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From press release

Nico Rosberg mastered tricky conditions to claim his fourth pole position of the season, Saturday ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W05 (Photo: WRi2)

"That was one of the trickiest qualifying sessions I can remember," said Mercedes' team principal Paddy Lowe. "We had to deal with very mixed conditions throughout, swapping between intermediate and option tyres, and these are the days when it's so easy to get things wrong as a team."

Rosberg's performance secured Mercedes' eighth pole in nine grands prix this season.

Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel (Photo: WRi2)

"Wow, what a qualifying. It was so tricky out there this afternoon with the rain and the conditions changing so quickly. It's very satisfying to get everything right in these conditions and be able to come out on top," said the German.

"I remembered that we were losing three or four seconds in the last corners when it was very wet so there was an opportunity to make a real improvement and that I should keep going.

Adrian Sutil, Sauber C33 (Photo: WRi2)

"It's a great opportunity to start the race from pole."

Having pulled out of his last lap as the track conditions were improving, Lewis Hamilton was only sixth fastest during Q3.

Sebastian Vettel, RB10 (Photo: WRi2)

Qualifying results* - British Grand Prix (round 9 of 19)
1.Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W05) - 1'35"766 - Q3
2.Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'37"386 - Q3
3.Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1'38"200 - Q3
4.Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'38"329 - Q3
5.Kevin Magnussen (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1'38"417 - Q3
6.Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W05) - 1'39"232 - Q3
7.Sergio Perez (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'40"457 - Q3
8.Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'40"606 - Q3
9.Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'40"707 - Q3
10.Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'40"855 - Q3
11.Romain Grosjean (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'38"496 - Q2
12.Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) - 1'38"709 - Q2
13.Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'40"912 - Q2
14.Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'44"018 - Q2
15.Adrian Sutil (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - no time - Q2
16.Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'45"318 - Q1
17.Felipe Massa (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'45"695 - Q1
18.Max Chilton (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) - 1'39"800 - Q2**
19.Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F14-T) - 1'45"935 - Q1
20.Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F14-T) - 1'46"684 - Q1
21.Marcus Ericsson (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 1'49"421 - Q1
22.Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 1'49"625 - Q1

*Unofficial results
**Five-position grid penalty

Sergio Pérez, Force India VJM07 (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM



Caterham would not be at Silverstone if not for the team's mysterious new owners.

That is the claim of Colin Kolles, well-known in the F1 paddock for leading backmarker teams including Midland, Spyker and HRT.

Now he has been brought in as an 'advisor' by Caterham's new Swiss-Middle Eastern owners, and he promptly installed the former Minardi driver Christijan Albers as team boss.

Apart from that, almost nothing is known about who Malaysian aviation entrepreneur Tony Fernandes sold the Leafield-based team to.

"I suppose you probably know as much about the overall management structure and the investor as I do," Gerry Hughes, Caterham's track boss, admitted to reporters at Silverstone.

Mystery and scepticism therefore abounds, but German-based Romanian Kolles - earlier linked with the potential new F1 entrant Forza Rossa - insists Caterham's owners should be applauded.

"I did not expect to return to formula one in this way," he is quoted by Speed Week.

"We have been working for quite a while on various projects, and then the Caterham plans suddenly took shape.

"But if we had not come, Caterham would not be at Silverstone. We have saved this team and done Tony Fernandes a big favour.

Caterham garages (Photo: Caterham F1 Team)

"We have made sure he can leave formula one with his head high, as without us, the racing team would have collapsed before Silverstone," Kolles revealed.

As for the investors, Kolles said there are no plans for enlightenment.

"They will remain invisible," he said.

"In recent years I have had so many problems with investors who meddled too much -- at Midland, Spyker, Force India and most recently the Carabante family at HRT.

"This time we have people who leave those at the front to do the work, while the investors stay in the background.

"The names would not tell you anything," Kolles insisted. "They are Dubai and Kuwait nationals from Switzerland."

New boss Albers, meanwhile, told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he cannot rule out making changes at Caterham.

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