Max Verstappen claims fifth win of season to extend championship lead over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to 53 points
Lewis Hamilton finishes a strong P2 in upgraded Mercedes
Hamilton's team-mate George Russell finishes P3 from 12th on starting grid
Perez P4, Sainz P5, Stroll P6, Alonso P7, Ocon P8, Zhou P9, Gasly P10
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BBC Sport's Ritchie Blackman looks at how the lack of a chicane could change how teams approach the Spanish Grand Prix.
Click below to watch the video.
F1 Breakdown: How will the lack of a chicane change the GP in Spain?
Who needs a chicane in the final sector cluttering up the place? Not Spain, that's for sure.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has reverted to the design layout last used in 2006, with two fast right-handers for drivers to tackle before they reach the start-finish straight.
Image source, BBC Sport
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
A reprimand for Haas team principal Gunther Steiner after using the word "laymen" to describe the Monaco Grand Prix stewards. The verdict said 'sweary Steiner' stated that if he had meant to insult or offend anyone, he would have used much different words.
Image source, Getty ImagesGunther Steiner was delighted with Nico Hulkenberg's strong qualifying performance on Saturday but the Haas team principal had an FIA summons hanging over his head for comments he made following the German's opening-lap penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix...
Image source, Getty ImagesWhat can Nico Hulkenberg do from inside the top 10 and Spaniard Fernando Alonso charging down on his rear wing from the word go?
"Best quali of the season so far finishing P7," tweeted the German driver. "Really happy about the great teamwork today in a tricky qualifying.. we'll start in a decent position and feel prepared to race hard tomorrow !!"
Hulkenberg is four points ahead of his team-mate Kevin Magnussen in the championship standings and will be hoping to score his second points of the campaign after a seventh-placed finish in Melbourne in April.
Image source, Getty ImagesPSG and Brazil forward Neymar is back for more F1 action after last week's Monaco Grand Prix.
Image source, Getty ImagesChelsea's Ben Chilwell, Joao Felix and Mason Mount have also popped in to watch the Spanish Grand Prix
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Image source, Pirelli MotorsportThere are expected to be two races today at the front of the field. One will involve Max Verstappen alone, who everyone thinks will just disappear off into the distance in the Red Bull. And the other will be everyone else. The top 12 is mixed up and there are some fast cars out of position - most notably Sergio Perez’s Red Bull in 11th, but also Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in eighth, one place higher than he qualified after Pierre Gasly’s double penalty. Alonso said he expected Perez to charge through to the podium, but can he do the same?
In a normal one-stop race on a track where overtaking has always been tricky, that would look difficult. But this is expected to be a two-stop. But which tyres? The soft for the start seems a given for most, but then is it hard-hard, hard-soft or hard-medium? There is also an “aggressive” three-stopper with three sets of softs and one hard as an option. Tyre wear will be high, and the key consideration is the left front through the long fast corners of Turns Three, Nine and 14.
Only front-row starters Verstappen and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the top 10 have two new sets of hard tyres; everyone else has one. And a key question is whether Ferrari’s upgrade will do its job and prevent Sainz plummeting backwards as the car has tended to do in races this year?
A pit stop costs a total of about 22 seconds under green-flag conditions, about 12 under a safety car.
Lewis Hamilton talking to Sky Sports about his tangle with team-mate George Russell in qualifying: "I had a wheel on the grass. It was just a miscommunication. I think we'll be all right."
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty ImagesMaking contact with his team-mate aside, Lewis Hamilton was impressed with how upgraded Mercedes performed in the heat of the pole position battle.
"To be fighting for P2 was a big surprise," said the seven-time world champion. "We did some great work overnight and the car felt so much better this morning.
"So these upgrades have definitely worked so a big thank you to everyone at back at home. Massively encouraging.
"If I was fighting for a championship, maybe I would be a bit more frustrated that I lost 0.2secs in Turn 10 but I will try to get it back tomorrow."
Hamilton is one of the drivers who have cashed in on Pierre Gasly's drop down the grid and gets the challenge of trying to pass Lando Norris to steal a podium place from lights out.
"I was just trying some wide lines," George Russell tells Sky Sports about his little out-lap detour across the gravel a few moments ago. "Yeah the car is fine," he adds. Relief for Mercedes.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Image source, Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton was starting a flying lap in Q2 when George Russell ahead of him appeared to be leaving space on the outside, only to move over and crash into the other Mercedes as it passed him.
The incident damaged Hamilton's front wing but his earlier lap was good enough to make it into the shootout.
Hamilton was only just over 0.2secs behind Verstappen into the second session but the Mercedes did not show the same pace in the final shootout and he ended up 0.546secs off the pace.
