Spanish GP: Bottas smashes track record to claim pole, Hamilton P2

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Valtteri Bottas smashed the track record to claim a commanding pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Finn bounced back from a small setback in final practice to produce a blistering benchmark of 1m15.406s on his first run in Q3.

And it was a time no-one could get close to as a scruffy lap from Lewis Hamilton left the Briton 0.6s behind in second.

Ferrari also had no response with Sebastian Vettel in third and Charles Leclerc only fifth having compromised his session by having to run again in Q2.

Max Verstappen took advantage of the Monegasque using just a single set of tyres to claim P4 for Red Bull, in what was a relatively close battle behind Bottas.

Haas re-established themselves at the head of the midfield in seventh and eighth, with just 0.011s between Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in the Frenchman's favour.

Daniil Kvyat produced a strong performance to claim ninth for Toro Rosso, as Daniel Ricciardo hauled his Renault into the top 10, only to drop back to P13 after his grid penalty from Baku.

That means Lando Norris steps up to P10 for McLaren and teammate Carlos Sainz will start 12th for his home Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen would have been hoping for better than 14th in the Alfa Romeo, as he now faces a tough task to continue his run of points finishes.

While Nico Hulkenberg had a miserable session in the second Renault, going off at Turn 4 in Q1 and limping back to the pits with a broken front wing.

Once repaired, the German would then be knocked out by Sergio Perez in the final seconds, meaning a 16th place start on Sunday.

Lance Stroll's run of Q1 exits continued, as the Canadian was only 17th in the Racing Point, just ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo.

Finally, the two Williams' brought up the field but George Russell would be more competitive, just 0.6s off the cut-off time.

The Briton would also be 1.2s clear of teammate Robert Kubica, who brought up the field.

Full results from qualifying can be seen below:

Pos. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
Q1 Q2 Q3 grid
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 01:17.0 01:15.9 01:15.4 1
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 01:17.3 01:16.0 01:16.0 2
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 01:17.4 01:16.7 01:16.3 3
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 01:17.2 01:16.7 01:16.4 4
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 01:17.4 01:16.7 01:16.6 5
6  Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda 01:17.9 01:16.9 01:16.7 6
7  Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 01:18.0 01:17.1 01:16.9 7
8  Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 01:17.7 01:17.3 01:16.9 8
9  Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 01:17.9 01:17.2 01:17.6 9
10  Daniel Ricciardo Renault 01:18.4 01:17.3 01:18.1 13*
11  Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 01:17.6 01:17.3 N/A 10
12  Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 01:17.8 01:17.4 N/A 11
13  Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 01:17.8 01:17.6 N/A 12
14  Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 01:18.1 01:17.8 N/A 14
15  Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 01:18.3 01:17.9 N/A 15
16  Nico Hülkenberg Renault 01:18.4 N/A N/A 16
17  Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 01:18.5 N/A N/A 17
18  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 01:18.7 N/A N/A 18
19  George Russell Williams-Mercedes 01:19.1 N/A N/A 202
20  Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 01:20.3 N/A N/A 19
* Daniel Ricciardo received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision at the previous round.
 

         

 

 

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