LIVE F1, Spanish GP 2020: qualifying updates. Hamilton takes the pole position. Mercedes dominates, Bottas in second position

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16.09 Thank you for following the qualifying session with us. Keep following OA Sport for more stories, updates, comments, analysis, news and videos. Enjoy the rest of your day!

16.08 Ferrari’s goal is to try to gain as many points as possible. Charles Leclerc needs to do his magic again but this time it will be harder starting from P9. Vettel, from P11, could have a different strategy and start with mediums or even hard tyres.

16.07 Mercedes dominate the qualifying session also thank the different engine’s settings. But this will not be allowed anymore from the Belgium GP. With the hot weather and very high temperatures, the race will be unpredictable and Verstappen will try to challenge the Mercedes.

16.05 Starting grid of the top ten positions:

1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:15.584
2 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes +0.059
3 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.708
4 Sergio PEREZ Racing Point +0.898
5 Lance STROLL Racing Point +1.005
6 Alexander ALBON Red Bull Racing +1.445
7 Carlos SAINZ McLaren +1.460
8 Lando NORRIS McLaren +1.500
9 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +1.503
10 Pierre GASLY AlphaTauri +1.552

16.03 Leclerc closes Q3 in P9, 1″503 behind the leader. Not a good qualifying session for Ferrari. Tomorrow the team will need to use the strategies and tyre-management better than the other teams.

16.02 100TH POLE POSITION FOR MERCEDES AND 92ND FOR LEWIS HAMILTON! Hamilton takes the lead in 1’15″584, ahead 0.059 of Bottas and 0.708 of Verstappen. Everything as predicted for the first positions.

16.01 Albon and Norris are faster than Leclerc who is in P8 now.

16.00 BOTTAS DOES NOT MAKE IT! He stays behind Hamilton by 0.059.

16.00 Leclerc temporary in P6.

16.00 Bottas is faster than Hamilton at the moment. Leclerc is improving his time.

15.58 Leclerc is the first to attempt the lap.

15.57 Everyone is on track for the last attempt. Pole position fight will be between Hamilton and Bottas. No one can really upset Mercedes today.

15.56 Last 4 minutes of Q3!

15.55 Mercedes changed the settings again, pushing even harder than Q2.

15.54 Temporary standings in Q3:

1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes1:15.584 4
2 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes+0.059 4
3 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing+0.708 4
4 Sergio PEREZ Racing Point+0.984 4
5 Lance STROLL Racing Point+1.005 4
6 Lando NORRIS McLaren+1.654 5
7 Charles LECLERC Ferrari+1.713 5
8 Alexander ALBON Red Bull Racing+1.727 5
9 Carlos SAINZ McLaren+1.882 5
10 Pierre GASLY AlphaTauri+2.070 5

15.53 MERCEDES DOMINATES! Hamilton in the lead in 1’15″584, Bottas is 0.059 behind, Verstappen in P3 0.708 behind, Perez in P4 behind 0.984. Follow Stroll, Norris, Leclerc, Albon, Sainz and Gasly.

15.52 1’16″568 for Perez, Stroll is 0.021 behind his teammate.

15.51 Everyone on track with soft tyres.

15.50 Leaving the box, Albon damaged Hamilton who had to stop to avoid an incident. He risks a penalty.

15.48 Q3 STARTS NOW!

15.47 Mercedes go for pole position. Verstappen and Racing Point fight for P3.

15.46 Vettel needs a bit more luck, he was 0.002 behind Norris and 0.005 behind Albon.

15.45 Standings after Q2:

1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:16.013 3
2 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes +0.139 3
3 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.505 3
4 Lance STROLL Racing Point +0.653 3
5 Pierre GASLY AlphaTauri +0.787 4
6 Carlos SAINZ McLaren +0.863 4
7 Sergio PEREZ Racing Point +0.923 3
8 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.940 4
9 Alexander ALBON Red Bull Racing +1.150 4
10 Lando NORRIS McLaren +1.153 4
11 Sebastian VETTEL Ferrari +1.155 4
12 Daniil KVYAT AlphaTauri +1.179 4
13 Daniel RICCIARDO Renault +1.185 4
14 Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN Alfa Romeo Racing +1.373 4
15 Esteban OCON Renault +1.554 4

15.43 Hamilton finishes Q2 in the lead again, ahead of Bottas, Verstappen, Stroll, Gasly who is having an incredible weekend, Sainz, Perez, Leclerc, Albon and Norris.

15.42 Eliminated, in order, from P11 to P15, Vettel, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Ocon.

15.41 VETTEL ELIMINATED AGAIN! The German driver is the first of the excluded, behind Norris who is in P10, only by 0.002. He definitely needs a bit more luck.

15.40 Leclerc does not improve his time and goes into P6. Now he needs to hope he can keep his positions.

15.39 Mercedes does not go back on track, sure that they both move into Q3.

15.38 Leclerc overtakes McLaren and one Racin Point: he wants an empty track.

15.37 Everyone on track for the last attempt.

15.35 Leclerc, in a team radio, defined his lap “horrible”. He made a mistake in Sector 1, nevertheless, he is in P5. Vettel now is 0.080 behind Ricciardo in P10.

