European Grand Prix: Bad day for Brits as Rosberg takes pole

The F1 cars made their way onto the streets of Azerbaijan underneath banners reading "Well done Baku", congratulating the city on its first-ever Grand Prix. On the track, it began as one would expect - Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton recording the fastest times, although the Brit did clip a wall which slowed him down.

Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso showed some nous as he slid in to sixth place at the very last second, showing that the turns on this circuit can certainly offer up some excitement - and one or two wildcards.

And after Sebastian Vettel laughed extensively last weekend about swerving for seagulls affecting his lap time, more airborne creatures were innocent victims of F1 drivers.

Still, it wasn't just birds interfering with the session. Lewis Hamilton came close to crushing a kitty.

There was yet another hideously embarrassing display from Jenson Button and that accursed McLaren - but Manor's Rio Haryanto was unlucky not to make it into Q2 - some decent pace on show.

By this point it had become evident that it was unlikely to be a good afternoon for British drivers, all told - the sole representative of the country was the defending champion, who made a poor start to Q2 after taking his time to warm up his tyres and record a flying lap.

Nico Hulkenberg held him up for a while, bringing out the yellow flags as he spun out at a corner, wrecking his tyres and delaying all the cars following him.

Then with two minutes left on the clock, he locked up into Turn 7 - leaving him with one last chance to clock a decent time and reclaim his dignity after flirting with the drop-zone, eventually slotting in second-fastest.

Of course it was Rosberg who took advantage of his team-mate's woes, staying top of the board with a whole second's advantage.

Meanwhile, Hulkenberg and his race engineer had a set-to over the radio over whether or not the driver had been told he had enough fuel and time for a last quick lap. (Driver said no, engineer said yes.)

Remember that thing about Hamilton's dignity? It disappeared again at the start of Q3, with a lock-up that brought out the yellow flags.

And then the red flags came out shortly afterwards as he ploughed into a wall, breaking his front right wheel - leaving Rosberg on pole.

Meanwhile, in news that surprised no-one, a temperamental teenager had a tantrum over the team radio when Valtteri Bottas drove a touch too close to him.

Force India's Sergio Perez was absolutely magnificent, qualifying second - but a gearbox penalty means he misses out on the front row, with that cheeky Daniel Ricciardo nipping in to start second.

A dramatic afternoon on a tricky, twisty street circuit - the teams with less straight-line speed seem to be suffering, and those who did their homework on the unfamiliar track did best. Hamilton has a long way to go to slice through that field, but he should be able to find both pace and time to do that.

Hamilton's terrible afternoon was a horror show - after topping the table in every practice session, he went off into the escape road three times before his final, decisive exit. A mid-grid start is not what's expected from a Mercedes driver.

Perez has looked solid all weekend - he's unlucky to suffer that penalty but he'll be pushing for the podium with that kind of pace.

Rosberg - Perez - Ricciardo