MerCEDES achieved a front-row lockout for today's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Nico Rosberg gained the team's third successive pole position and his own second, while Lewis Hamilton set the second-fastest time in final qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday.

Defending champion and series leader Sebastian Vettel, winner in Bahrain two weeks ago, qualified third in the Red Bull, with the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen, who is currently second overall, in fourth. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, in his home race, and Romain Grosjean in the other Lotus are behind them in the grid.

Felipe Massa recorded the sixth-fastest time, but was given a three-place penalty – as was Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez – after they were found to have "unnecessarily impeded" Mark Webber of Red Bull and Raikkonen. Force India's Paul di Resta starts 10th.

McLaren's miserable start to the season continues with Sergio Perez and Jenson Button eighth and 14th on the grid respectively despite a raft of upgrades. It was the first time the latter has failed to make the final stage of qualify-ing this year.

However, team principal Martin Whitmarsh last night insisted he has no intention of quitting. Asked if he had thought of walking away or if the board had considered his position, he said: "No, I don't believe it [his job] has been considered at board level, as far as I know. I believe in the team. I believe we are going to power through this, so no, I'm not considering anything other than getting this team back to where it belongs. I've been around in the sport a long time and I've been through dark moments, difficult moments, and I've been through good moments as well. I enjoy going motor racing, and I enjoy racing to win, so I don't like it when you have a car that's not good enough to win.

"I've been around when we've won important races, and I'm sure we're going to win some more races, and we're going to work hard to win some more races this year. We have come back from worse than this, and we will.

"Obviously we are not where we want to be, but we're going to come back from this. We're a strong team. We've a long season ahead of us, but we just have to work away and find the perfor-mance, and I'm convinced we're going to come back from it."

The last time a Mercedes works team claimed three poles was in 1955 though Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio and Britain's Stirling Moss, racing for the Silver Arrows.

The German manufacturer left Formula One as a works team that year, following the Le Mans Disaster and only returned as a constructor in 2010 after buying the title-winning Brawn GP.

However, Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn was not confident that yesterday's success in qualifying can be followed up with victory in today's race. Rosberg finished ninth last time out despite starting from pole.

Brawn said: "I could see from fuel work that we're not on top of it as much as we are in qualifying, but we've done a lot of work on that. Can we win? I don't know."

Hamilton was fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, but Rosberg made sure of pole with a time of one minute 20.718 seconds. Hamilton's best was 1.20.972. Rosberg said: "I had a really good lap in the end ... it's always a good motivation, especially for the team. Front row – fantastic."

"But of course we have to be a bit cautious because of what we saw in Bahrain. So it's nice, but to be enjoyed with caution."

Hamilton, who is third in the standings, added: "Nico did a great job, but as he said we are going to approach the race with caution because it's going to be tough."