Nico Rosberg pips Lewis Hamilton to pole at Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton was looking to make it five poles in a row in Spain but it was the German who grabbed his first of the year in comprehensive fashion with a time of 1:24.681.

Hamilton was over a quarter of a second adrift.

Rosberg whooped in delight as he was told of the result over the pit radio and could not conceal his glee in the post-qualifying press conference.

"Yeah," he grinned. "It was a good day in the office...

"I needed it sooner rather than later. It is one step in the right direction to winning the race this weekend."

Hamilton, who span off the track in the final practice session, was magnanimous in defeat: "Nico did a great job," he said.

"I don't know if I really have the balance (of the car) where I would like it but I did my best with it and I think tomorrow there is a lot to play for."

Hamilton won from pole last year, but eight different drivers have triumphed in the past eight years at the Circuit de Catalunya and Rosberg is perfectly placed to continue that trend. The odds favour the Mercedes duo more than ever in the first race of the European season, with only two drivers having won in Barcelona without starting on the front row.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third fastest, and Valteri Bottas put his Williams second on the grid - one spot ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr, qualifying a strupendous fifth in front of his home crowd.

Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was left disappointed as he was only seventh quickest.

Raikkonen's disappointment will be nothing to that of Alonso, however: the McLarens have struggled all week, and the Spanish driver failed even to make it out of Q2.

Alonson's team-mate Jenson Button also struggled as the car let both drivers down.

"We put new brakes on for qualifying, I don't know what is going on with them but I had really big issues with the car all over the place," said Button.

Rosberg laid down a 1:24.681 on his first run in the top-10 shootout, and that proved enough for top spot when Hamilton failed to improve on his second run.

The Mercedes W06 had such a pace advantage over the rest that Hamilton and Rosberg could afford to run the harder tyre compound and still outpace everyone else in Q1, so it was only ever likely to be a personal battle between the two for pole - one that Rosberg won.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was best-of-the-rest, but almost eight tenths adrift of Rosberg, while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen used a new set of medium tyres to guarantee passage through Q1 and paid the price.

The Finn was four tenths slower on his sole Q3 run than he had been in Q2 and wound up seventh on the grid, behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and the Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen that have looked strong all weekend.

Felipe Massa wound up ninth fastest, over a second slower than his Williams team-mate Bottas.

The Brazilian split the Red Bulls, with Daniil Kvyat getting the better of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by 0.141s to qualify eighth.

Both Lotus drivers failed to make it through to Q3 by over half a second, with Romain Grosjean 11th (complaining of a lack of front-end grip) and Pastor Maldonado 12th.

Both McLarens made it through to Q2 for the first time this season, but lacked the pace to be top-10 contenders.

Fernando Alonso was 11th fastest on his first Q2 run on used medium tyres, but he failed to improve on new rubber on his second run and slipped to 13th, just ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.

Felipe Nasr's Sauber split the McLarens in Q1, but the Brazilian lost pace in Q2 and wound up 15th.

Team-mate Marcus Ericsson joined the Force Indias and Manor Marussias in falling after the first segment of the session.

Ericsson found six tenths of a second on his final run in Q1, but it wasn't enough for him to join team-mate Nasr in Q2.

Ericsson was almost half a second slower than Nasr - lapping 0.171s shy of making the cut - just ahead of the struggling VJM08s of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.

The Manor/Marussias predictably brought up the rear of the grid, almost 2.8s adrift of the next fastest car.

Will Stevens again had the better of team-mate Roberto Merhi, to the tune of eight tenths of a second.

1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:24.681

2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:24.948

3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 1:25.458

4. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1:25.694

5. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:26.136

6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:26.249

7. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:26.414

8. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull - Renault 1:26.629

9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1:26.757

10. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:26.770

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11. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Mercedes 1:27.375

12. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes 1:27.450

13. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:27.760

14. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:27.854

15. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber - Ferrari 1:28.005

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16. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari 1:28.112

17. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 1:28.365

18. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 1:28.442

19. Will Stevens (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 1:31.200

20. Roberto Merhi (Spain) Marussia - Ferrari 1:32.038

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1-10: third and final qualifying session

11-15: second qualifying session

16-20: first qualifying session