Hockenheim Qualifying: Rosberg hammers it home

Nico Rosberg rose to the occasion to claim pole position for the German Grand Prix, making the most of a single opportunity in Q3 to guaranteed himself a top spot start on home soil.

Rosberg's best lap of 1:14.363 was good enough to earn him his 27th Formula 1 career pole, and put him tied 6-6 in qualifying against Mercedes teammate and main title rival Lewis Hamilton.

It was particularly sweet for the German who was forced to abort his first attempt, but in the end had only one stab at a flying lap and credit for to him for delivering a superb performance when it mattered.

Rosberg said afterwards, "It was a great feeling, it was a great lap, but I also had extra fuel, in case I needed to do a third lap."

Hamilton went on the attack a few minutes later and was up by a tenth in the first sector but then overdid it into the hairpin, which in the end cost him vital time and forced him to settle for second best.

The reigning F1 world champion's body language clearly suggested he was miffed, but denied it was his fault, "It has been a good weekend. I had no problems. I had the pace today just didn't finish it off. I didn't lock up. It should be a good day for Mercedes tomorrow."

Chasing hard, as has become the custom of late, was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who dug deep to set the third best time and potentially setting himself as the thorn in the side of the Silver Arrows duo.

Red Bull locked out the second row with Max Verstappen fourth fastest. Ahead of the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, fifth and sixth respectively.

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