| Row 1 | 1. Nico Rosberg 1’30.647 Mercedes | |
| 2. Lewis Hamilton 1’30.660 Mercedes | ||
| Row 2 | 3. Max Verstappen 1’31.178 Red Bull | |
| 4. Daniel Ricciardo 1’31.240 Red Bull | ||
| Row 3 | 5. Sergio Perez 1’31.961 Force India | |
| 6. Sebastian Vettel* 1’31.028 Ferrari | ||
| Row 4 | 7. Romain Grosjean 1’31.961 Haas | |
| 8. Kimi Raikkonen** 1’30.949 Ferrari | ||
| Row 5 | 9. Nico Hulkenberg 1’32.142 Force India | |
| 10. Esteban Gutierrez 1’32.547 Haas | ||
| Row 6 | 11. Valtteri Bottas 1’32.315 Williams | |
| 12. Felipe Massa 1’32.380 Williams | ||
| Row 7 | 13. Daniil Kvyat 1’32.623 Toro Rosso | |
| 14. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’32.685 Toro Rosso | ||
| Row 8 | 15. Fernando Alonso 1’32.689 McLaren | |
| 16. Jolyon Palmer 1’32.807 Renault | ||
| Row 9 | 17. Kevin Magnussen 1’33.023 Renault | |
| 18. Marcus Ericsson 1’33.222 Sauber | ||
| Row 10 | 19. Felipe Nasr 1’33.332 Sauber | |
| 20. Esteban Ocon 1’33.353 Manor | ||
| Row 11 | 21. Pascal Wehrlein*** 1’33.561 Manor | |
| 22. Jenson Button**** 1’32.851 McLaren |
*Three-place grid penalty for collision with Rosberg
**Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
***Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
****35-place grid penalty for power unit component change
Patrick (@paeschli)
8th October 2016, 8:05
Well, that was a great quali.
Bug that Sky interview on the radio was horrible. It should be ditched, just like that ridiculous quali format.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
8th October 2016, 8:08
Quite. it just doesn’t feel right when the media speak to the drivers when they are in the car. Just leave them in peace some of the time! They are under enough pressure from what the team tells them.
Anyway, Good performance by Rosberg and Hamilton. Great by both Hass drivers too! Shame for Williams but Bottas did a really good job from 11th last race. I feel he should be able to do a decent job again as he will start on a fresh set of tyres.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th October 2016, 8:16
@paeschli Don’t think it was anything to do with Sky, it was on the world feed so it will have been FOM.
But I don’t think it added anything and it sounded very stilted. A guy’s just taken pole position, the next thing we want to hear is not some random guy begging him not to swear.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 8:19
Ha ha @keithcollantine
Indeed. The most emphatic part of that interview was that: “Please don’t swear” (or this new format of interview will be called off).
caci99
8th October 2016, 8:26
What happened there? On our TV channel we couldn’t hear that?
Great qualification session indeed.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 8:44
On Rosberg’s in-lap at the end of Q3, Johnny Herbert (I think, voice clarity was poor) got on the radio to interview Rosberg. As @keithcollantine mentioned, it was most likely by FOM, since I heard it on the C4 telecast.
Peppermint-Lemon (@)
8th October 2016, 13:01
Actually I feel interviews like that are a great addition to the coverage. They should be done mid race too.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 16:26
That might be the only place the media can get a word out of Hamilton! :-D
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
8th October 2016, 21:51
The mid-race interviews during pace-car in Indycar are quite comon, no? Maybe liberty’s influence already then?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th October 2016, 17:47
@peppermint-lemon
A thousand times no! I hate when they do that in other championships.
x303 (@x303)
8th October 2016, 20:46
Oh my. Does that really exist in other series?
pastaman (@)
8th October 2016, 22:19
@peppermint-lemon I hope that was a joke!
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
8th October 2016, 8:05
Vettel getting outqualified by an almost 37-year-old will not go down well with Maurizio. Good effort from Kimi though, thought he was driving the MP4-20 for a moment there!
Tayyib Abu
8th October 2016, 8:07
People were too quick to write Kimi off. He is still quick enough to challenge for points. Vettel needs to step up,
dex022 (@dex022)
8th October 2016, 8:10
Remember how old Mansel or Prost were in 92 and 93? With cars that u actually needed muscles to drive? What is this only embryo drivers can drive attitude? In today time with these cars that one skinny kid can drive why Rai would not be able to drive them fast?
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
8th October 2016, 16:49
@dex022 The oldest F1 drivers were in the 50s when I’m sure you needed plenty of muscles (and balls) to drive fast – those guys wouldn’t have been as successful in modern cars. Modern F1 is a quite different, the overall performance level is vastly higher, higher power, more torque, greater downforce – and the margins are much smaller (gaps between teams and drivers on the grid are down to hundreds and tenths rather than whole seconds). This means everything has to be optimised and from their early 30s most drivers will be in decline to some extent because of reducing physical ability (and not just strength). A good driver can overcome it for so long with his ability but the point comes when a driver will be too far from the optimum that a younger driver is required.
