Austrian Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap
Mike Arning/HAAS F1 | 3.7.16 | Aktuality
Haas F1 2016
Overview
Event: Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix (Round 9 of 21)
Date: Saturday, July 2
Location: Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria
Layout: 4.326-kilometer (2.688-mile) nine-turn circuit
Weather: Cloudy, then wet, then partly cloudy
Temperature: 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit)
Lap Record: 1:06.228 set by Lewis Hamilton in 2016 (during Q2)
Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:07.922)
Result:
Esteban Gutiérrez qualified 11th, will start on outside of Row 6
Romain Grosjean qualified 13th, will start on outside of Row 7
Q1 Rundown
- Lasts 18 minutes, with all 22 drivers participating
- Fastest 16 drivers advance to Q2
Gutiérrez: 14th quick (1:07.660), advanced to Q2
Grosjean: 15th quick (1:07.662), advanced to Q2
Fastest Driver: Nico Rosberg of Mercedes (1:06.516)
Cutoff: 16th-quick Fernando Alonso of McLaren (1:07.671)
Q2 Rundown
- Lasts 15 minutes, featuring the 16 fastest drivers from Q1
- Fastest 10 drivers advance to Q3
Gutiérrez: 11th quick (1:07.578)
Grosjean: 13th quick (1:07.850)
Fastest Driver: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:06.228)
Cutoff: 10th-quick Jenson Button of McLaren (1:07.572)
Q3 Rundown
- Lasts 12 minutes, featuring the 10 fastest drivers from Q2, all battling for the pole
Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:07.922)
Second: Nico Rosberg of Mercedes (1:08.465) *Will take five-place grid penalty for gearbox change.
Recap
Prior to qualifying, teams had one final practice (FP3) on the 4.326-kilometer (2.688-mile) nine-turn Red Bull Ring to prepare for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg. It was a productive effort for Haas F1 Team, as both Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez logged significant laps during the hour-long session under a partly cloudy sky and warm temperatures.
Gutiérrez turned 22 laps with a best time of 1:08.475 to place him 12th quickest. Grosjean ran 21 laps with a best time of 1:08.550 to earn the 14th fastest spot. Both drivers shared the same tire strategy. They used the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire for their installation laps and then switched to the P Zero Red supersoft tire for their first timed stints before completing the session on the P Zero Purple ultrasoft tire. It was on the Red supersofts that Gutiérrez and Grosjean set their fastest laps.
The fastest driver in FP3 was Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari. His lap of 1:07.098 set a new track record, bettering the mark set just a day before when Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg turned a lap of 1:07.373 in FP1. Coming into Austria, the existing track record was 1:07.908, set by Michael Schumacher in 2003 when he was with Scuderia Ferrari. The top-seven drivers in FP3 were faster than Schumacher’s time and 16 drivers shot past Schumacher’s 13-year-old mark in qualifying. Rosberg, who topped both practice sessions on Friday and was looking to continue his stand atop the charts, crashed in turn two with just over 20 minutes remaining in FP3, resulting in a 10-minute red-flag stoppage.
Among the 16 drivers in qualifying who broke Schumacher’s old record were Gutiérrez and Grosjean. Both drivers moved on to Q2 for the fourth straight time, where only the top-16 drivers from Q1 advance. Gutiérrez scored the 14th-fastest time (1:07.660) in Q1 during his second stint on a new set of Purple ultrasofts. Grosjean was just behind his teammate with the 15th-fastest time (1:07.662), also earned on his second run with a fresh set of ultrasofts. The session was interrupted with a red flag for Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kyvat, who crashed at the second corner, leaving just 1:44 on the clock at the end of Q1.
Q2 began dry, but rain hit the circuit at the end of the 15-minute session. Gutiérrez got in two runs before weather became a factor, setting his best time (1:07.578) on his third lap using the ultrasoft tire. This put him 11th fastest, earning Gutiérrez his best starting spot of the year. Grosjean also utilized the ultrasofts in Q2 before rain engulfed the track, scoring his fastest time (1:07.850) on his 19th lap to place him 13th for the Austrian Grand Prix. It was a solid comeback for Grosjean, who spun into the turn-six gravel at the beginning of Q2. The off-track excursion damaged the floor of his VF-16, but crew members quickly repaired the car to allow Grosjean to turn some fast laps prior to the rain.
Pole went to Lewis Hamilton who turned a 1:07.922 to beat his Mercedes teammate, Rosberg, by .543 of a second in a wet-to-dry final Q3 session. It was Hamilton’s 54th career pole, his fifth this season and his second at the Red Bull Ring. Hamilton broke the track record set by Vettel in FP3 when the reigning world champion lapped the circuit in a lightning-quick 1:06.228 during Q2. While Rosberg ended up second in Q3, he’ll take a five-place grid penalty on Sunday for a gearbox change, necessitated after his crash earlier in the day during final practice. Rosberg has won the past two Formula One races at the Red Bull Ring.
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