Lewis Hamilton secured his 35th career pole position, his fourth of the season so far and his first at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver managed to put the lap in when it counted after team-mate Nico Rosberg topped both Q1 and Q2, but when it came down to the pole shootout in Q3, the Briton just pipped the German.
Rosberg’s lap gave Mercedes yet another front-row lock-out.
A closely fought battle behind for third saw Daniel Ricciardo come out on top for Red Bull, whilst Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Williams.
Lotus’s Romain Grosjean surprised with fifth, mounting a resurgence for the Enstone team. However team-mate Pastor Maldonado starts last after hitting the wall at turn three, bringing out the red flags in Q1.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:27.238 | 1:26.210 | 1:25.232 | 16 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.764 | 1:26.088 | 1:25.400 | 19 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:28.053 | 1:26.613 | 1:26.285 | 16 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:28.198 | 1:27.563 | 1:26.632 | 17 |
| 5 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:28.472 | 1:27.258 | 1:26.960 | 18 |
| 6 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:28.308 | 1:27.335 | 1:27.104 | 18 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:28.329 | 1:27.602 | 1:27.140 | 16 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.279 | 1:27.570 | 1:27.335 | 18 |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:28.061 | 1:27.016 | 1:27.402 | 16 |
| 10 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:27.958 | 1:27.052 | 11 | |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.155 | 1:27.685 | 13 | |
| 12 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.469 | 1:28.002 | 16 | |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:28.074 | 1:28.039 | 12 | |
| 14 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.374 | 1:28.280 | 12 | |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.389 | 10 | ||
| 16 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:28.194 | 6 | ||
| 17 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.563 | 9 | ||
| 18 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:29.586 | 6 | ||
| 19 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:30.177 | 6 | ||
| 20 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:30.312 | 8 | ||
| 21 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:30.375 | 6 | ||
| 22 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | No time | 2 | ||
| Q1 107% Time | 1:32.837 |
Note – Vergne drops 10 grid places after his team failed to secure a wheel properly during FP2
Merc picked it’s champ prior to Australia. Why would this surprise anyone.
You mean… prior to Australia 2013.
Nik Lauda fought to get Louis, cos he recognised the racing talent; it ‘taking one, to know one’.
So I agree with you entirely….. none of us should be surprised by today’s result, even when Louis was struggling, he still managed to ‘Ace’ his lap.
But now, we must question his struggles.
Shared lap data was allowing Nico to see where he needed to modify his approach, and he was taking full advantage of this, even to the extent of writing up his own notes…. was spotted doing so, as was reported in the press.
Fine…… entirely legitimate…… but….
Louis must now hold something back, for final qualy.
I think that is what we are seeing.
Again you write rubbish stop it…..