Oscar (@oscar)
8th October 2016, 21:30
One of Kimi’s best qualis in 2016 so far (if not the best) Vs. a regular one from Seb.
But Kimi should still outqualify Seb in ALL the remaining qualis to beat him.
Kimi is doing better than expected, while Seb is doing worst (plus some bad luck). Nevertheless, I think Maurizio will keep looking at the bigger picture.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
8th October 2016, 8:06
Excellent times for Rosberg, Raikkonen, Verstappen and the Haas boys! Big kudos to Palmer too! Hamilton never seemed to match Rosberg’s pace, let’s see tomorrow if there is some rain. McLaren was barely better than last year.
Martin
8th October 2016, 8:06
Brilliant Qualy. Was like being back in ’12 again.
dex022 (@dex022)
8th October 2016, 8:06
Ros is on it this season,he really,really wants it. Ham as ever very close,really nothing to chose between them.
Tayyib Abu
8th October 2016, 8:11
More often than not there is little difference between them. They are both very good racing drivers. Over the last 2 years the biggest difference has been Lewis’ ability to win key moments under pressure. Hopefully from Nico’s point of view that has changed.
dex022 (@dex022)
8th October 2016, 8:48
I think Ham has much more exp it race and title capable cars. Let’s not forget Ham was in title winning car from very start in 07 and he actually got Ron support over the two time world champion. Ros similar like JB for example drove mediocre cars most of the time until Merc buyout of Brawn GP and that car was also mediocre up until 12 or 13. Ham may as well be just slightly faster or even not but he simply had pressure situations for race wins or titles much more then Ros. That is why we saw Ros crumbles under pressure sometimes in 14 and 15. This year Ros has been more stable so he is in good position to win WDC in the end.
Martin
8th October 2016, 10:45
I really don’t see it as Rosberg being more stable. At times he’s looked even more inconsistent than previous seasons. Spain, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Germany and even Malaysia he was questionable. He’s in a good position mainly due to his relative fortune in terms of reliability vs his teammate.
Tayyib Abu
8th October 2016, 12:53
True but all he can do is HIS job. Lewis got poor starts at Australia and Bahrain. He had a bad Qualifying at Baku and was dominated at Singapore. Yeah Lewis has had bad luck but Rosbergs car broke down at Abu Dhabi in 14, Monza 15, Silverstone 14 he had to take a grid pen at Austria. Its sport, your going to have bad luck and good luck. Thats just the wat it goes sonetimes.
frk
8th October 2016, 13:31
@dex022 Totally agree with your analysis. I would add that Nico had also to face a little bit of aversion from media, FIA and, imho, Mercedes Team itself.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 8:08
If tomorrow’s race is half as good as today’s qualy, its going to be a good race.
Miki
8th October 2016, 8:08
Ferrari out qualifies RbR in a out right chassis track by small margin. I dont think its down to engine considering RBR was ahead in tracks like silverstone- Germany etc but this is really a surprise yesterday most of people thought RBR fights with Merc but on dry them starting behind one ferrari
Indina
8th October 2016, 8:30
Max said the setup of both cars were a little off
Kribana (@krichelle)
8th October 2016, 8:09
Kimi… Mercedes…. you know about those red flying starters….
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 8:12
Ferrari seem to have been sand-bagging the practice sessions, since I was expecting Red Bull to be harassing Mercedes in qualy. Kimi and Verstappen on row 2 might prove to be entertaining.
Haas have also impressed, if you consider how they’ve out-qualified the Mercedes-powered Williams.
McLaren had a poor qualifying, and one can only hope for some Alonso magic to save them face in front of Honda management.
Jolyon Palmer in Q2, beating his teammate and both McLarens. He does seem to be walking the talk, finally.
Todfod (@todfod)
8th October 2016, 8:39
Mclaren – Japanese Grand Prix 2015
1) ALO – P14
2) BUT – P16
Gap to leaders – 2.1 seconds
Mclaren – Japanese Grand Prix 2016
1) ALO – P15
2) BUT – P17
Gap to leaders – 2.1 seconds
Take a bow Mclaren .. take a bow (slow clap)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 8:48
Nice stat. McLaren surprised me in a not good way. I was sat here thinking of Alonso sneaking into Q3 before qualy started :-D
Phylyp (@phylyp)
8th October 2016, 9:01
@todfod – do you have the speed trap figures for qualifying? Where were McLaren relative to other teams?
Todfod (@todfod)
8th October 2016, 9:43
Don’t have speed trap figures. But another interesting stat is that Alonso’s quickest time in qualifying in Q2 today was still slower than Rosberg’s pole position time of last year.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
8th October 2016, 10:11
I’ve been wondering for a while Now Why f1fanatic seems to Think McLaren are on a Mighty upswing- they are just as much of a Joke as ever
pastaman (@)
8th October 2016, 22:24
Go Haas! Seeing as this track is somewhat similar to COTA (esses, high speed turns, elevation changes) I hope they can carry this performance over to the home race!