Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday with a fourth successive win and the overall championship lead beckoning today.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg, who is four points clear of Hamilton but has finished runner-up in the last three races, qualified second with Australian Daniel Ricciardo starting third for champions Red Bull.

Hamilton, celebrating his fourth pole of the season and 35th of his career with a time 0.168 seconds quicker than the German, will wrest the overall lead from Rosberg if he wins for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“I didn’t know whether I’d be able to get it but right at the end I just had to eke out absolutely everything and more from the car,” said Hamilton, who had been slower than Rosberg in final practice.

“To have the kind of performance we have, I have never really known that before.

“I’m overwhelmed, I’m so happy,” added the 2008 champion, whose dominant team have taken every pole and won all four races so far this year.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, winner in front of his home fans last year, qualified seventh and behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in sixth.

Finland’s Valtteri Bottas starts fourth for Williams, with Frenchman Romain Grosjean fifth for Lotus.

Sebastian Vettel’s weekend went from bad to worse after Red Bull confirmed a gearbox change that dropped the F1 champion to 15th on the starting grid.

The 26-year-old quadruple champion has suffered a series of setbacks since he arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya with a different chassis to the one he had raced in the first four rounds of the season.

A problem with the wiring loom limited his track time to four laps in Friday practice and the German pulled over in the final phase of yesterday’s qualifying with gearbox problems that left him 10th on the provisional grid.

Gearboxes must last six successive races and any unscheduled change incurs a five-place penalty.

“I left the garage and lost second gear,” said Vettel.

“It was clear there was a problem but I still had third gear and above so I thought I’d try without second gear. But by Turn One, I’d lost all the other gears.”

McLaren, without a point from the last two races, also had problems with Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen unable to set a lap time in the second phase due to a power unit problem.

Team-mate Jenson Button will start eighth.

Qualifying was twice red flagged, the second stoppage triggered by Vettel’s failure and the first coming right at the start when Pastor Maldonado speared his Lotus into the wall.

Maldonado will be at the back of the grid today, along with Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne who has a 10-place penalty.

Grid at Circuit de Catalunya

Note: Vergne penalised 10 places for unsafe release from pits.

Vettel to start 15th after five-place penalty for gearbox change.