F1: Mercedes Leads Spanish GP Qualifying With Front Row Lockout; Vettel 3rd

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton pipped teammate Valtteri Bottas and Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to take the pole at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton lapped the circuit in 1.16.173s, 0.040s faster than his teammate, as the top three drivers were split by less than two-tenths of a second. Piloting the second Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen will start fourth on the grid tomorrow, followed by the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and sixth place respectively. Spanish drivers Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Fernando Alonso of McLaren finished seventh and eighth respectively in qualifying, while Renault's Carlos Sainz beat Romain Grosjean in the second Haas car to finish ninth.

(Sebastian Vettel currently sits 2nd in drivers' standings by a deficit of 4 points)

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne lapped 0.223s slower than Alonso in Q2 using soft compound Pirellis, and ended up in 11th place, while being the fastest of the five drivers to be eliminated in that stage. Torro Rosso's Pierre Gasly qualified 12th. Meanwhile, Sauber driver Charles Leclerc will start 14th tomorrow, sandwiched between the Force India cars with Esteban Ocon in 13th place and Sergio Perez in 15th. Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest driver to be eliminated in Q1 and will start in 16th place tomorrow.

Brendon Hartley of Torro Rosso could not participate in qualifying after an incident during FP3 that left his car damaged with just two hours left for qualifying. Hence, the driver will be starting the race in the last place tomorrow, behind Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, and both the Williams cars driven by Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll.

(After a disastrous last round, Red Bull is expected to perform better in Spain)

The top drivers barring Alonso were running on soft tyres from Q2, and hence, will start this Sunday's Spanish GP on the rubber. Meanwhile, the Spaniard opted for supersofts during Q2 and will be starting the race on the faster rubber.

Hamilton currently leads the 2018 F1 championship with 70 points, while Sebastian Vettel is a close second at 66 points. It will be interesting to see if the British driver will be able to consolidate his lead at the end of the Spanish GP with a win. Qualifying certainly has been close and will make for a competitive race tomorrow.