Manama: Nico Rosberg took his first pole position of the season capitalising on a mistake by teammate Lewis Hamilton that robbed fans of the prospect of a hard-fought battle between the two dominant Mercedes in qualifying for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.


Mercedes driver Nico Roseberg during the Bahrain GP weekend. Pic/Imagelibrary/EPA 

Rosberg lapped the floodlit circuit on the outskirts of Bahrain's capital here in one minute 33.185 seconds, denying Hamilton his third straight pole by nearly three tenths of a second.