15.34 Standings with 6 minutes remaining:

1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:16.013 3
2 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes +0.139 3
3 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.505 3
4 Carlos SAINZ McLaren +0.863 3
5 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.940 3
6 Sergio PEREZ Racing Point +1.023 2
7 Lance STROLL Racing Point +1.098 2
8 Lando NORRIS McLaren +1.163 3
9 Alexander ALBON Red Bull Racing +1.173 3
10 Daniel RICCIARDO Renault +1.302 3
11 Sebastian VETTEL Ferrari +1.382 3
12 Esteban OCON Renault +1.685 3
13 Pierre GASLY AlphaTauri +1.806 3
14 Daniil KVYAT AlphaTauri +2.280 3
15 Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN Alfa Romeo Racing +2.328 3

15.33 Leclerc with a solid lap 0.940 behind Hamilton. Vettel 1″382 behind. As expected, Vettel is at risk.

15.32 Verstappen in P3, half-second away from Hamilton, follow Sainz, Perez and Stroll.

15.31 Both Mercedes gained one second compared to Q1, thanks to the different engine setting.

15.30 Everyone on track is using soft tyres.

15.29 Both Mercedes are in “party mode” and change the pace. Hamilton in the lead in 1016″013, Bottas follows with a delay of 0.139.

15.27 Mercedes on track with soft tyres. This is a surprise considering they kept an extra new medium set for qualifying.

15.26 Q2 STARTING NOW! So far, Mercedes has not been dominating the qualifying as usual. It might be different once the “party-mode” will not be allowed anymore.

15.24 For Vettel it will not be easy to make into Q3. Leclerc’s goal will remain to get in the third row.

15.22 Lewis Hamilton finishes Q1 in the lead in 1’16″872: the world champion improved his time in the last lap of the first session. Perez follows with 0.245 delay, and Verstappen behind 0.341.

15.20 KIMI RAIKKONEN SHOWING HIS ABILITIES! He takes P15 and moves into Q2. Eliminated from Q2, in order, Magnussen (Haas), Grosjean (Haas), Russell (Williams), Latifi (Williams), and Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo).

15.19 Solid Q1 from Leclerc as well. He takes P5, 0.384 behind the leader.

15.19 VETTEL improves! He takes P10, 0.701 behind Hamilton, who is in P1.

15.18 Verstappen improves his time and takes P3. Vettel in P13 risking to make it into Q2.

15.17 Ocon improves his time and his position, Vettel is at risk.

15.16 Two minutes left at the of Q1. Everyone is on track for the last attempt.

15.14 Racing Point challenges Verstappen to take P3. For Ferrari, it will be improbable to take the second row. Vettel needs to avoid another disappointing weekend, while Leclerc can aim for P6.

15.12 At the moment, the excluded from Q2 are Grosjean, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Latifi and Giovinazzi.

15.11 Leclerc is in P7 at the moment, behind 0.503 from the lead. Vettel in P12 behind 0.863. The German risks once again to be eliminated at early stages of the qualifying session.

15.10 Hamilton in the lead followed by Perez, Stroll, Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly, Albon, Norris, Vettel, Ocon, Kvyat, and Russell.

15.09 WHAT A RACING POINT! Perez behind Hamilton by 0.080 and ahead of his teammate.

15.09 STROLL WITH THE RACING POINT! Unbelievable P2 behind Hamilton by 0.279!

15.08 MERCEDES! Hamilton in the lead in 1’17″037, 0.376 ahead of his teammate.

15.07 Bottas immediately ahead of Verstappen only by 0.002. Red Bull has a good chance today.

15.07 In his first timed lap, Verstappen takes the lead in 1’17″415.

15.06 Both Ferrari on track as well, both with soft tyres.

15.05 Bottas and Hamilton on track with soft tyres.

15.04 1’19″231 and 1’19″560 the times, respectively, of Latifi and Russell.

15.01 Russell and Latifi, both Williams, are the first ones on track in this first session of qualifying.

15.00 LIGHTS OUT! Q1 STARTS NOW!

Good afternoon and welcome to the LIVE updates of the qualifying session of the Spanish GP 2020, the sixth round of F1 2020.  The battle for pole-position is set to be always between the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, the leader of the championships so far, and Valtteri Bottas.

An important aspect to consider for this weekend concerns the tyres. Pirelli confirmed the same set of tyres as last year, although the race is taking place in a completely different time of the year when the Spanish weekend was in May. Considering the struggles with the tyres during both weekends at Silverstone, strategies and tyre management will play a key role this weekend both for the pole position and for the win on Sunday. 

Ferrari has shown a decent pace so far, although the SF1000 should not have any new upgrades for this weekend. At Silverstone, the Monegasque  Charles Leclerc was able to maximize the potential of his car, gaining a P3 and a P4. Differently, many technical problems have highly conditioned Sebastian Vettel’s performance in Silverstone in the past two weeks. This weekend, the four-time world champion will have new chassis for his car, and that seems to put Vettel in a better place.

Good news for this weekend is that Sergio Perez (Racing Point) tested negative for Covid-19 and is back in his car for the Spanish GP after missing both weekends in Silverstone.

OA Sport is offering the LIVE updates of the Spanish GP, the sixth round of F1 2020: live updates, minute by minute coverage not to miss any action. Qualifying session starts at 15.00. Enjoy!

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Photo Credit: LaPresse