adminMercedes’ Nico Rosberg took pole in a topsy-turvy rain-affected qualifying session for the British Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton was only sixth.
Hamilton was fastest with seconds remaining but erred in aborting his final lap and slipped down the field.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took second ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen.
Both Williams and Ferraris failed to make it out of the first session.
Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe said Hamilton had decided to abort his final lap because he was down after the first two sectors. It was a bad mistake because the last sector was drier and the drivers found huge time gains there.
“He felt the lap was worse and bailed out,” Lowe said, “which was unfortunate because there was a lot of time left in sector three.
“These conditions are always tricky and the first run in Q3 sector three was down because it was wet, but in the last run the final sector was quicker because it has dried quite a bit.”
It was the fourth race in a row in which Hamilton has made a mistake of one kind or another in qualifying and the errors are costing him dearly in the championship. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu