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Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix, lining up ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.


Qualifying was a slow burner, with few drivers heading out in the first ten minutes of Q1. Finally, Ricciardo & last years winner Pastor Maldonado took to the track to set their initial Q1 laps, and it quickly became apparent that the Williams was nowhere near as competitive as it had been at last years event, with Maldonado lapping slower than Ricciardo, who hadn't set a stellar lap himself. Shortly after, Kimi Raikkonen became the first of the big guns to hit the track and went quickest, followed by Grosjean, who continued his improvement in 2013.

The Ferraris, though, were on track and quickly set about overhauling the Lotuses, with both Ferrari times over half a second quicker than the quickest Lotus. Rosberg then popped up with the quickest time, with the first indication that Mercedes had unlocked some pace since Friday, while behind him, Jenson Button got baulked by a Williams which was beginning a flying lap. The McLaren was heard complaining on the radio about the block, and saying 'it's got to be a penalty'. Blocking seemed to be an issue out on track today, as shortly after, Kimi Raikkonen got blocked at the chicane by Estaban Gutierrez, ruining his fastest lap. The chequered flag dropped with the two Williams, Caterham & Marussia drivers eliminated, while up front, Hamilton lead Rosberg, ahead of Vettel, Raikkonen & Alonso. Lotus & Ferrari looked very confident, being the only teams to get through Q1 without using a set of option tyres.

Starting Q2, the action got going relatively quickly, with the track temperatures rising, it was the Saubers who lead the way after a few minutes, with Hulkenberg ahead of Gutierrez. Raikkonen, again, was the first frontrunner to set a time, and went comfortably fastest. Alonso promptly took over at the top, while Romain Grosjean popped into fourth place. The McLarens looked very poor in Q2, with Button visibly slow. He ultimately qualified outside the top ten, while Perez managed to pop in a great final lap to snatch a place in Q3. It marks the first time that Perez has outqualified Jenson while they have been team-mates. Vettel went quickest then, less than a tenth ahead of Alonso, who, in turn, was less than a tenth faster than Raikkonen. That was until Lewis Hamilton smashed the fastest time to take top spot, a massive 6 tenths ahead of Alonso. He was to keep that spot until the end of Q2. Gutierrez, Hulkenberg, Sutil, Vergne, Button & Ricciardo were the drivers to fall by the wayside in Q2.

Starting Q3, Kimi Raikkonen immediately took to the track to be the first to set a laptime. While he improved marginally on his Q2 time, it was a scrappy lap with a lockup at the hairpin. This meant that he went the slowest of the initial first runs. Rosberg was the first into the 1.20s with a 1.20.8 to take provisional pole, while Alonso took 2nd place, on a 1.21.2. Vettel & Hamilton decided to only do one run each. Vettel put in a clean lap to take third place, but it appeared Hamilton could have used another run to get fully warmed up, lapping slower in the first two sectors to line up behind his team-mate. Raikkonen improved on his final run to take 4th place, while Webber put in a poor final run to take 8th place. Home town hero Alonso starts from 5th, ahead of his team-mate Felipe Massa.