Charles Coates/Getty Images Valtteri Bottas continued his excellent 2019 season on Saturday, as he led a Mercedes front-row lockout in qualifying at the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes were dominant throughout the day, and Bottas secured pole with a stunning time of one minute, 15.406 seconds. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton will join him at the front of the grid, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will begin in third. Earlier in the day, Hamilton topped final practice, with Bottas leading the way in both sessions on Friday. Here is a recap of Saturday's action, including the key details from qualifying ahead of Sunday's race in Barcelona. Qualifying Recap Video Play Button Videos you might like With all the main names negotiating their way through Q1, the big story early on was the continued struggles of Renault. While Daniel Ricciardo was able to squeeze through into the next phase, Nico Hulkenberg had a session to forget. His front wing got stuck under his car after a collision with the barriers, prompting mid-session repairs and then an eventual elimination. F1 journalist Philip Duncan commented on what has been a challenging 2019 for the team so far: One of the biggest surprises in Q1 was the performance of McLaren's Lando Norris. He produced a fine lap to stay well clear of any cutoff and finished the session in a lofty sixth position. In the second stanza, the power of the Mercedes was again there for all to see, as Hamilton posted a time of 1:16.038 to break the circuit record; it felt inevitable he would go quicker again in the final session, too: Elsewhere, the scrap to get into the top-10 shootout was intriguing, as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc found himself in the red zone as the clock ticked down to zero. He eventually did enough to get through on his final lap, while Bottas pipped Hamilton to top spot at the end of the session. The Ferrari mechanics had some work to do before Q3: In the race for pole, Mercedes were always going to be tough to beat, and the two Silver Arrows were first to set a time. Once again, Bottas had the edge, posting a blistering marker of 1:15.406, more than sixth-tenths of a second quicker than Hamilton in second. In the second runs, neither of the front two were able to improve their times, while Vettel did enough to finish as the best of the rest. FP3 Recap At a track the drivers are so familiar with, it was strange to see a number of big names making errors in the early stages on Saturday. First it was Vettel, who spun at the chicane. A day earlier, the German had been unhappy with the lack of grip in his rear tyres and didn't appear totally at ease in Barcelona, limping to the fourth-fastest time. The same could be said for Bottas to begin with. Having looked flawless on Friday, the Finn's mistake left his Mercedes in the gravel and temporarily brought the session to a standstill: His team's Twitter account were quick to note this was out of character for a driver who is usually so dependable: Meanwhile, the battle for top spot in the standings didn't ignite until late on, when the leaders decided to give the soft tyres a go. Leclerc initially went quickest, although he was blown away by Hamilton, who reinforced just how difficult the Mercedes is going to be to beat in qualifying and on Sunday. The Briton was a massive 0.531 seconds ahead of the Ferrari, with Bottas eventually recovering to take third spot. The session was brought to a premature end when George Russell lost control of his Williams and spun into a wall with five minutes remaining.<doc-sep>Renault’s nightmare start to the 2019 Formula 1 season continued in Spain during the opening qualifying session. Nico Hulkenberg came off second best heading into the fourth corner when he locked up his front right tyre and skidded across the gravel before tapping the barrier. He was able to drive out of the sand trap and make his way around to the pits, but did drag his front wing underneath his car the entire way around the track. “Not great, not the smoothest yet, we need to do better,” Hulkenberg said after qualifying. “I’m quite disappointed with myself about that. I made a mistake on the first run, touched the wall slightly and we had to change the front wing and we also suffered bargeboard damage. If you make mistakes, you pay for them. “We could have made Q2 at a minimum today. We’re lacking a bit of pace and harmony in the car at the moment. We’ll give it our best tomorrow and aim for a better result.” Later in the first session Aussie teammate Daniel Ricciardo almost suffered a similar fate when he locked up his front tyre on the exact same corner. Thankfully he kept it on the track, but only just snuck