Lewis Hamilton grabs Spanish Grand Prix from Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton stole pole position away from Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Nico Rosberg, as Ferrari slipped behind Red Bull during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix
Both Mercedes drivers made mistakes on their first runs in Q3, with Hamilton locking his brakes heavily at Turn 10.
But the reigning world champion recovered to bag pole on his second run by 0.280 seconds from team-mate Rosberg.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified third fastest for Red Bull, six tenths behind Rosberg's Mercedes and just over two tenths clear of new team-mate Max Verstappen, who had split the Mercedes after the first runs in Q3.
Ferrari endured a disappointing session, after looking close to Mercedes' pace in practice.
Kimi Raikkonen was fifth fastest, just 0.026s slower than Verstappen, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel qualified 0.221s further back in sixth.
The Williams of Valtteri Bottas beat Carlos Sainz Jr's Toro Rosso to seventh spot by just over a tenth, with the Force India of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso's McLaren-Honda (the team in Q3 for the first time this season) rounding out the top 10.
Nico Hulkenberg's Force India split the two McLaren-Hondas, failing to make the top-10 shootout by just 0.011s.
Jenson Button was 12th fastest, just under a tenth clear of Toro Rosso returnee Daniil Kvyat.
Romain Grosjean sat inside the top 10 after the first runs in Q2, but fell back to 14th after disappointingly failing to improve on his second run.
He was split from Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez by another impressive performance from Renault's Kevin Magnussen, who qualified 15th fastest in his under-developed car.
The Williams of Felipe Massa fell unexpectedly in Q1, after he aborted his second run.
He ended up 19th fastest, just behind the Renault of Jolyon Palmer, who briefly looked set to make it through to Q2 before a late improvement by Button's McLaren.
Palmer swore over team radio when informed he had just missed the cut.
Sauber and Manor brought up the rear of the grid.
Marcus Ericsson trailed Felipe Nasr after their first runs, but improved substantially on his second to finish 0.377s clear of his Sauber team-mate.
Pascal Wehrlein also turned tables on Manor team-mate Rio Haryanto during their second runs, with a lap that put him 0.194s clear of the Indonesian and less than two tenths shy of Nasr's Sauber.
PROVISIONAL STARTING GRID
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m22.000s | - |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m22.280s | 0.280s |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m22.680s | 0.680s |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m23.087s | 1.087s |
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m23.113s | 1.113s |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m23.334s | 1.334s |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m23.522s | 1.522s |
8 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m23.643s | 1.643s |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m23.782s | 1.782s |
10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m23.981s | 1.981s |
11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m24.203s | - |
12 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m24.348s | - |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m24.445s | - |
14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m24.480s | - |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m24.625s | - |
16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m24.778s | - |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m24.903s | - |
18 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m24.941s | - |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m25.202s | - |
20 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m25.579s | - |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m25.745s | - |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m25.939s | - |
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