Nico Rosberg grabbed pole in the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes dominated qualifying with teammate Lewis Hamilton slotting alongside him on the front row.
Rosberg was at the top of the timesheets from the beginning of Q3, before setting an even faster time 1:20.718 on his second and last run right at the end to take first.
Sebastian Vettel thought he would be joining Rosberg on the front row after his only timed lap in Q3 produced a timing of 1:21.054, only for Hamilton to storm into P2 with a last-gasp 1:20.972 lap.
"It's just been... things just worked really well the whole weekend, just optimised everything," Rosberg said. "Of course, after Bahrain thinking about the race a lot, also, so surprised that we could be that quick today. But it all went perfectly in qualifying and I had a really good lap in the end.
"I'm really, really happy with that. It's always a good motivation boost and everything, especially for the team - front row, fantastic. But of course I have to be a bit cautious because of what happened in Bahrain, so for sure, nice but to be enjoyed with caution."
Hamilton said taking care of the tyres will be paramount to winning the race at Circuit De Catalunya Sunday.
"My side of the grid isn't really the place to be," Hamilton said. "These two have a good position on the cleaner side but we'll do the best job we can from the start but I think more the concern is tyre degradation. Looking after those tyres is going to be an interesting one. I really hope that we can try and get into turn one first, in a 1-2, that'd be really good for the team."
Red Bull's world champions Vettel said he was pretty happy with third position. "I think today we can be very happy," he said. "Mercedes was too quick, both Lewis and Nico. So, I think we can be happy with the result, as I said."
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