21 Jun 2015

Hamilton on Austrian pole

7:02 pm on 21 June 2015

The defending world champion and series leader Lewis Hamilton has secured the 45th pole position of his career when he outpaced Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in a dramatic rain-affected qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Austria, 2015.

Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Austria, 2015. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The 30-year-old Briton survived a last-gasp spin at the first corner of his final fast run to stay on top thanks to 29-year-old Rosberg following suit by running off track at the final corner in his final push for pole.

For Germany's Rosberg, faced with a long trudge back to the pits, it was an ignominious end to a frustrating top-ten shootout after he had appeared to be fastest for most of the session.

"It was quite a difficult qualifying with the track conditions," admitted Hamilton, who is now third, alongside four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in the all-time list of pole-winners.

Only Brazilian Ayrton Senna on 65 and German Michael Schumacher on 68 have taken more poles.

Hamilton took his pole with a best lap of 1min 8.455sec, outpacing Rosberg by 0.2 seconds. Vettel was third fastest for Ferrari.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was fourth for Williams ahead of German Nico Hulkenberg, fifth for Force India, and Finn Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams.

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen continued his impressive rookie season by qualifying seventh for Toro Rosso ahead of Russian Daniil Kvyat of senior sister team Red Bull, Brazilian Felipe Nasr of Sauber and Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus.

The struggling McLaren Honda team was already swamped by problems with Briton Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, requiring a complete new power unit with gearbox and two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso adding a new gearbox to his earlier new engine.

This meant that both men are set for 25-place grid penalties for Sunday's race which, in turn, means they will start from the back of the grid and have to take timed penalties.

Both Red Bulls will be just in front of them due to penalties imposed for exceeding the limit of engine changes - Daniel Ricciardo had the 14th fastest time.

Button ended up finishing 17th in Q1, one place behind Mexican Sergio Perez of Sauber and one ahead of another unexpected flop Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

These three finished ahead of the regular back of the field Manor Marussia drivers Spaniard Roberto Merhi and Briton Will Stevens.

"I really don't know what happened," said Raikkonen, who has denied reports that he has been offered a substantial pay cut to stay with the Italian team.