Larry Herman

Time limit's up. If you didn't watch qualifying yet, you shouldn't be looking here.

Once again Ricciardo proves that he is one of the new elite. Even though this is their kind of track, the Red Bulls are certainly getting closer regardless. I can see either Ricciardo or Vettel giving the Mercs a true challenge for the win tomorrow. Based on his times Alonso will be right in the mix as well. Should be a very exciting race.

mongrelcat

^^ Here's hoping for RB to challenge, afraid it will be Lewis "Elizabeth Taylor" Hamilton for the win though.

Agree it should be a good one!

Ray S

Very tight at the top.....

Shame about Kimi......

Saturday Qualifying Session
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes GP 1:45.681
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:45.688
3. Daniel Ricciardo Autralian Red Bull-Renault 1:45.854
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:45.902
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:45.907
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1:46.000
7. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:46.170
8. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1:46.187
9. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.250
10. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault 1:47.362
Q2
11. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.943
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault 1:46.989
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:47.308
14. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.333
15. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 1:47.575
16. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:47.812
Q1
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.324
18. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault 1:49.063
19. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari 1:49.440
20. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault 1:50.405
21. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Ferrari 1:50.473
22. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 1:52.287

ilko

Good race! Unfortunately I may have to watch it again.

I went to COTA for the WEC race this weekend (can't say enough great things about the venue, atmosphere, and racing!) and caught an early flight back this morning. JetBlue so directv. Perfect timing! I've actually never watched the US broadcast and was curious to see it. What a farce. The commentators are incompetent at best, don't know half about what was going on at the track, and keep repeating the same talking points. Commercial breaks. REALLY? Talking over team radio. Missed practically all the post race activities other than anthems and Eddie Jordan. They have just one guy at the race and he wonders aimlessly around. Seriously, why does it have to be so bad? Ugh.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, great job Lewis!! This season is getting quite exciting!

ny991

Yup, Lewis pretty much blew them away. The only listing I saw was Univision, and my Spanish is lacking, so I have no idea what they were saying. Talking over the team radio is totally inexcusable!

My993C2

Now that bad luck has sort of evened itself out between Hamilton and Rosberg, things are definitely tight between these two from here on out. But Hamilton appears to have the momentum plus he's been here before battling for a championship. This is new territory battling for the WDC for Rosberg.

Role reversal from the 2013 race when Vettel in the superior car easily ran away from the field and 2014 when Hamilton in the superior car easily ran away from the field. But just because Hamilton dominated this race, it was still a good race to watch. It looked like Alonso would finish in 2nd place prior to the safety car, but once he pitted during the safety car both Red Bulls were able to make the two stop strategy work (just barely) and there was nothing Alonso could do in the final stint. Plus there were some other good battles in the mid field pack making it a good race. But holy cow did Bottas's tires ever fall off the cliff in the closing lap of the race.

Expect the Mercs to dominate again in Suzuka. But don't count our the Red Bulls should the Mercs falter.

FGL28

It was a good race for the other teams. Hammy was on form today. I would have liked to see Nico race as it would have made it interesting.

MJSpeed

If the Mercs are reliable no one stands a chance. The RedBulls are best of the rest and Ferrari is the third or fourth best car out there, Alonso is just making it look a ton better.

Rosberg was psychologically and physically beaten in Monza and I don't think he'll recover from that. When you hear him in Monza pleaded with his race engineer not to give him the gap intervals as Lewis was catching that's when you know it's game over.

There's still plenty of racing to go, but Nico is now behind and I don't think he can pass Lewis from here on out; barring reliability, drover's lack of judgement or other unforeseen issues that could take Lewis out of contention.

It's too bad Horner didn't have testicular fortitude to tell his has been driver (I hate to say this but, I'm starting to think A.Wayne was correct about Vettel) to move over and let Ricciardo go by, I hope those points don't come back to haunt Daniel at the end. At this point in the year/championship Ricciardo has earned and should have number 1 status within the team.

multi21

Finn,

Where are you? Ordering the interior colors for your next 458 Speciale?

Boy has Rosberg had some bad fortune lately. With 5 races to go, I'm afraid the last race of the year will be a winner take all affair because I can't see either mercedes driver getting 51 points clear of the other before Abu Dhabi. I forsee more unreliable race days for both before that last double points race

Flying Finn

I wish... Visited the holy grail, had lunch at one of your favorite restaurants...
Fantastic place, to me, maybe the best part was Cavallino. Food & wine were great and just to think who sat before me where I was sitting gave me goose bumps.

Gilles' old car was also a real "goose bump" for me, almost as cool was Mario's. Same for old Daytona couple Vic Elford once drove, really cool.

Bad luck is pretty even now at MB. Hammy is on a roll but I don't think it's nearly as done as many think it is. I'm sure MJ and I will have some friendly arguments over lunch about that soon...
I'm of course rooting for him (vs. Hamilton although he's really become a much better guy to like this season) but rooting or not, there's not much between. I just hope both have reliability for the rest of the reason (Ricciardo is too far back anyway) and it comes down to driving who wins the WDC.

My boy Kimi for the first time had the car the way he wanted but it seems the red car doesn't like to be behind other cars, much better without traffic.

Mood at Ferrari was pretty somber, spoke with one guy and the departure of Montezemolo is seen as a real shame because the corporate mentality is now the mantra which they fear will turn into sedans etc. (raising of the production limit and not having a wait list was/is an immediate sign of that).

multi21

Thanks for the pics Petu!!! Loved the Cavallino restaurant and like you, we were all in awe of the greats that had been in there before us and the stories the staff had of all the greats. Fortunately, we were there just after Alonso had won the Malaysian GP and the constructors trophy was the new addition in the museum and the atmosphere quite cheery.

Even you had to be impressed with how all the Ferrari F1 champions are enshrined in the museum --- even the last Ferrari champion .

A.Wayne

People visit because of Cavallino, why you thought it was the factory ..... and not to worry , KR will get closer to Alonso, they have side by side parking at maranello next year...

333pg333

Pity that Ricci had a power failure and did well to make 3rd. He probably wouldn't have won but he'd have made Lucy's job harder after the SC pulled in and would have beaten Vettel for 2nd.
Boring as Bat**** track though. Wish they'd pull that from the calendar.

A.Wayne

DR should have taken out Vettel , at least once .....

333pg333

He came close and without the 100+ hp he was missing. Shame.