F1: Nico Rosberg says he learned from Bahrain GP qualifying error

Rosberg ended Hamilton's run of four successive poles to start the year with a lap of 1m24.681s at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, beating the 30-year-old by 0.267secs.

At a point in the season when Rosberg appeared to have run out of ideas on how to beat Hamilton, the German finally managed to make his Mercedes team-mate second best.

It was a response to his poor display in Bahrain three weeks ago when Rosberg admitted to poor strategy in Q2 by focusing too much on the race, so heading into Q3 with a lack of rhythm.

"Bahrain was still on my mind," Rosberg admitted after taking pole in Spain.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't make that mistake again, so I got myself in the rhythm in Q2 and it worked very well for me today."

Asked whether his qualifying performance was much needed, he replied: "I needed it sooner rather than later.

"It's one step in the right direction to winning the race this weekend, a good day in the office.

"With overtaking difficult here starting in front is a particularly big advantage."

Despite playing second fiddle to Hamilton virtually all season, Rosberg downplayed any psychological lift he might have gained on this occasion.

"It [pole] is just important for tomorrow's race," added Rosberg. "It's better to start first than second, that's obvious.

"It's good, it's great, I feel happy, so it's good for tomorrow.

"And there will be no different mindset for the race. It's the same thing, I try to go for it, go for the best possible result.

"With the car I have it will be to try and go for the win, and take the advantage of starting first."