Lewis Hamilton has stormed to pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Despite making a mistake on his first run in Q3, Hamilton responded to take pole position by just over two-tenths.
A fantastic lap from Ricciardo puts him third ahead of Max Verstappen. Both Ferraris struggled in Q3, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
Valtteri Bottas was seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso.
The opening part of qualifying was straight forward for the front runners with both Rosberg and Hamilton setting their fastest times early on.
Max Verstappen impressed in Q1, setting the third fastest time but it was Felipe Massa, who was the major casualty. Williams did not send Massa out for a second run whilst the likes of Jenson Button, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg improved on their initial runs.
Jolyon Palmer, Massa, Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr, Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto all failed to progress into Q2.
Q2 was more of the same as Hamilton led Rosberg but with a substantial margin of six-tenths.
All eyes were on the battle to make Q3. With both Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls all certain of making it through. An impressive lap from Toro Rosso’s Sainz ensured he progressed into Q3 whilst Bottas also progressed.
Fernando Alonso progressed into the pole position shootout for the first time since moving to McLaren by the skin of his teeth
Nico Hulkenberg, Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Gutierrez all failed to progress into Q3.
The two Mercedes, Verstappen and both Ferraris opted for two runs in Q3 whilst the other five drivers completed only one run at the end of the session.
Hamilton made a big error at Turn 10, after being two-tenths up on Rosberg’s lap meaning he would be only third, behind Rosberg and Verstappen, after the first runs.
The reigning champion responded in Q3 to take his second pole in Spain ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo’s only run was good enough to put him third ahead of teammate Verstappen.
Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Sainz, Perez and Alonso rounded out the top 10 in Q3.
