Despite Sebastian Vettel looking likely to take yet another pole position this season Mercedes AMG F1 turned things around as defending champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position with teammate Valtteri Bottas a very close second for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Throughout the first two segments of qualifying, it looked like Ferrari had more in their arsenal than the three free practice sessions on Friday and today had suggested. With Vettel easily topping the timesheets in the second part of qualifying, another pole position for the former four-time world champion looked academic.
However, both Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen looked unable to make the most of the softest and grippiest of the tyre compounds supplied by Pirelli while Hamilton and Bottas looked in complete control.
A last gasp run on the harder compound tyres brought Vettel and Raikkonen to the Mercedes drivers but unable leap-frog them.
Hamiton's scorching time of 1min.16.173sec. around the 4.655km, 16-turn Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (aided by a newly resurfaced track) was just 0.040 seconds faster than Bottas' time while Vettel was 0.132 seconds slower than the pole-sitter.
Raikkonen was a further 0.307 seconds slower than his teammate and ahead of the Red Bull-Renaults of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
Haas-Ferrari's Kevin Magnussen was the 'best of the rest' in seventh place ahead of McLaren-Renault's Fernando Alonso, the home hero who delighted the crowds in attendance by making it to the final part of qualifying.
Renault F1's Carlos Sainz was ninth fastest and Haas-Ferrari's Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.
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