Nico Rosberg has conceded his slack qualifying performance in Bahrain provided the spur to grab his first pole position of the Formula 1 season in Spain.

Rosberg ended Hamilton’s run of four successive poles to start the year with a lap of 1m24.681s at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, beating the 30-year-old by 0.267secs. At a point in the season when Rosberg appeared to have run out of ideas on how to beat Hamilton, the German finally managed to make his Mercedes teammate second best.

It was a response to his poor display in Bahrain three weeks ago when Rosberg admitted to poor strategy in Q2 by focusing too much on the race, so heading into Q3 with a lack of rhythm.

“Bahrain was still on my mind,” Rosberg admitted after taking pole in Spain. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t make that mistake again, so I got myself in the rhythm in Q2 and it worked very well for me today.”

Asked whether his qualifying performance was much needed, he replied: “I needed it sooner rather than later.

“It’s one step in the right direction to winning the race this weekend – a good day in the office. With overtaking difficult here, starting in front is a particularly big advantage.”

Despite playing second fiddle to Hamilton virtually all season, Rosberg downplayed any psychological lift he might have gained on this occasion.

“It [pole] is just important for tomorrow’s race,” added Rosberg. “It’s better to start first than second, that’s obvious. It’s good – it’s great – I feel happy, so it’s good for tomorrow.

“And there will be no different mindset for the race. It’s the same thing, I try to go for it, go for the best possible result. With the car I have it will be to try and go for the win, and take the advantage of starting first.”