 Despite narrowly beating Ricciardo in Q1, Nico Rosberg was unable to improve his time in Q2, and qualified in seventeenth overall.His team later defended the decision to have him compete in an older specification of the Mercedes F1 W03 as they felt it was better-suited to Rosberg's driving style, particularly when it came to heating his tyres.The Saubers of Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi filled out the eighth row of the grid, with the team unable to explain their lack of pace despite early predictions that they could challenge Mercedes for fifth place in the World Constructors' Championship in Austin and Brazil.