through into the second qualifying session before making his way into the third and final session. Hulkenberg has broken his front wing after going off at Turn 4 and hitting the wall. Currently caught under the Renault car as he hobbles back to the pits #F1 #SpanishGP — Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) May 11, 2019 Ricciardo couldn’t match the pace of his rivals but the Australian once again beat out his teammate and will start from 10th on the grid. “We did a pretty good job to get into Q3 today. That was the target and I certainly felt after yesterday we had the potential to achieve that,” Ricciardo said. “We probably could have been slightly higher in the order for Q3 but I lost the rear out of Turn 13 on the second run and lost some time. That stopped it from being a really good session, but, in any case, it was a strong effort today. “We have the penalty to add, but we’ll get our heads down in the race and look for points.” Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton continued the 2019 trend by claiming another front row lockout. Bottas blitzed the field with a stunning qualifying lap and Hamilton gave it his all but simply couldn’t match the blistering speed of his teammate. Ferrari had mixed results in the final session of qualifying with Sebastian Vettel sitting more than half a second behind Hamilton. Charles Leclerc faced a delayed start to the session after the team worked on the damaged floor of his car. He managed to get out onto the track but couldn’t match Vettel’s speed and will start from fifth spot on the grid. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start in fourth, ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly who will start from sixth. Verstappen unleashed during the final practice session after a close encounter during a flying lap. After being held up by Lance Stroll, Verstappen was told to be careful of him starting a new lap by his pit crew. His response was rather blunt. “I know, f*** him. He also f***ed my lap so he can wait as well. D***,” Verstappen said. WARNING: Explicit language. Gezellig even de radio luisteren bij Max nadat Stroll in de weg reed tijdens VT3. Max had weinig zin om vervolgens Stroll weer voorbij te laten. Als je van veel fuckjes en getier houdt, here you go 😜 #F1 pic.twitter.com/UvtZaP1IkL — Rob van Gameren (@VanGamerenF1) May 11, 2019 F1 Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying results 1: Valterri Bottas 2: Lewis Hamilton 3: Sebastian Vettel 4: Max Verstappen 5: Chrles Leclerc 6: Pierre Gasly 7: Romain Grosjean 8: Kevin Magnussen 9: Dani Kvyat 10: Daniel Ricciardo 11: Lando Norris 12: Alex Albon 13: Carlos Sainz 14: Kimi Raikkonen 15: Sergio Perez 16: Nico Hulkenberg 17: Lance Stroll 18: Antonio Giovinazzi 19: George Russell 20: Robert Kubica<doc-sep>The German saw rival Mercedes grab another front row lock-out at Barcelona, as he was left trailing pole position man Valtteri Bottas by 0.866 seconds as he took third place on the grid. But although aware that Mercedes had the edge in single-lap pace, he has suggested that a different approach his team has taken with its newly updated car may yet pay dividends in the race. "We tried a lot of stuff yesterday and again today, different directions and we ended up getting the best out of the car today which wasn't enough," he explained. "We are certainly not satisfied but I am very happy with the approach, with the chance that we took in terms of trying something daring: something that ultimately it will pay off, maybe not today at least, but hopefully it will help us in terms of pace for tomorrow. And hopefully it sets us off in the right direction for the next couple of weeks." Vettel said he was surprised at the scale of the Mercedes advantage, which he thinks has been exaggerated by the fact that his Ferrari is struggling in Barcelona's tight final sector. "Coming here we did not expect [the Mercedes gap] , but I think also we seem lose quite a big amount of time in the last sector," he said. "It is quite clear we seem to be faster down the straights, so probably we carry a little bit less wing than them. But in the last sector there are no straights and we are struggling a little bit to bring it together. "It is not a very long sector with quite some corners, and mostly lower speed, and that is where we seem to be losing the most time. There is definitely some homework, we know this track very well, everybody does, but with the conditions today we were just to able to match them." While the showing in Barcelona is in stark contrast to the pace Ferrari had in winter testing, Vettel thinks that nothing dramatic has changed – and his team just needs to understand how to get more pace from its 2019 challenger. "We need to dig deep," he said. "Now is not the first time we are losing out and not the second time nor the third time. It is a consistent trend that we seem to lose, in some places, independent of conditions, sunshine, clouds, tyres and compounds and so on. "There is a bit more for us to understand but if we had the solution surely it would be on the car already."