Nico Rosberg not as good as Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, but he does not have to be

Graham Caygill writes Nico Rosberg recovered to at least finish second in qualifying on Saturday for the Mexican Grand Prix, doing all he has to to stay on a title track.

Nico Rosberg will start second next to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton at the front of the grid for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix. Lars Baron / Getty Images / AFP / October 29, 2016

F1 Mexican Grand Prix qualifying times

1 Lewis Hamilton 1:18.704; 2 Nico Rosberg +0.254; 3 Max Verstappen +0.350; 4 Daniel Ricciardo +0.429; 5 Nico Hulkenberg +0.626; 6 Kimi Raikkonen +0.672; 7 Sebastian Vettel +0.677; Valtteri Bottas +0.847; 9 Felipe Massa +1.328; 10 Carlos Sainz Jr +1.674; E-Q2 – 11 Fernando Alonso; 12 Sergio Perez; 13 Jenson Button; 14 Kevin Magnussen; 15 Marcus Ericsson; 16 Pascal Wehrlein; E-Q1 – 17 Esteban Gutierrez; 18 Daniil Kvyat; 19 Felipe Nasr; 20 Esteban Ocon; 21 Romain Grosjean; DNS – 22 Jolyon Palmer

You would have thought by the reaction from Mercedes-GP team principal Toto Wolff that Nico Rosberg had won the championship when he crossed the start-finish line in the dying seconds of qualifying yesterday for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.

Wolff punched the air with delight as Rosberg’s time of 1 minute 18.968 seconds came up on the computer screens.

It was 0.254 seconds slower than that of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but the German's effort secured himself second place on the grid when moments earlier he had looked on target for his worst starting spot in a race since September 2015.

Rosberg had appeared to be struggling having only been sixth quickest in the second part of qualifying.

After everyone had done their first laps in the top-10 shootout to decide who gets pole, not only was he slower than Hamilton, but he was also behind the two Red Bull Racing cars of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Rosberg is a proud man and would not settle willingly for being beaten by Hamilton, but given the championship standings he does not need to beat the Briton.

A 26-point advantage means that Rosberg can afford to finish second twice and once in third in the remaining three races and still be world champion come the end of the season at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 27, even if Hamilton wins all three events.

Rosberg has some margin for error but not a huge amount, and certainly not enough to have allowed himself to start behind the two Red Bulls, who continue to improve as the season goes on and establish themselves as Mercedes’ main rival.

Rosberg went out for his final quick lap and held his nerve as, despite losing time to Hamilton in the first split, he managed to match the Briton through the second and third sectors.

That proved enough to edge ahead of the Red Bull men and claim second spot.

Wolff’s relief will have come not from Rosberg making his championship dreams easier, but from his team achieving their maximum performance, with Hamilton’s 59th pole coming with the team’s 12th front row lock out of the year.

“There is more grip on the track now, last year we were sliding around a lot more, today it felt more like a race track,” Hamilton said of his lap of 1:18.704.

“There is no real tactic. I turned up to do the job and I’ll try and do the same thing I did last week. I’m looking forward to the race and the car feels great.”

Nico Hulkenberg was an impressive fifth in his Force India, just 0.6 seconds adrift of Hamilton, and the German was ahead of the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were eighth and ninth for Williams with Carlos Sainz completing the top 10 in his Toro Rosso.

The large crowd at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez had little to cheer yesterday as both home drivers had disappointing displays in qualifying.

Sergio Perez, who has already finished on the podium twice this season (Monaco and Azerbaijan) could do no better than 12th fastest and was more than half-a-second slower than Force India teammate Hulkenberg in the second session.

A spin on his final lap in the first part of qualifying ensured that Esteban Gutierrez was eliminated in his Haas car and will start the race from 17th on the grid.

McLaren had put in one of their strongest races of the season in the United States Grand Prix last weekend, but they will face a tall order to repeat that with Fernando Alonso starting 11th and teammate Jenson Button a farther two places back.

The qualifying session proved to be a non-event for Renault’s Jolyon Palmer after the team discovered a crack in his chassis following practice, preventing the Briton from going on track to set a time.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport