12 May 2013

Rosberg cautious despite Spanish GP pole

11:26 am on 12 May 2013

Nico Rosberg secured his third career pole position as Mercedes completed a hat-trick of qualifying successes but then warned that he is worried his tyres will let him down in tonight's Spanish Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old German led the way as his team locked out the front row of the grid but was immediately concerned afterwards that he does not endure a repeat of his problems at last month's Bahrain Grand Prix where he limped home ninth.

Rosberg clocked a dazzling best lap time of one minute and 20.718 seconds to outpace his nearest rival and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second.

Defending triple world champion Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull qualified third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus as well as local hero and two-time champion Fernando Alonso.