Preview II

Ferrari and Red Bull struggled to discover the right compromises on downforce. While both teams said finding the right balance for the fast straights and tight corners would be a challenge, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes seemed to arrive in ultra-competitive form. After FP1, their rivals trailed by two seconds. Would they be able to find solutions that lasted through the race?

Then there was the learning curve of the track itself. Driver’s suffered multiple spins, lost suspension corners and for Sergio Perez, a crash at turn 15 that required a new gearbox (with a five-place penalty for the change) just two hours before the start of qualifying. He heroically made the Q3, qualifying second as Lewis Hamilton (who visited the escape road areas all weekend) finally had a crash in Q3 that required a red flag.

When Q3 resumed, there were just minutes remaining. Daniel Riccardo handled the drama with a flyer, going from seventh to third place, both he and  Vettel recording identical times; Ricciardo was first to set the time, so he started ahead on the grid. The grid would be Rosberg, Perez (5-place penalty), Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Kvyat, Bottas, Verstappen, and Hamilton.