| Row 1 | 1. Nico Rosberg 1’10.023 Mercedes | |
| 2. Lewis Hamilton 1’10.056 Mercedes | ||
| Row 2 | 3. Felipe Massa 1’10.247 Williams | |
| 4. Valtteri Bottas 1’10.305 Williams | ||
| Row 3 | 5. Jenson Button 1’10.930 McLaren | |
| 6. Sebastian Vettel 1’10.938 Red Bull | ||
| Row 4 | 7. Kevin Magnussen 1’10.969 McLaren | |
| 8. Fernando Alonso 1’10.977 Ferrari | ||
| Row 5 | 9. Daniel Ricciardo 1’11.075 Red Bull | |
| 10. Kimi Raikkonen 1’11.099 Ferrari | ||
| Row 6 | 11. Esteban Gutierrez 1’11.591 Sauber | |
| 12. Nico Hulkenberg 1’11.976 Force India | ||
| Row 7 | 13. Adrian Sutil 1’12.099 Sauber | |
| 14. Romain Grosjean 1’12.037 Lotus | ||
| Row 8 | 15. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’12.040 Toro Rosso | |
| 16. Pastor Maldonado 1’12.233 Lotus | ||
| Row 9 | 17. Daniil Kvyat* No time Toro Rosso | |
| 18. Sergio Perez* 1’12.076 Force India |
*Seven-place penalty carried over from previous power unit penalty
*Seven-place penalty for causing a collision
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Chris (@cgturbo)
8th November 2014, 17:04
So close, but not quite underneath the 1:10s!
Kingshark (@kingshark)
8th November 2014, 17:06
Ugh, a 1:09.8 was so doable for either Lewis or Nico.
They are almost as fast as they were in 2004. :O
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th November 2014, 17:15
@kingshark Smooth and bump-less surface does help in 3 or 5 seconds.
In the end yet again scruffy laps for all 4 contenders this weekend. Someone can explain to me why does Rosberg take such a wide line on the main straight? He almost went onto the grass several times.
I don’t want to think that the Williams held back their 1.09’s but tomorrow with rain the grid can turn upside down.
Patrick (@paeschli)
8th November 2014, 20:52
@peartree @kingshark @hunocsi
I think the explanation lies with the ERS: engines are always down on power at São Paulo because it is 2,621 ft above sea level. Due to the air being ‘thinner’ at such an altitude, there is less air available to the engines and they are less efficient.
On the other hand, the MGU-K of the ERS is just as efficient here as at other tracks.
In summary: electric cars have the same performance on every track while gas powered cars are down on power at such an altitude. This car being much more ‘electric’ than the 2013 one, it performs relatively better.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th November 2014, 23:01
@paeschli That’s a misconception that even engineers fail to make. Turbos suffer greatly at higher altitudes, they spin faster, suffer more centrifugal strain and produce more friction and heat. Energy efficiency from the stand point of a turbo engine is a fine balance between harnessing the highest amount of air available whilst having the highest possible working temperature. The turbo’s compressor by spinning faster reduces the penalty of altitude, and that fact may come as a help if there are spooling or ERS problems, that said optimally overall energy efficiency is affected negatively by the higher working temperatures because of the imbalance it causes on the powertrain and also reliability problems, but you can avert some of the natural issues of altitude by making the according changes to all lubricants of the powertrain, and also electronic tuning especially to thee direct injection system. Yes, these engines drop less BHP in altitude comparing to normally aspirated but that may not matter if you can’t keep temperatures in check. Above all the reliability of the plethora of systems is a limiting factor.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
8th November 2014, 22:53
@peartree
There’s a lot of things to consider in choosing a line through that curve that is the main ‘straight’. Obviously, on their money laps, they could’ve just chosen the shortest route and stick it all tight towards the left white line, but they didn’t do that as that’d have caused too much friction, slowing them down.
Thus a longer line with less friction holds more advantage despite being longer. Rosberg might just thought that he’d go for extremely low steering input, to keep acceleration up to its most efficient level, with almost no turning whatsoever.
