Lewis Hamilton On Pole In Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position since Bahrain as the world champion finally enjoyed a trouble-free qualifying session at the Spanish Grand Prix to put his title defence back on track. After a lock-up on his first flying lap, Hamilton posted a stunning 1:22.000 with his final attempt to beat Nico Rosberg by nearly three tenths of a second.


Hamilton said “I'm very, very happy. Nico has been very strong all week. I've been trying to get the pace step-by-step. But this is three out of three for me - I didn't get to compete in the last two qualifying sessions”.

Red Bull locked out the second row of the grid as Daniel Ricciardo delivered what Martin Brundle described as a perfect lap to beat new team-mate Max Verstappen by over four tenths. The Dutchman had threatened to steal the headlines up until that point on his debut weekend with Red Bull.

Ferrari looked set to challenge Mercedes based on final practice pace, but as track temperatures soared, their pace vanished. Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, but 1.1 seconds off the pace, with Sebastian Vettel a further two tenths back in sixth. Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Williams, a long way clear of team-mate Felipe Massa who was a shock Q1 casualty.


Spanish GP Qualifying

Q3

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:22.000

2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:22.280

3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:22.680

4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:23.087

5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:23.113