Hamilton edges out Bottas for Spanish GP pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position of the 2020 Formula 1 season by edging out Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Having been fastest in Q1 and Q2, Hamilton put in a 1m15.584s at the start of Q2 to take provisional pole by 0.059s over Bottas.

Neither could improve on their subsequent runs, with Bottas looking good until the final sector then falling short.

They carried a seven tenths of a second advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which was only just ahead of the Racing Points of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.

Verstappen’s team-mate Alex Albon showed improved qualifying form to take sixth, albeit still 0.7s away from the sister Red Bull.

He starts ahead of the McLarens of Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris, with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc back in ninth alongside Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.

Leclerc’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel was consigned to his second Q2 exit in as many grands prix, albeit missing the Q3 cut by just 0.002s. Tenth in Q1, he was 11th after his first Q2 run and briefly nudged into the top 10 before being knocked back out by Pierre Gasly. He’ll start 11th.

Both Renaults were eliminated in Q2. Daniel Ricciardo could only manage 13th, with Esteban Ocon 15th in his repaired car after his unusual final-practice crash.

They sandwiched Kimi Raikkonen, who got Alfa Romeo into Q2 for the first time in 2020. AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat was the other Q2 departure in 12th.

Raikkonen’s move through to Q2 pushed George Russell into Q1 elimination for the first time since the season-opener, with late improvements from both Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean then easing the Williams right down to 18th.

Seventeenth on the grid was a major disappointment to Grosjean after his strong Friday form and the team’s late-night efforts to change his engine following a practice-two problem.

The second Williams of Nicholas Latifi and second Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi – who was almost a second off Raikkonen in Q1 – share the back row.

Qualifying Results