Lewis Hamilton secured his 100th Formula 1 career pole after a tight battle with Max Verstappen in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
Just a month shy of 14 years since his first pole position at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver reached his century with a trademark special lap at the start of Q3 which his rivals were not able to beat.
After Q2, it appeared Verstappen would be the driver to beat, but the Dutchman had to settle for second just 0.036s off Hamilton’s time.
Valtteri Bottas completed the usual HAM-VER-BOT trio in third.
Q1
Qualifying began with just 0.735s between Lando Norris in P1, and Yuki Tsunoda who was the first driver eliminated in 16th.
Norris himself actually needed the strong final lap after being near the knock out zone following his first run, which saw him encounter multiple cars in the final sector.
Count the cars! ?#SpanishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/4br6JkH0pS
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2021
Kimi Raikkonen briefly escaped the bottom five with his final run but slipped back to 17th in the Alfa Romeo, despite still being one of the fastest drivers in Sector 1.
Mick Schumacher once again beat Nicholas Latifi into 18th, while Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin was six-tenths off the rest of the grid in 20th.
Q2
In a change from the opening three races, all the drivers went for the soft tyre to start Sunday’s race.
And Max Verstappen threw down the gauntlet posting the first sub 1m17s lap of the weekend to lead the two Mercedes’.
Bottas sets the early Q2 pace ?
Verstappen then goes nearly half-a-second quicker! ??#SpanishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/RUdv4d9yjn
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2021
In the fight to make the top 10, both Aston Martins narrowly missed out in 11th for Lance Stroll and 13th for Sebastian Vettel.
Pierre Gasly missed out on Q3 for the first time in 2021 in 12th, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi for Alfa Romeo.
George Russell continued his run of Q2 appearances going but could do no better than 15th in the Williams.
Q3
It was advantage Hamilton after the first runs in Q3, with the Briton posting a 1m16.741s, just 0.036s clear of Verstappen and Bottas a tenth back in third.
Come the chequered flag, those margins would be unchanged as none of the front-runners improved, securing the seven-time champions his 100th pole.
Charles Leclerc was one of only two drivers to go faster on his second flying lap, claiming fourth for Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon took an impressive fifth in the Alpine, with Carlos Sainz sixth in the second Prancing Horse.
Daniel Ricciardo was seventh, outqualifying McLaren teammate Norris for the third time this season as the Briton was only ninth.
Sergio Perez ruined his first flying lap with a spin on the entry to Turn 13 on his first timed lap, with the Mexican only able to claim eighth after his second attempt in the Red Bull.
Home favourite Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10.
A historic day in Barcelona as Lewis Hamilton reaches a benchmark that may never be reached again in F1, now we wait to see if he can convert it into a third win of 2021 on Sunday.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
