2015 Spanish Grand Prix Sunday - Spanish Grand Prix

This has been a pretty swift warm-up lap from Rosberg. He'll be hoping that he hasn't strung the field out too much. Hamilton certainly doesn't seem to be in any hurry to stay on his tail.

Rosberg leads the cars down to Turn 1 for the formation lap, as the teams rush back to their garages now the grid is clear of cars.

EDD STRAW: "If the two Mercedes get away first and second, expect whoever is behind to try a different tyre sequence. So that would mean using the hards in the middle stint. Rosberg did this last year so he could attack Hamilton at the end of the race."

Here's the full grid line-up:

1 Nico Rosberg
2 Lewis Hamilton
3 Sebastian Vettel
4 Valtteri Bottas
5 Carlos Sainz Jr
6 Max Verstappen
7 Kimi Raikkonen
8 Daniil Kvyat
9 Felipe Massa
10 Daniel Ricciardo
11 Romain Grosjean
12 Pastor Maldonado
13 Fernando Alonso
14 Jenson Button
15 Felipe Nasr
16 Marcus Ericsson
17 Nico Hulkenberg
18 Sergio Perez
19 Will Stevens
20 Roberto Merhi

LAWRENCE BARRETTO: "We're looking at two or three-stop race this afternoon, with the top three drivers - Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel - holding one new set of the mediums and one new set of the hards. Kimi Raikkonen, in seventh, has two new sets of hards and a fresh set of mediums."

A large percentage of the crowd is here to cheer for Spanish hero Fernando Alonso.

He starts down in 13th, but is confident this should be the race where McLaren scores its first points of 2015.

That means top Spaniard in the field is Carlos Sainz Jr, who led Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen as the dynamic rookie pairing filled row three.

Sainz is realistic about his chances in the race, suspecting that with a Ferrari and a Williams behind, staying in the top five is a long shot. But yesterday was a wonderful moment of glory - as Toro Rosso shaded Red Bull again.

Carlos Sainz Jr

Barcelona's Catalunya circuit is going to continue its record of not hosting a wet grand prix since Michael Schumacher's incredible 1996 victory - sunny skies over the grid again.

Behind the Mercedes, Ferrari feels it's lost a little ground to the champion team, and Williams thinks it's catching Ferrari - so a Sebastian Vettel vs Valtteri Bottas 'best of the rest' fight is in prospect.

Welcome to AUTOSPORT Live's coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix.

We're just over 10 minutes away from a start like no other so far this year - for the simple fact that Lewis Hamilton ISN'T on pole position.

Is Nico Rosberg's first pole since last November the start of a fightback that will electrify the title fight, or a fleeting moment of comfort before Hamilton storms further away in the points?

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton

We're about to find out...