Japanese Grand Prix: Rosberg takes poll as Kvyat suffers huge crash

Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix, during a qualifying session which saw a major crash. Hamilton was just 0.076 seconds slower in the first laps, but was prevented from challenging his rival due to a crash by Daniil Kvyat which ended the session early, meaning no driver could undertake a final lap. Kvyat rolled his Red Bull car the hit the barriers, after putting a wheel on the grass in the run-up to the Hairpin, but fortunately walked away from the accident. Starting behind the Mercedes teammates tomorrow will be Valterri Bottas of Williams in third and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, won last weekend’s Singapore GP, in fourth. The next row back is also a Williams-Ferrari combination, with Felipe Massa starting fifth and Kimi Raikkonen next to him in sixth. Jenson Button, who is rumoured to be ready to announce his retirement this weekend, will start back in 16th after another poor session from McLaren.