sector one, but quicker in sector two.
But then Rosberg ran wide on the exit of Turn Eight, got the car partly onto the kerb and then lost control as he went into the final corner.
“It was quite a difficult qualifying with the track conditions,” said Hamilton. “I was grateful I got my third lap in on the first run in Q3. I was pushing that bit extra on the next run and just locked the rears.
“I wasn’t too concerned about losing pole at that time because I was trying to get the car going, but obviously afterwards I was thinking: ‘I probably lost it there.’”
Rosberg said: “Definitely gutted, but Lewis was 0,2secs up on the previous lap and I was 0,2secs exactly up at that point so I knew I had to go for it.” — BBC
Online Reporter