"Angry" Rosberg takes pole in Mexico

Nico Rosberg has taken his 4th consecutive pole of the 2015 Formula 1 season at Mexico, beating his team mate to the top by just 2 tenths of a second. In a post qualifying interview, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff described to us that Rosberg took pole because he was "angry". It was an impressive effort after Hamilton was on top of him on in both Q1 and Q2.

Pole sitter Nico Rosberg (right).

It was an interesting and entertaining qualifying session(s) and sadly for McLaren's Jenson Button he was out before the first session even began. His car had a problem that the team couldn't identify and with him already receiving a 50 place grid drop they figured he would be starting from the back either way.

Into Q1 and Mercedes were on the pace quickly whilst Red Bull and Ferrari chose to save a set of mediums and went straight to soft tires. Most teams believe that the medium compound will be the preferred race tires. At the end of Q1 Button, Stevens, Rossi, Nasr and Alonso were all knocked out. No surprises there.

Valtteri Bottas in action.

Heading into Q2 we began to see more pace from Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams. Force India looked strong enough to challenge for Q3 but would need to overcome Toro Rosso and Lotus. Early in Q2 Kimi Raikkonen's session was ended with brake problems after he spun at Turn 1. This means he is likely to be starting from 18th or 17th on Sunday. It was unlucky for Kimi as he is in desperate need of a strong result. Towards the end of Q2 the rain began to spit lightly and many thought that Q3 would be an inters session, pushing Red Bull into a strong position. Q2 ended with Raikkonen, Ericsson, Maldonado, Grosjean and Sainz in the drop zone. This saw both Force India's, Red Bulls and 1 Toro Rosso (Verstappen) surprisingly into Q3.

Pastor Maldonado goes through the difficult stadium section on route to his P13 grid slot.

The rain stopped though and Q3 was dry. It saw Mercedes out straight away with Rosberg going faster than Hamilton. Hamilton bounced back to go fastest on his 2nd lap with Rosberg to swiftly reply with an even faster lap. Something seemed to surprisingly click for Nico Rosberg as he looked on another level than his rivals. Towards the end of the session, Hamilton didn't improve thus handing pole position to Rosberg. Behind them Sebastian Vettel was in third and was "giving it everything" but it wasn't enough as he was quite far off Mercedes pace. He finished 3rd. The altitude of the track continued to bring Red Bull into play at Kvyat out qualified team mate Ricciardo for 4th. A distance 6th and 7th was Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa for Williams respectively. The Williams never looked threatening as they struggled for grip through the slow stadium section. Verstappen was alone in 8th and will be looking to cause and upset in the race. Rounding out the top 10 was both Force India's with local hero Sergio Perez ahead of team mate Hulkenberg. Force India are confident that there race pace is more impressive and now they shift full attention to Sunday where they will be looking to cause a stir in the points.

Fans out in force for local hero Sergio "Checo" Perez.

The official order without penalties applied is:

1) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
4) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
6) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
7) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
10) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
11) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
12) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
13) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
14) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
15) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari (5 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
16) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
17) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
18) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
20) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda (50 PLACE GRID PENALTY)

So what should we be watching for in tomorrows race? Firstly, Turn 1, lap 1. We saw it in Japan and last time out in the US. Lewis Hamilton isn't afraid to get dirty and aggressive. I personally thought that in the US his wheels clearly weren't on full lock and the move on Rosberg was misjudged and wrong. However the run to Turn 1 in Mexico is just a little under 1km and slip stream should see 2 cars going through there side by side. Further back, can Williams get a jump on the Renault powered cars and and can Force India truly bounce back from a disappointing qualifying? Find out tomorrow when the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix gets underway!

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Long straights should favor Mercedes power in Mexico. - 2015 Mexican Grand Prix Preview

In just a couple of days till the first practice session for the newly reinstated Mexican Grand Prix will be taking place. The last time Formula 1 visited the country was back in 1992 and it saw Nigel Mansell take victory. Now 2015 will see a similar layout used but not exactly the same. The track has been repaved and revamped with the notable changes being the removal of the classic "esses" and the removal of the last corner parabolica type "Peraltada" with the new circuit cutting through a baseball stadium and joining back on the circuit halfway through the old Peraltada.

The Red arrow points to the old Peraltada whilst the Orange markings represents Mexico's main straights.

The image above shows the main straights (Orange) on the new Mexican Grand Prix circuit. For me I think its the point of interest on the circuit this weekend. As the teams have never run on it we can't be 100% sure of who will be the strongest but it looks as though it's going to be a power hungry circuit. Teams such as Red Bull and McLaren should find trouble as teams will most likely close up on the main straight and then overtake on the second biggest straight that follows after Turns 1, 2 and 3. The teams the circuit should suit are Mercedes, Williams, Force India and Lotus. In other words, the Mercedes powered teams. Here is what to watch for this weekend:

Force India

Force India have been a team to watch for many races and Mexico won't change that. Firstly there main battle to contend with in the Constructors Championship is with Red Bull. It is highly unlikely that Force India can take 4th in the Constructors race but they will keep trying everything. Force India will also be hoping to have a strong showing here as there driver Sergio Perez is a proud Mexican. Checo has said he is aiming for a podium to really give his home fans something to cheer about this weekend. With his good run in the last few races I wouldn't doubt him. Nico Hulkenberg will also be hoping he can have a good result after retirement in the previous two races after being in a strong points scoring position.