<doc-sep>Sebastian Vettel concedes the final sector in Barcelona proved to be “more than an Achilles’ Heel” for Ferrari during qualifying for Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix. Despite bringing an upgraded engine and host of updates, Ferrari lagged well behind Mercedes throughout practice and qualifying, with Vettel ending up a massive eight-tenths adrift of pacesetter Valtteri Bottas in third place. Both Ferrari drivers were quicker than the Mercedes pair in the opening two sectors, but lost significant time in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s tight and technical final sector. “It [sector three] seems to be more than an Achilles’ Heel at the moment,” Vettel said. “I just spoke to Valtteri and they were both very happy with the car and especially in the last sector but for us it is a bit more tricky. “I think we got everything out of the car in the first run and in the second run I just had to try something different but it didn’t work. Happy but not happy if you know what I mean.” Vettel, who also spun at the penultimate corner during final practice, believes Ferrari got its set-up “more or less right” for qualifying but admitted the team appears to be lacking grip in slower corners compared to Mercedes. “The car doesn’t feel bad but obviously we are not quick enough,” he explained. “In terms of balance we got it more or less right. “I had a bit of understeer and that was probably more than what they [Mercedes] had but I think overall in those sort of corners you need the grip so we might be a bit down on that.”<doc-sep>
Dan Istitene/Getty Images Mercedes continued their strong start to the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix in second practice on Friday, as Valtteri Bottas was again on top of the standings. The Finn was lighting quick around the Circuit de Catalunya, posting a time of one minute, 17.284 seconds in the day's second session. That was enough to put him ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.049 seconds behind. Earlier in the day, Bottas was fastest for Mercedes in FP1, with the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc in second and third respectively. Here is a recap of Friday's action from Barcelona, including the full standings from both practice sessions. FP2 Recap Video Play Button Videos you might like With Bottas and Hamilton split by the two Ferrari drivers in the early runs, it wasn't completely clear which team would have the edge going into final practice and qualifying on Saturday. However, it would appear Mercedes are again the team to beat. Hamilton was first to go the top of the standings, although he wasn't there for long, as his team-mate produced a better final sector on the soft tyre to move in front again. As the Autosport Live Twitter account relayed, the Mercedes has a big advantage over Ferrari in the final two sectors of the track: The Pirelli Motorsport Twitter account noted that the drivers are already much improved on their times from 2018: There was a small worry for Mercedes at the end of the session when Hamilton complained about a loss of power, although he was able to get his car back to the garage. Ferrari appear to be the best of the rest in Barcelona, as they were a significant way behind the Silver Arrows but comfortably ahead of the other cars in the field. Those seeking some drama in FP3 and qualifying may look to the battle to be on the third row of the grid. Based on Friday's data, there's little separating the Red Bull and Haas teams, with the four drivers from those teams tightly bunched on the standings. FP1 Recap Both Ferrari drivers were fast out of the blocks, and they set the early pace on a crucial weekend for the Italian outfit. However, they were both eclipsed by Bottas once the Finn strapped on the soft tyres. He also had a close call with Max Verstappen early in the session as the Dutchman just avoided him while on a fast lap: The pair both ended the session in the pits as their cars were investigated for apparent oil leaks. That was small fry compared with Lance Stroll's late issues, though. The Racing Point driver crunched nose first into the barriers at Turn 9, drawing a red flag moments before the end of the session while causing major damage to his car. The 20-year-old was able to walk away from the crash and appeared unhurt. But Racing Point will have a job on their hands to repair the damage.