At Interlagos, the peculiar, nice and extremely heavy banking plus descent of the last turn of the old 1940 ‘oval’ complicates things further. Crossing the track left to right across the descent will always give some extra speed (despite, once again, being a longer route), and also, staying ever more to the right on the ‘exit’ gives you more benefit from the banking levelling out with the surface of the straight as well. (You can actually see people passing others with way more speed on the outside on the backstretch at Charlotte and Texas in NASCAR, because those tracks have the banking levelling down the most agressively on the outside of the turn.)
In a nutshell… Lol, jk, sorry if it became a tl;dr. :P
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th November 2014, 23:09
@atticus-2 I’ve just watched the comparison between Lewis and Nico. I had the impression that Nico had lost 2 tenths there, but at the time I was looking at the split from the 1st q3 run rather than the quicker 2nd run that refresh the timing sheets after Lewis completed his lap. Anyway Nico lost time compared to Lewis on the last sector albeit very little anyhow both Mercedes were slower on the last sector than the Williams cars, that incidently both went on the inside of the straight.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
8th November 2014, 23:16
@peartree
I see, thanks for the additional info. In that case, Rosberg might have just took the wrong decision.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th November 2014, 0:00
@atticus-2 I don’t know, I’m just saying that at the time I wrote the comment I was positive that it had been a poor decision, now I have no idea the margins are too slim to judge the only thing I’ve noticed is that most were on the inside, faster and slow drivers through s3.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
8th November 2014, 17:33
I think the temperatures went down a bit after Q1, probably that’s why they didn’t get under 1m10s.
Eggry (@eggry)
8th November 2014, 17:06
I know Hamilton is faster, but Nico has surprised me several times this season, especially in qualifying. What a session.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
8th November 2014, 17:07
Nico Rosberg has won his first 2014 trophy…..
LexBlair (@lexblair)
8th November 2014, 17:08
Question is, will it be his first and only trophy?…… I have a feeling it won’t be…
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
8th November 2014, 17:34
First of many? Since Hamilton likely to left Merc by 2016 the team surely will focus on Rosberg…
Kgn11
8th November 2014, 17:47
You know something the rest of the world doesn’t know about?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th November 2014, 21:05
@ruliemaulana Along with his 14 podium trophies!
Paul (@frankjaeger)
8th November 2014, 17:08
Fair play to Nico. Lewis is meant to be a beast in quali, and he is but Rosberg has held is own this season
Kingshark (@kingshark)
8th November 2014, 17:23
@frankjaeger
I think that Nico has put this myth to bed.
John H (@john-h)
8th November 2014, 17:30
Except it isn’t a myth, however much you’d like it to be :) I think rather Rosberg is also a beast in quali.
2 beasts.
Kgn11
8th November 2014, 17:40
Didn’t Lewis out qualify Nico last year? So Nico did it this year, that doesn’t really change anything.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
8th November 2014, 21:48
Being put level with Hamilton is quite a change, I think.
James Wynne (@heisenberg)
8th November 2014, 17:56
@kingshark Well, Hamilton is still great/a beast at qualifying, that’s not a myth at all. It’s just that he can no longer be considered the absolute best. It’s worth noting that Hamilton came out on top in the qualifying battle last year, and this year has encountered a number of issues in qualifying out of his control, which Rosberg hasn’t. He still would have come out on top without those, though, but it no doubt would have been closer between the two.
sato113 (@sato113)
8th November 2014, 19:30
Not really. Remember Hungary and Germany qualy. Both ham could have got pole on
Toxic (@)
9th November 2014, 6:12
could have… doesn’t mean he would get it.
John H (@john-h)
8th November 2014, 17:28
I think Hamilton really struggles with cold brakes, and one lap qualifying with these smaller brake discs this year is a factor. Rosberg has been immense this year though, congrats to him.
Hsc
8th November 2014, 17:19
In Qualifying, Rosberg has beaten Ham by 11 to 7.
In 2012 quali, Rosberg beat old MSC by 12 to 8.
I have always held Rosberg as a good qualifier since 2007.