Nico Rosberg ended his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s run of domination in qualifying this season when he secured his first pole position of the year in Saturday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old German produced a fastest lap in one minute and 24.681 seconds to outpace the defending world champion by three-tenths of a second on a hot afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya where Hamilton won from pole last year.
His lap was quicker than Hamilton’s 2014 pole time and ended the 30-year-old Briton’s run of four straight poles this year.
Rosberg now needs to convert that advantage into a first win since last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix to reduce Hamilton’s 27-point lead in the title race.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams, new home hero Carlos Sainz and his Toro Rosso team-mate, Dutch teenager Max Verstappen.
Another Finn, Kimi Raikkonen was down in seventh for Ferrari ahead of Russian Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull, Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Williams and Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.
GRID FOR THE 2015 SPANISH GRAND PRIX:
1st row
Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)
2nd row
Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari)
Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams-Mercedes)
3rd row
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Toro Rosso-Renault)
Max Verstappen (NED/Toro Rosso-Renault)
4th row
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari)
Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Red Bull-Renault)
5th row
Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams-Mercedes)
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull-Renault)
6th row
Romain Grosjean (FRA/Lotus-Mercedes)
Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Lotus-Mercedes)
7th row
Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren-Honda)
Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren-Honda)
8th row
Felipe Nasr (BRA/Sauber-Ferrari)
Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber-Ferrari)
9th row
Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Force India-Mercedes)
Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India-Mercedes)
10th row
Will Stevens (GBR/Marussia-Ferrari)
Roberto Merhi (ESP/Marussia-Ferrari)
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