Nico Rosberg pips Lewis Hamilton to pole after ‘good day at office’

Nico Rosberg hailed "a good day at the office" as he delivered on his promise to bring his best form to the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver took his first pole position of the season after shining in qualifying.

Rosberg has been well beaten by team-mate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was downbeat after the session, having been knocked off the top spot on the grid for the first time this season.

For Rosberg, his last pole came in the final round of last season in Abu Dhabi as he took 11 pole positions over the course of the year. This was his first of 2015 and the German admits it could have come at the perfect location.

“It just feels good because it’s a great day in the office,” he said.

“It’s not about past races or anything. It just feels great to be on pole, on this track it’s particularly important because it’s nearly impossible to overtake.

“(Qualifying in) China, for example, was also a good one, so it’s not the first one. But today, yes, was a positive day and things went to plan.”

Hamilton holds a 27-point lead at the top of the championship after his blistering start to the year but knows, on a track where overtaking opportunities are at a premium, his race could be decided as soon as the lights go out.

“It’s always one of the opportunities,” he said when asked about getting the start right.

“You have that and some of the pit-stops. It’s very, very difficult to overtake I think, as it’s shown and proved over the years.

“It is not very easy to dive down the outside at the circuit, it is really about getting down the inside off the line. But we have the exact same clutches so naturally we should have the same start.

“If I’m fresher tomorrow and have a slightly better reaction it might make a difference.”

Issues with the balance of the rear end of his car put paid to a pole bid for Hamilton, but he insisted he will not settle for second place despite his healthy lead.

“I don’t think so,” he replied when asked if he planned a more calculated approach.

“I think I’ll drive the same as I did last year, it seemed to do me quite well. I generally didn’t have the pace today.

“Nico did a great job and generally I don’t know if I really had the balance where I like it. I did my best with it and I think tomorrow there’s still a lot to play for.”

Sebastian Vettel was again the best of the rest behind the Mercedes pair but the four-time world champion knows he faces a tough battle in getting his Ferrari anywhere near first place on Sunday.

“It’s not a great place to be behind Nico and Lewis,” he conceded.

“I think it’s the maximum we could do today, so I’m happy with qualifying. I think the weekend has been a bit rougher compared to the last couple in terms of finding the balance and the feeling with the car: we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.

“It seems that Mercedes is struggling less and the gap seems bigger than usual. Tomorrow we can put them under pressure: we’ll see, it’s a long race.”

Valtteri Bottas of Williams took an impressive fourth place whilst Spaniard Carlos Sainz enjoyed a memorable first home qualifying session to go fifth for Toro Rosso.

His team-mate Max Verstappen was sixth ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, with Felipe Massa's Williams sandwiched in between the Red Bull duo of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, who were eighth and 10th respectively.

McLaren got both of their cars into the second qualifying session for the first time this season, with Fernando Alonso 13th fastest after making an error on his final flying lap and Jenson Button a place further back.