Hamilton takes 100th F1 pole in Spain

Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole position for the 100th time in his career, setting the fastest time at Circuit de Catalunya.

The Mercedes driver was 0.036s faster than Max Verstappen, while Valtteri Bottas completed the top three.

Nicholas Latifi’s hopes of making it out of the first part of qualifying when he ran wide, resulting in some minor damage to his car, while Lando Norris needed a lap push after being hindered by traffic early on.

Kimi Raikkonen and Yuki Tsunoda had both showed good pace in practice, but neither were able to replicate their best laps in qualifying, leaving them in the bottom five.

Tsunoda’s teammate, Pierre Gasly, was knocked out in Q2 – missing a spot in the top 10 for the first time this season.

Sergio Perez struggled at the start of Q3, dipping a wheel into the gravel which sent him spinning off track, but the Mexican just managed to keep the car from beaching in the gravel.

Provisional qualifying result:

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

9. Lando Norris (McLaren)

10. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

11. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

12. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

13. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)

14. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)

15. George Russell (Williams)

16. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

17. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)

18. Mick Schumacher (Haas)

19. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

20. Nikita Mazepin (Haas)