Lewis Hamilton takes pole while Daniel Ricciardo smiles in Spain

Max Verstappen came out raring to go after his promotion to the big boys' team Red Bull - he slotted in nicely behind Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, both Mercedes lapping quickly right from the start. Felipe Massa was the big shock here - the Williams team blamed a "timing issue", which essentially means that he didn't get to record his timed lap before the chequered flag came out. Not good. Jolyon Palmer of Renault got bumped into the drop zone by a last-ditch flyer from McLaren's Jenson Button, and made his frustrated displeasure known with a well-chosen expletive over the radio.

Out: Haryanto (Manor), Wehrlein (Manor), Nasr (Sauber), Ericsson (Sauber), Massa (Williams), Palmer (Renault)

Hamilton went out early for this and set down a fantastic marker, which Rosberg struggled to chase down, finding himself six-tenths of a second behind. Verstappen, meanwhile, continued to take the more experienced drivers to the cleaners, beating team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas to record the third-fastest time of the session. The Ferraris followed him on track, but Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel both struggled, and neither managed a time quicker than the Red Bull rookie. Button was unlucky to find himself bumped out of the top ten, but Fernando Alonso kept McLaren's interest going into Q3 for the first time in months.

Out: Gutierrez (Haas), Magnussen (Renault), Grosjean (Haas), Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren Honda), Hulkenberg (Force India)

Rosberg outstripped Hamilton with the first flying lap after the defending champion locked up horrendously. Verstappen also recorded a quicker lap before the Briton hit back with just seconds to go, recording a flat 1:22:00 and that was enough to bag him another pole position, with Ayrton Senna's record in his sights.

Fantastic from the Red Bulls, and business as usual for Mercedes with that lock-out. Disappointing from the Ferraris, really struggling for speed in Catalunya. Decent enough from Fernando Alonso, putting on a good display in front of his public even if it's in a car that has tormented him for months, and even if they expect better from him.

Absolutely horrendous qualifying from Ferrari, not getting anywhere near the Mercedes cars and struggling to stay in touch with the Red Bulls too. Track temperatures were rising and not suiting the cars, but third row is not where they want to be.

Let's go with Daniel Ricciardo slotting in nicely behind those Mercedes boys. His new team-mate Max Verstappen looked likely to do better than him for much of the session, but the Australian picked up a bit of impetus from that to take P3 - laughing happily over the radio as he secured that place on the second row. With no challenge from the Ferraris so far, he will be expecting a podium place.

Hamilton - Rosberg - Ricciardo