Rosberg grabs pole as Mercedes take front row seats

Nico Rosberg secured back-to-back pole positions for the first time in his Formula One career as Mercedes locked out the front row ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes have become this season’s one-lap specialists as they have now taken pole at the last three races, although race pace has then left something to be desired.

On this occasion at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, Rosberg beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a quarter of a second, with the duo the only two drivers to dip below one minute and 21 seconds for the lap.

The statistics do bode well, though, as 17 of the 22 drivers on pole for this race at this track have gone on to take the chequered flag.

And only once in those 22 races has a driver not won from the front row of the grid, that being Michael Schumacher from third in 1996.