Yahoo Autos With Hamilton Missing Q3 Again, Rosberg Takes Sochi Pole
Through the first three races of the 2016 Formula 1 season, reigning champion Lewis Hamilton has three times lost to teammate Nico Rosberg. Each time, however, it seemed inevitable that this was just a bump on the way to another Hamilton title, a brief stumbling block to overcome discussed in a championship speech. With another nightmarish qualifying result for Hamilton, the door is wide open for Rosberg to win what would be his seventh straight Grand Prix, and at some point, one has to wonder when the stumbling block starts being a stumbling block and actually becomes a shift in momentum away from the once-unstoppable Lewis Hamilton.
Today's issue was just the same as in China, another sudden loss of power during qualifying. This weekend the problem didn't surface until Hamilton had already locked himself into Q3, so he'll start from tenth instead of the dreaded back of the grid, but the nine-spot difference between him and the suddenly dominant Rosberg is bigger here, at one of the harder-to-pass new tracks of the last ten years, than it is at most circuits. Not only will he have to overcome eight other cars early to even find himself battling his fellow Mercedes, he'll have to work his way past both Ferraris, both Red Bulls, both Williams and Max Verstappen, perhaps not the fastest but certainly the most unpredictable of the drivers for a suddenly-strong Toro Rosso program.
Hamilton's loss would be the gain of Valtteri Bottas, as the Williams driver returns to a front row starting spot he briefly got familiar with in 2014 thanks in no small part to a five position grid penalty for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who will start seventh instead of second thanks to his Friday gearbox change. Ferrari and Williams teammates Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, once teammates themselves, will fill out the second row and likely have the best chance at unseating Rosberg, although that's a tall order for anyone not driving a Mercedes entry.
The day was a light disappointment for the American Haas F1 program, who are still exceeding the program's initial expectations by making Q2 with both cars, but in starting 15th and 16th, have yet to repeat the highs of an unbelievable Grand Prix of Bahrain. Even as they receive fewer accolades than they did to start the year, it's still worth noting that their entirely new team is just three spots behind the top McLaren, and given their race form this season, in a good position to leapfrog both entries from the legendary team before lap 20.
The Grand Prix of Russia airs on CNBC, not the NBC Sports Network this weekend, at 7:00 AM Eastern.