Russell, who was issued with a formal warning, complained of problems with tyres and did not have Hamilton's pace.
He also explained that it was a "communication error" and he did not know Hamilton was there.
Speaking of Mercedes...
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell gave the boss Toto Wolff flashbacks to the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix when the pair made contact on the straight in the second session of qualifying yesterday...
George Russell is into the gravel already! The Mercedes driver locks up and off he goes, picking up a load of stones. The mechanics will need to check that delicate floor when he reaches the grid.
We could be in for a wet race this afternoon? There are some dodgy-looking showers popping up on the weather radar around the Spanish circuit.The conditions look bright and sunny now but BBC weatherman Ian Fergusson can give us an update:
"Showers developed recently between 5 to 15km around the circuit, more particularly so out towards the NE. Shower evolution is expected to peak in the lead-up to race start, with current FIA guidance citing a 40% risk between 2-3pm local."
Image source, Google
Image source, Getty ImagesFernando Alonso, who starts P8 in front of his home crowd, speaking to Sky Sports: "Always it is very motivating seeing people in the grandstand and we have high motivation for our race. We go full throttle on the straights and if they could help me they would. I thanks everyone for the support."
Image source, Getty ImagesThe fairytale story of Fernando Alonso claiming his 33rd win in Formula 1 on Spanish soil might have to wait for another season.
Alonso ran off the track in Q1 on his out lap and ended up through the gravel at the high-speed final corner. The error caused damage to his floor and Aston Martin had to use adhesive tape in various spots to patch his car up.
"Q1 did compromise everything," Alonso said. "I did a mistake and went on the damp part of the circuit on the last corner and lost the car. That was very costly - the gravel completely destroyed the floor."
The two-time world champion felt he could've achieved a P2 start for today's 66-lap race - even with the damaged floor - but he ran wide at Turn 10 on his final lap in Q3.
Still, the 41-year-old said he was optimistic after seeing the other times in the top 10 "because the car still has a lot of pace."
Alonso will now slot into P8 on the grid and will have to attack Nico Hulkenberg's Haas off the line and swat away any moves by Oscar Piastri's McLaren in ninth.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Image source, Getty ImagesThe star of qualifying was undoubtedly Lando Norris, who put a McLaren which so far this year has been the sixth fastest car over one lap into third place on the grid. “We all sat down and we were thinking it's going to be tough to get over Q1,” Norris said. “Sometimes we outperform that quite a bit and we do well but I think apart from maybe Bahrain, this was our worst Friday of the season, so I really wasn't that hopeful. But things just seem to come together, other people struggled a bit more today than maybe us over-performing kind of thing or being our true potential.”
But what about the race, with so many theoretically faster cars behind him?“It’s really just hold on for dear life,” he said. “Top 10. We’ll see. We didn’t expect to be so good.”
Image source, Getty ImagesLando Norris couldn't quite believe his final position when the chequered flag fell in qualifying. "What?!" said the McLaren driver when told he was P3."Still? Interesting..."
The 23-year-old Briton is 11th in the drivers' standings following a difficult start to the season that has included three P17 finishes.
Norris' last podium celebration was a third-placed finish at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in 2022 but he joked his eyes today are firmly set in his mirrors and not a potential champagne moment.
Image source, Getty ImagesIf Carlos Sainz wants to add to his British Grand Prix win he took at Silverstone last season, then there's no doubt he will have to do it the hard way against the might of Max Verstappen and his RB19.
The Spaniard qualified in a season-high second place and felt his performance in Q3 was the “maximum” he could have extracted from the car.
His ultimate ambition for today's race in Barcelona would be to cross the line with a victory in his pocket in front of the adoring Spanish fans.
“It would mean everything [to win], but I know Max is on a planet of his own, in a league of his own.
“We would need a reliability issue or a very big mistake from Red Bull or him for us to win tomorrow. In a normal race the podium has to be our target and to be best of the rest.”
Image source, Getty ImagesPole position for the Spanish Grand Prix has been added to Max Verstappen's list of achievements for the 2023 season.
The Dutchman was 0.462secs clear of Carlos Sainz in second place and never looked in danger of losing out on his 24th career pole.
After qualifying, Verstappen tweeted: "The car was on rails, really enjoyable to drive. I love this track and the fans here in Barcelona! We already have some great memories here, tomorrow we will give it our all to make more!"
The reigning world champion has won four out of six races this year and with his team-mate Sergio Perez off the pace and starting outside the top 10, that 39-point advantage at the top of the championship could increase by the time we pack up and head to Canada in two weeks' time.