US Grand Prix 2014: Rosberg on pole for Mercedes

Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for Mercedes at the 2014 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, by almost four tenths of a second from team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton has been on a roll of late at Mercedes, but with the 2014 F1 calendar nearing the end it’s Nico Rosberg who took the advantage in qualifying for the 2014 US Grand Prix.

Despite Hamilton heading free practice and Q1, it was Rosberg who put in a stunning lap time in Q2 to lead the pack, and continued that with a lap in Q3 that was nearly four tenths quicker than Hamilton, relegating Hamilton to second place on the grid.

Behind the dominant Mercedes it was Williams who were best with Bottas in third and Massa in fourth, with Daniel Ricciardo taking fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth.

Jenson Button managed to beat his team mate in qualifying to take seventh, but will start in twelfth after a five place penalty for a gearbox change, leaving Magnussen his seventh spot with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, Adrian Sutil’s Sauber and Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus making up the rest of the top ten.

There was much talk of a boycott of the race by the lower teams over the share they get of the F1 pot from Bernie Ecclestone, but although it was only a remote possibility any change was scuppered once Sutil put his Sauber in to Q3; there was no way Sauber would miss the chance of points and a pay day.

But after the loss of both Caterham and Marussia to the administrators since the last race, it’s going to be a slim pack of 18 cars racing round the Circuit of the Americas, which will at least make it easier for Sebastian Vettel – who starts from the pit lane after taking a sixth engine – to make his way through the field.