Hamilton on pole for Spanish GP ahead of Vettel as Alonso impresses by 7th

Lewis Hamilton will start the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position — his third pole of the season.

The British driver was dominant on a sun-kissed Circuit de Catalunya as he banished the horror show of his fourth-placed finish at Russia last time out — among the poorest performances of his stellar career.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was second quickest, having locked up in his final flying lap; he was 0.051 behind Hamilton.

Valtteri Bottas, in the other Mercedes, was third while Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, was fourth.

Watching on was Mercedes’ big cheese, Dieter Zetsche, the only man in Formula One able to rival the extravagant moustache of the sport’s chief executive Chase Carey.

Vettel was almost pulled out of qualifying after being asked to pull in by his pit-lane boffins. He continued and the problem was solved.

While Mercedes could celebrate, there was celebration, too, at McLaren-Honda, for whom Fernando Alonso made it into the third qualifying session, a season first.

In the McLaren garage, Zak Brown celebrated. Fist-pumping for 7th is a sign of the times, after their gruesome start to a season beset by engine problems.

Alonso wagged his finger in celebration. It was a great performance by the Spaniard in front of his own fans.

Jolyon Palmer, of Renault, was 17th quickest. The Brit said: ‘I don’t know what happened. The pace has gone. I was happy yesterday and jumped straight in and was feeling good. Today it’s just gone.

‘I’m quite confused. I didn’t do such a horrendous lap but it just wasn’t there. We’ll work on it, somewhere in the data there will be an explanation.’

Hamilton started on pole a year ago but he collided with his former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on the opening lap.

‘It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow that’s for sure,’ Hamilton, 32, said. ‘It is all milliseconds between us.

‘It’s the third longest run down to turn one so it’s going to be important to get a good start. I’m just going to do the best job I can.’

Vettel, whose Ferrari team were forced to change his engine on Saturday morning, added: ‘The team did a phenomenal job.

‘We had an issue this morning and we had to change the engine. Normally that’s a three-hour job but they did it in under two hours. A big thank you to them.

‘Kimi’s crew helped out. It was quite funny. One side of the garage had one or two mechanics and the other side was completely crowded, like bees hovering around the car.

‘I think we could have had pole today. Not the ideal end, but if I think about where we were this morning it was a really good recovery.’

Source: Lewis Hamilton on pole for Spanish Grand Prix | Daily Mail Online