Hamilton beaten by Bottas to pole as Mercedes smash Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas stormed to pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes dominated qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. After securing four one-two finishes in as many races so far this year, betting against anything else in Barcelona seems unwise at this stage.

Both Hamilton and Bottas smashed through the Circuit de Catalunya lap record before the final pole position shootout, with the Finn finally ending the day with the record thanks to a scorching 1:15.406, which secured top spot on the grid.

Ferrari have been unable to get close to Mercedes all weekend, especially in the final sector. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will start the race third and fifth.

Bottas secured a third pole in succession by six tenths of a second from Hamilton, having delivered a stunning lap on his initial Q3 run that nobody could get anywhere near - including the Finn himself on the second runs.

BOSSED IT! 👊 @ValtteriBottas takes POLE for the #SpanishGP!! pic.twitter.com/5zUKCaaDLw

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 11, 2019

Max Verstappen split the Ferraris in fourth, with Pierre Gasly much closer to the leading pack in sixth.

Haas had looked like bringing the fight to Red Bull earlier in the weekend, but just dropped back in Q3, with Romain Grosjean leading Kevin Magnussen in a still impressive fourth-row lockout for the American team.

Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10, although the Australian will start 13th after the collision between the pair in Baku last time out.

Q2

It was bad news for the locals in Montmelo as Carlos Sainz dropped out along with team-mate Lando Norris, ho missed out on Q3 by four hundredths of a second. Alexander Albon, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez were also eliminated in the second segment.

Q1

Nico Hulkenberg faced Q1 elimination for a second race in succession, his efforts hampered by a skirt over the gravel and into the barriers early in the session.

👀 Another shot of Hulk's trapped front wing#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/tBxmkOEowB

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 11, 2019

Joining the German were Antonio Giovinazzi and familiar Q1 leavers Lance Stroll, Robert Kubica and George Russell, who will swap places on the back row with his team-mate thanks to a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, despite qualifying 1.2 seconds ahead of the Pole.

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