Mercedes locks out front row for first time in 2018 though Hamilton’s pole while Ferrari starts on row two

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, narrowly ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes locked out the front row ahead of the Ferraris.

Bottas missed out on pole by just 0.040sec as Hamilton set a new track record with a time of 1min 16.173sec.

Sebastian Vettel, who topped the first two qualifying sessions, was denied a fourth consecutive pole – two tenths off the pace – but he out-qualified Kimi Räikkönen who will join him behind the Mercedes.

Max Verstappen out-qualified team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.002sec to take fifth as the Red Bulls occupy the third row.

The frontrunners will start the race on soft tyres having used them to set times in Q2.

Kevin Magnussen set the seventh fastest time, but was nowhere near the pace of the Red Bulls. He fended off eighth place Fernando Alonso by 0.045sec.

Carlos Sainz Jr qualified ninth, while Haas’ Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10, 1.662sec off the pace.

Stoffel Vandoorne finished two tenths slower than his team-mate in the second qualifying session and was eliminated in 11^th place, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.

Neither Force India made it past Q2 with Esteban Ocon 13th and Sergio Pérez 15^th, a second away from safety. The two were split by Charles Leclerc.

Nico Hülkenberg only set one flying lap in the first qualifying session as his Renault had a suspected gearbox issue. He was eliminated, 0.048sec off Vandoorne, in that session.

Marcus Ericsson locked up on his first flying effort and was eventually eliminated in 17^th place.

The Williams pair was also eliminated in Q1 as Sergey Sirotkin finished 18^th. He receives a three-place grid penalty for colliding with Pérez in Azerbaijan.

Team-mate Lance Stroll finished 19^th, 3.194sec off the Q1 pace. He ended Q1 in the gravel, spinning out on the exit of Turn 12 and bringing out a caution.

Brendon Hartley, who crashed at the end of FP3, was a spectator for qualifying.

---

Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix qualifying results

1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1min 16.173secsec
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1min 16.213secsec	+0.040sec
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1min 16.305sec	+0.132sec
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1min 16.612sec	+0.439sec
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1min 16.816sec	+0.643sec
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1min 16.818sec	+0.645sec
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1min 17.676sec	+1.503sec
8	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1min 17.721sec	+1.548sec
9	Carlos Sainz Jr	Renault	1min 17.790sec	+1.617sec
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1min 17.835sec	+1.662sec
11	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1min 18.323sec
12	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1min 18.463sec
13	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1min 18.696sec
14	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1min 18.910sec
15	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1min 19.098sec
16	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1min 18.923sec
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1min 19.493sec
18	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1min 19.695sec
19	Lance Stroll	Williams	1min 20.225sec
20	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso

For full analysis of qualifying, sign up for the Mark Hughes newsletter to receive the in-depth Grand Prix report on Monday following the Grand Prix.