Nico Rosberg beats Lewis Hamilton to pole at German Grand Prix

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest, his team-mate Max Verstappen fourth and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fifth, the Finn once again outpacing team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Rosberg had beaten Hamilton in all three practice sessions and did so again with a lap of 1:14.363 in Q3.

Hamilton's best effort was some 0.107 seconds slower – despite the Englishman having two chances to set a time compared to Rosberg's one.

The German driver had to abandon his first attempt at a flying lap due to an electrical problem that stopped his accelerator pedal working.

That meant he re-emerged with only one chance to set a time – and he nailed it, grabbing pole for the second week running and giving himself a huge boost in his hopes of regaining the lead in the drivers' championship.

"Definitely it will be an exciting race against Lewis and the Red Bulls and maybe also the Ferrari guys but they are a little bit further back it seems," said a clearly-delighted Rosberg.

Hamilton was clearly annoyed to have been beaten - particularly given that it later emerged that Rosberg had been carrying a heavier fuel load during his flying lap.

"It was a great feeling," Rosberg added. "It was a great lap and not only was it just one lap that I had but I also had extra fuel to make sure I had another shot if a mistake or something happens. So I had fuel for three laps so that was some more time in hand there. So that was a really satisfying lap.”

The Englishman was left in gloomy mood after falling short.

“I had no problems, I had the pace today I just couldn’t finish it off on the last lap," he said, going on to refute suggestions that mistake braking cost him pole.

"I didn’t really have much of a lock-up, it was subtle, so I didn't lose any time.”