Barcelona: Mercedes made it a hat-trick of poles as Nico Rosberg clinched Saturday's qualifying session, his second consecutive such success. He beat off his team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes produced their first front-row lockout since last year's Chinese Grand Prix.
While Hamilton had the fastest times in the first two qualifying sessions, Rosberg edged him to win the pole position in 1 minute, 20.718 seconds.
Behind the Mercedes cars on the grid will be world champion Sebastian Vettel followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
Nico Rosberg said after the qualifying session that it was a great feeling to be on pole again. “So far this weekend has been very positive and it's a pleasure to see that the team is improving and fighting through the problems together. I know everyone back at the factory and at home will have been watching this afternoon and it's a great feeling for all of us,” said Rosberg, adding that this is only half of the job completed.
“I have the painful memory of what happened in Bahrain to prove that. We've worked very hard on our race pace but this track is tough for the tyres, particularly with graining. So it will be a big challenge tomorrow and our goal is to make the most of the opportunity we have from starting at the front and get a strong result for the team,” said Rosberg.
Meanwhile Hamilton feels the team did “a great job. “I'm so happy that we got a one-two qualifying result today. It's a real bonus for us to be so high up, and that's all down to the hard work that the team have put into this car, I can't thank them enough. Of course, I'd like to be one place higher but Nico did an awesome job and really nailed his lap. I've not been totally happy with the balance of my car all weekend, even today, so we need to look at it this evening and see what we can do for the race,” said Hamilton.
By ISN / www.mercedes-amg-f1.com