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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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