The German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring is Sunday, July 7, at 7:30 a.m. EDT. Be sure to catch all the action on CNBC. For race fans out there that will not have access to CNBC when the lights go out, be sure to catch the live stream online by signing up for CNBC Live TV here.
Mercedes-Benz has taken their sixth pole position of 2013 when Lewis Hamilton produced a final lap miracle at the end of the third qualifying session. Despite the German team's remarkable pole position strike rate this season, the pole at Germany, its home race, came as a surprise for the team.
"I'm a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest, because I have been struggling since first practice this weekend," admitted Lewis Hamilton. "We were so far off this morning that we took the set-up back to where we started, tried to analyse everything and just worked really hard to improve it."
The pace of the Red Bulls have been unmatched during the practice sessions as the Mercedes-Benz cars were a desperate second off the pace of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. A home race for the German driver, Hockenheimring means as much to the Red Bull number one driver as it does to the Mercedes F1 team.
A last second Hail Mary was delivered between the end of Free Practice 3 and the start of qualifying as the team of engineers scrambled to find a sweet spot for the Mercedes-Benz F1 W04.
"I'm so grateful for the work the engineers and mechanics did for me," said Lewis Hamilton. "and it's all down to them really." Hamilton delivered a 1:29.398, taking pole away from Vettel by just 0.103 seconds.
"Congratulations to Lewis on pole - he did a great job. It was very tight today, I tried everything I had," said a gracious Vettel.
"Lewis put in a superb lap to take pole position," said team principal Ross Brawn. "He hasn't been comfortable with the car since his first run yesterday but I could sense a quiet determination as he went into the session and he absolutely delivered."
Unfortunately, the other end of the Mercedes garage shows a stark difference in fortune. While Mercedes-Benz teammate Nico Rosberg won at Silverstone, the German racing driver struggled during qualifying and was ultimately eliminated at second quali. Rosberg will start at 11th.
The top ten starters at Hockenheimring are Lewis Hamilton on pole, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, and Nico Hulkenberg.
The German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring is Sunday, July 7, at 7:30 a.m. EDT. Be sure to catch all the action on CNBC. For race fans out there that will not have access to CNBC when the lights go out, be sure to catch the live stream online by signing up for CNBC Live TV here.
