Rosberg secures Mercedes hat-trick
Nico Rosberg grabbed pole position as his Mercedes team completed a hat-trick of qualifying successes by sweeping the front row Saturday for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old German clocked a dazzling best lap time of one minute and 20.718 seconds to outpace his nearest rival and Mercedes team-mate Briton Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second. It is the third pole of his career.
After poles secured by Hamilton in China and Rosberg in Bahrain, this was a magnificent treble top for the resurgent Mercedes outfit as they outclassed their rivals at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Defending triple drivers world champion German Sebastian Vettel gave his best for Red Bull to qualify third ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus, local hero and two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean was seventh in the second Lotus ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, Mexican Sergio Perez in the leading McLaren and Briton Paul di Resta of Force India.
Perez’s McLaren team-mate Briton Jenson Button flopped again and qualified only 14th despite major modifications to their car.
On a mild and windy Spring day in Catalonia, with an air temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and a track temperature that hovered around 36 degrees, the session began slowly before Raikkonen set an early fastest lap.
After a short delay, the major teams emerged and Alonso thrilled his fans by going quickest before a final flurry in Q1 ended with Hamilton on top ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg and Vettel.
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