Force India driver Sergio Perez will be hoping for a good result at his home race.

Turn 1

Turn 1 on lap 1 will be an interesting prospect this weekend as none of the drivers have gone through it before. Decisions on lines to take will be different and could truly bring some extra and unexpected shock exits on the first lap. The new turn 1 at Mexico is a tight 90 degree right hander that has not much room on the track, but plenty of asphalt run off around for the people who cannot make the corner.

The start will be critical in Mexico.

Anyone

Lets remember that no driver has raced a Formula 1 car around this circuit yet meaning that the teams are very inexperienced in terms of set up, they really have no clue and are coming into this weekend on the back foot. This can mean that if a team such as Williams can hit the set up bang on they could find themselves on the top step of the podium. So expect a few teams to be out of place this weekend.

Lastly Lewis Hamilton has now won the Drivers World Championship meaning that the race between Ferrari and Mercedes is relatively irrelevant. So take your eyes of the front of the field and set them on teams like Force India and Lotus who should provide some real thrills and spills this weekend.

Stay here for coverage and analysis over the weekend.
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Hamilton wins 3rd World Title in Austin thriller - US Grand Prix 2015

Lewis Hamilton has been crowned the 2015 Formula 1 World Champion after he took victory at the 2015 US Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg (2nd) and Sebastian Vettel (3rd) did not manage to score enough points to mathematically stay in the championship for the last 3 rounds.

Lewis Hamilton is the 2015 World Drivers Champion!

The race started off in intermediate conditions with Rosberg leading from pole with Hamilton behind in 2nd. Going up to Turn 1 Lewis Hamilton pulled a very risky and arrogant move up the inside by not turning the wheel fully which in turn led his team mate to run wide, dropping him (Rosberg) down to 4th.

However during the first part of the race run in intermediate conditions Mercedes were not the dominant team and Nico Rosberg was dominating Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo briefly led the race and pulled out a huge 9 second lead over the Mercedes. It wasn't to be though as once the switch over to slicks was made on lap 18-19 and Mercedes completely began to dominate to the end.

Red Bull were the strongest in the rain.

Even though when the slicks were on the Mercedes were the fastest on paper, 2 safety cars and 2 Virtual safety cars threatened to ruin the Constructor Champions day. During the first safety car period for Ericsson on lap 24, Sebastian Vettel pitted for mediums to go to the end, whilst Mercedes opted to stay out on softs and do a two stop race to the end. At this point it looked like Ferrari were best suited to win the race, but a VSC period laps later saw Rosberg get a free pit stop and get back ahead of Vettel. Had safety cars and VSC not played a part in pit stops Mercedes would still likely have won, but had only 1 safety car been deployed, Ferrari would have been in the hot seat to win.

There was 8 DNF's throughout the race with crashes and reliability problems. First to retire was Will Stevens on the first few laps and Valtteri Bottas following just laps later, both due to first corner incidents. Grosjean and Raikkonen retired with brake problems whilst Felipe Massa pulled up for an unknown reason. Marcus Ericsson called a safety car out when he lost power on the start of the back straight. Hulkenberg collided with Ricciardo taking him out of the race whilst Daniil Kvyat spun into the wall at the penultimate corner completing the 8 DNF's.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg retired after colliding with Ricciardo.

The strongest race for me was by far run by Max Verstappen after making smart moves and staying patient. Mistakes from other cars allowed him to move up to a strong 4th place, equaling his best finish in Formula 1. Results like this will only reinforce that fact that Verstappen deserves a drive next season as it looks more likely that Toro Rosso won't exist in 2016.

Also another mention to Sergio Perez who had another strong finish with 5th place for Force India. He took his tires many laps and showed true skill in keeping the car out of trouble and waiting for the perfect time to pass Fernando Alonso for 5th. Perez is definately a driver to watch in 2016 as the new b spec Force India seems to suit Perez more than Hulkenberg.

The start of the race.

Lastly Jenson Button drove a typical Jenson race as he continued to fight and took home a strong and unexpected 6th place finish for McLaren-Honda. The Honda power unit seemed to hold up well on the long straights at COTA and it definately it proved reliable which was the main reason McLaren did so well today. Unlucky for Fernando Alonso to miss out on points.

Here is the order:

1) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
4) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
5) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
6) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
7) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
9) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
11) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
12) Alex Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
13) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault (DNF)
14) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes (DNF)
15) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari (DNF)
16) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari (DNF)
17) Felipe Massa - Williams (DNF)
18) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes (DNF)
19) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes (DNF)
20) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari (DNF)

So Lewis Hamilton is the World Champion and Mercedes are Constructors Champions leaving the mid field teams to be the most important ones in the championship now. McLaren v Sauber v Toro Rosso and Force India v Red Bull? It was a great race to watch today in the US and every team and driver had ups and downs. The next race will be run in Mexico and its a circuit that will favor a strong power unit. More to follow.

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