Nico Rosberg beats Lewis Hamilton to United States GP pole

Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the United States Grand Prix to revive his title hopes.

The German, who is 17 points behind his Mercedes team-mate in the world championship, was an impressive 0.376 seconds clear of the British driver.

The Mercedes were well clear in Austin, with Williams's Valtteri Bottas 0.839secs behind Rosberg in third.

His team-mate Felipe Massa was fourth, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton complained of brake problems during qualifying

Rosberg said going into this weekend that he knew he needed "strong races" in the remaining three events (including Austin, which begins at 20:00 GMT on Sunday) to try and regain the lead from Hamilton, who has won the last four grands prix.

And his performance came despite a troubled time in final practice, in which he was more than 0.8secs slower than Hamilton.

Rosberg said: "Great day. Very happy. It worked out really well. I arrived with a car I was really happy with. The balance was good.

"It was quite a challenge because the wind was changing and this morning the track was a lot colder. The track kept changing so it wasn't easy to get a balance. But the race is what counts."

Hamilton praised Rosberg for a "great job".

"I really struggled with braking," he added. "The left front brake was always around 100C less than the right front brake and it just kept catching, even if I braked earlier. Even if I didn't have that I think Nico was perhaps too quick today."

McLaren's Jenson Button was seventh, one place ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen, but the 2009 world champion will drop five places as a result of a penalty for changing a gearbox before it had done the requisite five races.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took ninth, ahead of Adrian Sutil's Sauber, the first time the team had made it into the top 10 in qualifying all year.

It gives Sauber a great chance to score their first points of the season - so far, either Sutil or team-mate Esteban Gutierrez have spun out every time they have been close to scoring.

World champion Sebastian Vettel will start from the pit lane after fitting a sixth engine this season - teams are restricted to five.

And Toro Rosso's Daniil Kyat will start last despite qualifying 14th because he has a 10-place penalty for changing his engine and taking his seventh of the season.

Events on track are taking place against the backdrop of a row over F1 finances in the wake of the collapse of the Marussia and Caterham teams in the last two weeks.

The Force India, Lotus and Sauber teams, who are not involved in the rule-making strategy group, are unhappy about their lack of voice and what they see as an inequitable split in F1's income.

Full qualifying results

US Grand Prix coverage details

The United States Grand Prix is popular among American and Mexican racing fans

Although the sun was shining over The Circuit of Americas, it has been described as "chilly" in the state capital