Rosberg grabs pole in Germany

HOCKENFEIM — Nico Rosberg grabbed pole position ahead of his world championship leading Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for Sunday’s German Grand Prix with a bold fastest lap in the final minutes of a tense qualifying session Saturday. The 31-year-old German produced a startling best lap of one minute and 14.323 seconds to outpace the defending three-time champion by 0.123 seconds, having been forced to abort his first flying lap in the third qualifying session due to electrical problems. When Hamilton went for his final lap, he was unable to improve and regain the initiative as Rosberg, on home soil, set himself up for a chance to regain the lead in the drivers’ championship. It was Rosberg’s 27th career pole. Behind the two Silver Arrows came Australian Daniel Ricciardo, in his 100th Grand Prix. He was third fastest for Red Bull ahead of his team-mate Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, the pair slightly more than three-tenths behind. The two Ferraris of four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth ahead of another German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams, Mexican Sergio Perez in the second Force India and Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Williams. Mercedes fined for unsafe release of Hamilton Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team was fined 10,000 euros Saturday for his ‘unsafe release’ from the pits during the final free practice for Sunday’s German Grand Prix. The defending world champion escaped a reprimand or penalty, after being called to see the stewards following the incident in the early part of the morning session, when he was released from the Mercedes garage into the path of Frenchman Romain Grosjean’s Haas. Grosjean had to bring his car to a halt to avoid a collision. In a statement, the stewards said that the Mercedes team had admitted releasing Hamilton when it was unsafe to do so. The Briton has already been reprimanded twice this season and a third reprimand would have brought a 10-place grid penalty.