Oscar Piastri beat team-mate Lando Norris to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix as McLaren sealed a front-row lockout.
Piastri, who leads Norris by three points at the top of the world championship, trailed the Brit after the first laps in the final part of qualifying but produced a superb final run to take his fourth pole of the season with a 1:11.546.
Norris was unable to maintain the form he showed to take pole and win in Monaco last weekend as a scrappy final effort left him two tenths of a second off Piastri.
Max Verstappen and George Russell were less than a tenth of a second off Norris in third and fourth, respectively, as they set identical times, with the Red Bull starting ahead of the Mercedes as a result of delivering his lap first.
Lewis Hamilton took fifth for Ferrari by out-qualifying his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was seventh behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, for just the second time in nine grand prix sessions this season.
McLaren’s impressive display made a nonsense of speculation coming into the weekend that the runaway Constructors’ Championship leaders would be hampered by a technical directive introduced in Barcelona limiting the permitted level of flexion in front wings.
Instead, the reigning champions have produced perhaps their most dominant start to a weekend so far this season, increasingly the expectation that the title battle could be played out from either side of the McLaren garage.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams driver Carlos Sainz both suffered early exits during qualifying in Spain
Pierre Gasly took an impressive eighth for Alpine, while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar continued his superb form to seal ninth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Red Bull’s woes with their second car continued as Yuki Tsunoda qualified last as he failed to make it through to Q3 for a third successive race.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s Spanish GP schedule
Ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix we take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from previous races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Sunday June 1
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Spanish GP build-up*
2pm: The SPANISH GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Spanish GP reaction
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s European triple header concludes with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this weekend, with live coverage starting from Friday on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
