LIVE: Spanish Grand Prix

Follow live coverage of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with F1i's as-it-happens race day commentary.

It's a bright and sunny afternoon, perfect conditions for a race. It's the first Grand Prix of the year in Europe after flyaway events in Australia, Bahrain, China and Russia, and we're eager to see whether Nico Rosberg can maintain his run of back-to-back wins and make it eight in a row today.

• LIVE: Spanish Grand Prix - Race day

Rosberg was fastest of anyone on Friday and then shaved another nine tenths of a second off his time in the final free practice session on Saturday morning. He looked to have the measure of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, too, but then the reigning world champion pulled something special out of the bag on his final run in Q3 to deny Rosberg pole for today's race.

While the all-Mercedes front row in Barcelona isn't likely to surprise anyone, the appearance of both Red Bull Racing cars on the second row is something of a shock - not least to Ferrari who had been confident of challenging for pole but whose qualifying session instead ended up in disappointment for Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel who line-up in fifth and sixth positions respectively.

Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo is delighted to be lining up in third place for today's race, and even happier that he was able to fend off a serious threat from his new team mate Max Verstappen who has been hugely impressive in his first weekend with the team after being swapped round with Daniil Kvyat. What will Verstappen be able to do with his highest-ever grid position? It should be a sight to see, that's for sure.

Others to keep an eye on this afternoon will be Williams' Valtteri Bottas who starts from seventh today alongside Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez put in a strong qualifying performance for Force India to secure ninth place on the grid, and in tenth it's home favourite Fernando Alonso - the first time that he's started in the top ten since his return to McLaren, and the first time the team has made it into Q3 since they revived their partnership with Honda. What can Alonso do with the starting position when the lights do out?

Alonso's team mate and fellow former work champion Jenson Button will start right behind him in 12th, with Nico Hulkenberg splitting the two McLarens in 11th. And in 13th place - unlucky for some - is Kvyat, starting from 13th place today after his shock demotion from Red Bull to the sister Toro Rosso team. If he's to show that Dr Helmet Marko has made a mistake swapping him with Verstappen, then the fightback starts here in Barcelona this afternoon.

The race gets underway at 2pm local time (1pm BST) and will consist of 66 laps of this 16-turn, 2.892-mile circuit which has been home to the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991 when the inaugural event was won by Nigel Mansell in a Williams. Last year victory went to Nico Rosberg in a time of just over one hour and 40 minutes: will he be able to win again to extend his championship lead, or is it time for Lewis Hamilton to get into top gear?

You can rely on F1i to being you all the up-to-the-minute news, analysis and insight from trackside as the action unfolds in Barcelona, with minute-by-minute updates here on F1i's live page.