Spain – Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton, King of Spain

Only 19 drivers participated in the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session as the Toro Rosso mechanics were unable to repair the extensive damage Brendon Hartley sustained during free practice.

A second single-seater could not fully defend its chances as Nico Hülkenberg experienced a fuel pressure issue. He was finally able to set a representative time in the last minute of the session. But he could only manage the 16th fastest time of the session.

During the first round of laps in Q1, Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel surrounded the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but the German managed to significantly elevate his pace on his second attempt, clocking a 1:17.031. The Red Bull cars also showed an interesting performance potential by surrounding Kimi Räikkönen.

The Haas continued their good momentum from the weekend, securing 7th and 9th positions. Fernando Alonso was on fire in front of his home crowd while equipped with medium tires, allowing him to set the 8th fastest time.

Lance Stroll once again made a mistake by going off-track and into the gravel trap in reverse during the very last minute. It doesn’t fundamentally change things since he already held the slowest time of the session.

He is accompanied in the group of eliminated by Marcus Ericsson and his teammate Sergey Sirotkin.

This allows Charles Leclerc to once again make it into Q2. The Monegasque takes advantage of this new opportunity by placing 14th.

For their first attempt in Q2, almost all the teams, except Sahara Force India and Charles Leclerc, attempted the strategic move of starting on softs and thus beginning tomorrow’s race with them. It must be noted that these tires work particularly well since Sebastian Vettel was able to clock a 1:16:802 with these tires, two tenths better than what he achieved with his super softs in Q1.

Lewis Hamilton was the only one from the two leading teams to go out in Q2 with the super-soft tires, but he was not able to improve his time, which means he will indeed start with the yellow-banded tires. It was the same for Daniel Ricciardo, who maintained his 7th place, just behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 are: Stoffel Vandoorne, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, and Sergio Perez.

Just before the final part of the qualifying session, the marshals were busy cleaning the track at turn 7 as Romain Grosjean had once again ventured into the gravel trap. However, the Spanish fans were delighted to see their two representatives make it into Q3, with Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso finishing in 9th and 10th position. This marks the first appearance of a McLaren this far in a qualifying session this season.

At the moment of truth, it was Lewis Hamilton who struck first with an exceptional time of 1:16.491, more than three tenths ahead of the two Red Bulls and Valtteri Bottas. The Ferraris fell back as Kimi Räikkönen made a small mistake in the first corner, pushing him behind Fernando Alonso into 7th position, while Sebastian Vettel found himself seven-tenths off his rival’s benchmark.

For his second stint, Daniel Ricciardo chose to go out on softs. This allowed him to improve his time but he remained two thousandths behind his teammate. The same strategy was adopted by Kimi Räikkönen, who climbed to a final fourth position. But the two Mercedes did even better with their super softs, lowering the new track record to 1:16:173, just four hundredths ahead of his teammate.

However, it should be noted that Sebastian Vettel was able to position himself less than two-tenths behind the Mercedes despite setting his time on soft tires. This, therefore, promises a race full of suspense as all the leading drivers will start on soft tires.

In the match between the Spaniards, it was Fernando Alonso who came out on top, finishing 8th, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean.

From our special correspondent in Barcelona