F1 2016: Hamilton pips Rosberg for Spanish GP pole

Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg, making it a front row lock out for Mercedes.

After a fierce battle between the two Mercedes drivers earlier this season, Hamilton has finally ended Rosberg’s streak of perfect weekends by claiming pole during qualifying. Rosberg had to settle for second place after watching his time being beaten by his team mate to make it a front row lock out for Mercedes.

Ferrari struggled heavily to match the pace of the two silver arrows while the major threat to Mercedes came from the two Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

In Q2, Verstappen put himself in third behind the two Mercs and ahead of his team mate and the Ferraris. Despite it being the young driver’s first time driving the 2016 RB12 car, the young Dutchman found himself at home a fighting with the leaders right off the gate.

Come Q3, at the very last moment, Ricciardo clocked in a 1m 22.680, +0.680 off the pace, while Verstappen was a second off the time set by Hamilton. The two Red Bulls locked out the second row of the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel just couldn’t match the pace of the powerful Mercedes cars at all during qualifying. Raikkonen struggled to find grip in Q2 and went off the track on numerous occasions on his first flying lap attempt. Raikkonen came in fourth fastest on his second run in Q2 behind Verstappen’s time. In Q3, a struggling Raikkonen was +1.113 off Hamilton’s pace and only managed fifth place for the race.

Vettel on the other hand couldn’t better his place of sixth fastest from Q2, in the final session of Q3. Vettel was again out qualified by his team mate by setting the sixth fastest time of the session. But the third row of the grid, wholely belongs to the two Ferraris.

Vaulter Bottas of  Williams qualified in seventh place after Q3, as team mate, Felipe Massa was knocked out in Q1. The Brazilian driver found himself out in traffic during his flying lap and couldn’t manage to get a decent lap time within the time frame of the session. Massa will start the race from 18^th place.

The Torro Rosso of Carlos Sainz made it into Q3 and will start the race eighth place. His new team mate, Daniil Kvyat however couldn’t adapt to the Ferrari powered Torro Rosso, as well as his Verstappen found himself at home in the Red Bull. Kvyat will start from 13^th on the grid after failing to make it into Q3.

Sergio Perez was the only Force India in Q3 and qualified ninth for the race. Fernando Alonso squeezed himself with the Honda powered McLaren into Q3 and into tenth place on the starting grid. It’s the first time a McLaren will start a race from the top ten since the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

2016 F1 SPANISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING (14/05/2016)
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – 4.655km, 16 turns

*Eliminated after Q2

**Eliminated after Q1