Qualifying - Nico Rosberg grabs his first pole at Spain

Nico Rosberg secured his first pole this season and his first ever at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya with his first flying lap in Q3 - he beat his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as Sebastian Vettel came third.

Qualifying started with a 0% risk of rain, and an air temperature of 24C, track temperature 45C and nice conditions for quick laps. It was particularly nice for McLaren Honda, who for the first time this year advanced with both cars to Q2, with Fernando Alonso fifth and Jenson Button sixth. It was Ericsson, Hulkenberg, Perez, Stevens and Merhi out of the first quali session.

During Q2, both Mercedes, both Ferraris and Valtteri Bottas secured good laps for the top five spots, and opted not to go for another run and save tyres and they were safe of the calculated cut-off at 1m 26.2. Knocked out by the end were Grosjean, Maldonado, Alonso, Button and Nasr.

Onto the shootout bit, Nico Rosberg took P1 in a very good first attempt, and would not need any more - Hamilton’s best was two tenths off.

Very impressive were both Toro Rosso’s, climbing to fifth and sixth with local Carlos Sainz Jr in front of Max Verstappen. Congratulations on a superb job.

Qualifying classification at Catalunya:
1 Nico Rosberg — 1:24.681
2 Lewis Hamilton — +0.267
3 Sebastian Vettel — +0.777
4 Valtteri Bottas — +1.013
5 Carlos Sainz — +1.455
6 Max Verstappen — +1.568
7 Kimi Raikkonen — +1.733
8 Daniil Kvyat — +1.948
9 Felipe Massa— +2.076
10 Daniel Ricciardo