After the drama of the morning, which included Red Bull’s shock announcement that Sebastian Vettel is leaving and a crash for Hamilton, it was business as usual in Saturday’s qualifying.

It was evident from the start that it would be a Mercedes-only battle at the front as Hamilton was quickest in Q1, 0.060s up on Rosberg, while the German was 0.032s up on his team-mate in Q2.

With almost nothing separating the Mercedes drivers, they went into the final shoot-out promising a closely-contested fight.

Rosberg fired the first salvo with a 1:32.629 with Hamilton’s first attempt 0.317s off the pace.

Rosberg upped his pace on his second run, taking 0.123s off his previous best to clock a 1:32.506. And once again Hamilton was not able to match his team-mate, finishing 0.197s slower.

The Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa locked out the second row, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top six.