Championship leader Lewis Hamilton will start on pole position for the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix after outpacing teammate Valtteri Bottas and the rest of the pack in Q3.
Hamilton managed a fastest lap time of 1:15.584, which he set on his first run in the final session of qualifying. Bottas was marginally slower, ending up with a fastest lap time of 1:15.643.
Although the two Mercedes drivers dominated qualifying, the race is unlikely to be a stroll to the chequered flag for the Silver Arrows.
Red Bull ace Max Verstappen, who will start the race third on the grid, is likely to be a threat, with his car predicted to have better race pace than the Mercedes.
As we saw in last weekend’s 70th Anniversary GP, the Red Bull RB16 is much softer on its tyres in hot conditions than the Silver Arrows.
This could come into play on Sunday, with temperatures in Barcelona forecast to hit around 27 Degrees Celsius.
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team principal Toto Wolff suggested after qualifying that Verstappen is favourite to win the race.
“I believe the work that has been done during the week and from yesterday to today was good. I think we have improved and that is most important, and I hope we can give him [Verstappen] a run for his money, but definitely Max needs to be seen as the favourite based on yesterday’s long runs,” Wolff said.
He went on to point out that while the track conditions we’re seeing this weekend are similar to those we had at Silverstone a week earlier, the two tracks have “very different” designs.
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