On his 111th attempt, Nico Rosberg finally clinched his first Formula 1 pole position in China on Saturday. The feat draws parallel with father Keke’s last pole at Hockenheim in 1986, as the McLaren driver led team-mate Alain Prost. Today Rosberg Junior, whose previous best was second, headed Michael Schumacher.
“That went really well and this is a very special feeling,” said the 26-year-old, who made his F1 debut with Williams in 2006. “I’m now obviously looking forward to starting first in the race.”
Like his team-mate, Rosberg admits that Mercedes may not be so rapid on Sunday, not least as Mercedes will not be able to use its Super DRS as much as in qualifying or practice.
“It’s clear than in the races we’ve not been as quick as in qualifying but we are making progress,” he continued. “We’ll try our best, working on it tonight to see what we can do with the setup. Then we’ll just make the most of it. It’s difficult to predict how we’ll do tomorrow, so let’s just wait and see. But it’s a great feeling.”
Having elected not to perform a final run, instead watching the end of qualifying from the weighing point, Rosberg is pleased to have saved a set of tyres for the race.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:35.121 | 11 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:35.626 | 14 |
| 3. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:35.691 | 13 |
| 4. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 01:35.784 | 13 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:35.898 | 15 |
| 6. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:36.191 | 16 |
| 7. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:36.290 | 14 |
| 8. | S. Perez | Sauber | 01:36.524 | 17 |
| 9. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:36.622 | 17 |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
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| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
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