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Rosberg on pole at Hockenheim

Mark HallamJuly 19, 2014

Nico Rosberg will start from the front at the German Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver claimed pole position after his teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out with a brake failure early in the session.

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Formel 1 Nico Rosberg Hockenheim Training 19.07.2014
Image: AFP/Getty Images

Nico Rosberg sealed pole position in the brilliant Hockenheim sunshine on Saturday. Rosberg completed the lap roughly a quarter of a second quicker than Valtterri Bottas, who will start second on the grid. Bottas' Williams teammate Felipe Massa claimed third on the grid.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow, there are no points for today after all, only for the race, but the task is now definitely doable," Rosberg, who extended his Mercedes contract during the week, said after qualifiying.

Rosberg's task was made all the easier early in the session when Lewis Hamilton crashed out in the other Mercedes. Rosberg and Hamilton have dominated the season so far; winning pole position and the race at every 2014 Grand Prix.

Formel 1 Hamilton Crash Hockenheim Training 19.07.2014
The session was stopped to recover Hamilton's carImage: Getty Images

Hamilton out of the picture

Hamilton spun on entry to the Sachs-Kurve corner in the stadium section at the end of the lap. After careering through the gravel and into the barriers, Hamilton's team radioed in to check on him.

"I'm okay," Hamilton said, breathing heavily and audibly shaken. "I put my foot on the [brake] pedal and something failed."

Replays seemed to show a large cloud of dust coming from Hamilton's front-right wheel, as the front-left locked up. The Mercedes team later confirmed a disc failure on the front-right.

Hamilton was taken to the medical center for precautionary checks but was not hurt in the incident. The Mercedes driver is set to start in 16th place on Sunday, yet he could still prove the main competition for a Rosberg victory. In the world championship hunt, Hamilton took a big bite out of Rosberg's lead in the last race at Silverstone, winning while his German-born teammate retired for the first time this season.

Vettel sixth for the race

Behind Rosberg and the Williams cars, McLaren's impressive rookie Kevin Magnussen claimed fourth on the grid. Magnussen beat the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and defending champion Sebastian Vettel, who will line up fifth and sixth.

Fernando Alonso, Daniil Kvyat, Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 on the grid.

Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen both surprisingly failed to reach the top-10 shootout for pole position - even without competition from Hamilton's Mercedes - qualifiying 11th and 12th. Adrian Sutil fared worst of the German drivers, managing just 17th place for the start of the race on Sunday.