» Hamilton to start Spanish GP from pole

The Mercedes-AMG team’s dominance over one lap in the 2020 Formula 1 season was on display for all to see in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton just pipping teammate Valtteri Bottas to pole position.

The gap to the rest of the field – over seven-tenths of a second – was vast as the team once again demonstrated they are all but untouachable in terms of raw pace and grip. For Hamilton, this was his fourth pole position in six events this season, his 92nd Formula 1 pole position overall, and his 150th front-row start.

Teammate Bottas was once again left to marvel at Hamilton’s efforts, although in fairness to the Finn he finished up just 0.059 seconds shy of claiming back-to-back pole positions. The difference between the two came down to the final sector of the lap, and with 21 of the 29 Grands Prix held here being won from pole position, Bottas will need to get the jump when the lights go out.

A distant third-fastest, as he has been all weekend, was Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver has cause for optimism that he can, as he did last time out at Silverstone, take the fight to the Mercedes’ given hot track temperatures will not play to the W11’s tyre preservation strengths.

Sergio Pérez was a fine fourth-fastest for Racing Point after his Coronavirus hiatus with teammate Lance Stroll in fifth. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon was sixth-fastest – a better performance than of late, but still over half a second off the pace of his teammate.

The top-ten was completed by McLaren duo Carlos Sainz and Landro Norris, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Sebastian Vettel’s troubled 2020 campaign continued, with the four-time World Champion just missing out on a Q3 berth. Neither Renault made Q3 – Daniel Ricciardo was 13th and teammate Esteban Ocon was 15th after crashing his car in FP3.

Conversely, there was cause for celebration at Alfa Romeo, which saw Kimi Räikkönen give the Swiss-run team its first Q2 appearance of the season. The 2007 World Champion starts the race from 14th on the grid.

The Haas team’s promising Friday pace mysteriously evaporated by the time qualifying came around. The team had to break curfew to perform a multitude of parts changes on Romain Grosjean’s car overnight, but that did not improve the Frenchman’s fortunes as he qualified a poor 17th with teammate Kevin Magnussen 16th.

George Russell continued his streak of never being outqualified by a teammate, but ended his run of Q2 appearances this time around. The Briton starts from 18th ahead of teammate Nicholas Latifi, while Antonio Giovinazzi in the second Alfa Romeo was the slowest qualifier after damaging his floor over the kerbs.

FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2020 – QUALIFYING
	Q3 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap
1.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11	1:15.584
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11	1:15.643	+ 0.059
3.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing RB16	1:16.292	+ 0.708
4.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point F1 Team RP20	1:16.482	+ 0.898
5.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point F1 Team RP20	1:16.589	+ 1.005
6.	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing RB16	1:17.029	+ 1.445
7.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren F1 Team MCL35	1:17.044	+ 1.460
8.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team MCL35	1:17.084	+ 1.500
9.	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari SF1000	1:17.087	+ 1.503
10.	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01	1:17.136	+ 1.552
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap*
11.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF1000	1:17.168	+ 1.155
12.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01	1:17.192	+ 1.179
13.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team R.S.20	1:17.198	+ 1.185
14.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing C39	1:17.386	+ 1.373
15.	Esteban Ocon	Renault F1 Team R.S.20	1:17.567	+ 1.554
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time	Gap**
16.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team VF-20	1:17.908	+ 1.036
17.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team VF-20	1:18.089	+ 1.217
18.	George Russell	Williams Racing FW43	1:18.099	+ 1.227
19.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing FW43	1:18.532	+ 1.660
20.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing C39	1:18.697	+ 1.825