F1 Spain, Qualifying: Rosberg takes pole, Hamilton comes next

After the first four rounds in which Lewis Hamilton knocked down the first spot on the grid every single time, Nico Rosberg snarls in his attempt to prove he is still running the battle for the championship title. Ferrari seems to lose ground against the Mercedes squad, but manages instead to keep the “best of the rest” position.

Rosberg seems to have learnt from the mistakes he made during the Bahrein qualifying session and set a pole time even from the beginning of the Q3. Hamilton was not able to beat his teammate’s performance by the end of the session and, for the first time this season, is thrown back in the second spot. Even though it was pretty clear that the fight was between the two Mercedes drivers, their pace proved to be truly sensational. Both W06 racing cars managed to come in the first two positions in the Q1, running on hard tyres, therefore preserving one new set of mediums.

Vettel came eight tenths of a second behind, as the German stated he was concerned about the pace of Ferrari. Even though the round in Barcelona was set to come with a series of upgrades for most squads, the gap between the Scuderia and Mercedes seems to have become even wider. Moreover, Williams displayed a better pace in the simulation stints of the race in FP2. The bad news in the Italians’ camp proceed with Raikkonen’s performance. The Finn started the Q3 on mediums, but only managed to knock down the inconspicuous spot 7.

Bottas certifies the tempo of the Williams squad and comes in 4^th, but we find the spice of the top 10 in the 5-6 positions. The Torro Rosso pack, the crazy colts, Sainz and Verstappen manage a terrific result and tomorrow’s race shapes well into an enticing battle in the peloton. If the Renault engineers did their job, the two are going to hold out an unforgettable race. The big squad, Red Bull, does not imitate the performance of the two and Kvyat is bound to settle for the 8^th position, while Ricciardo is starting in the 10^th. Felipe Massa is right between them.

Grosjean and Maldonado failed to join the Q3 and the Lotus duo is starting in the 11^th and 12^th place. Actually, from the 10^th position down, all spots were shared in pairs by all drivers. In the 13^th-14^th, we find those in McLaren Honda, Alonso first, Button next. Despite a series of upgrades operated on the racing cars, McLaren fails to go into the Q3, but they should not be benighted when it comes to scoring points. Nasr and Ericsson come next in the 15^th and 16^th spots, while Force India certifies the rough time they are going through and comes in the 17^th and 18^th position, only managing to outperform the Manor team.

The race is set to start tomorrow, at 2 p.m. local time.