Charles Leclerc produces immense lap to claim pole at Spanish Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc took pole for the Spanish Grand Prix with an immense lap in Barcelona beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second place. The Ferrari driver delivered superbly to take the top spot in an intense session where Mercedes showed a definitive improvement with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton securing their best combined qualifying positions of the season with fourth and sixth place. Carlos Sainz was in third for Ferrari with Sergio Pérez in fifth for Red Bull.

In a fascinating session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the tensest perhaps since the opening round of the season in Bahrain, Verstappen set the pace with his first hot lap in Q3, with a time of 1min 19.073sec. He had to push given the ferocity of the fight at the front but absolutely nailed the lap, almost four-tenths clear of Sainz in second and half a second up on the two Mercedes. Leclerc, so strong all weekend, spun at the end of his first lap and had only one further shot at a time.

On the second runs, Leclerc went out first to ensure he put in a lap and despite the pressure after his mistake he threw his car at the track, quick through the second and third sectors, and found time to better Verstappen in 1:18.750, a quarter of a second up. He took the top spot just as Verstappen told his team he had lost power and could not improve. The Dutchman had done enough to ensure second but Red Bull will be concerned once more over reliability issues.

The two Mercedes drivers were more than six-tenths back but given their season it is a positive step and, having shown much stronger form in race pace, will be optimistic for Sunday.

This meeting was very much crunch time for Mercedes, with the team principal, Toto Wolff, having said this