Hamilton edges Rosberg to win pole position for Spanish GP

By foxsports
Published

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Lewis Hamilton picked qualifying to edge Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for the first time this week and earn pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.

Hamilton qualified nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Rosberg at the Barcelona track.

Red Bull surprised with Daniel Ricciardo finishing third, just ahead of new teammate Max Verstappen, who was controversially promoted at the expense of Daniil Kvyat, who was sent back to Toro Rosso. He's 13th on the grid.

Ferrari was showing good pace and appeared in position to close the gap to Mercedes in qualifying, but Kimi Raikkonen will start only fifth and teammate Sebastian Vettel sixth.

It was the third pole position of the year for Hamilton, who is looking to turn his season around after a dismal start plagued by mechanical failures and bad luck. The three-time world champion is yet to win this year, and already trails his teammate by 43 points after four races.

Rosberg, who won from the pole in Spain last year, started from the front in the previous two races. On Sunday, he will be trying to win his eighth straight race, going back to last season. Only two drivers won five in a row to start a season, Nigel Mansell with Williams in 1992 and Michael Schumacher with Ferrari in 2004.

Home-crowd favorite Fernando Alonso put McLaren into the final qualifying session for the first time since Abu Dhabi in 2014, and will start 10th. McLaren hadn't started so well since rekindling its partnership with Honda. Teammate Jenson Button was 12th fastest.

Williams' Valtteri Bottas will start seventh, but teammate Felipe Massa had problems with traffic and couldn't make it past the first qualifying session. The Brazilian, who won in Spain in 2007 and is sixth in the drivers' championship, will start only 18th.

The pole winner has won 19 of the last 25 races at the Barcelona-Catalunya track.

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