Spanish GP: Hamilton beats Vettel to pole by 0.051s

Lewis Hamilton beat Formula 1 title rival Sebastian Vettel to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, after a thrilling qualifying battle.

Ferrari had set the pace in final practice at Barcelona’s Catalunya circuit, but Hamilton’s Mercedes held the advantage in qualifying after the first runs in Q3, lapping in a 1m19.149s time that would eventually stand for pole when Hamilton failed to improve on his second run.

Vettel suffered from a de-rating of his Ferrari’s energy recovery systems during his first Q3 run, and was a distant fourth quickest as a result, but he was lapping comfortably faster than Hamilton’s pole time on his final run before locking up at the final chicane.

Vettel eventually cut the timing beam in 1m19.200s, half a tenth down on Hamilton, apologising to his team for the mistake.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was third fastest, recovering from a wild slide exiting the chicane on his first Q3 run to ultimately lap 0.173s slower than Vettel with a small improvement on his second run.

Bottas described his performance as “not good enough”, but it was enough to confine the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen to fourth.

Raikkonen suffered an oversteer moment at Turn 12 on his first Q3 run and lost time in sector two on his final effort.

Max Verstappen was well clear of Daniel Ricciardo in the private battle between Red Bulls to be fifth, while Fernando Alonso produced a superb performance to haul McLaren-Honda into Q3 for the first time this season and qualify seventh fastest.

Force India got both its cars into the top 10 again, sandwiching Felipe Massa’s ninth-placed Williams.

DANIEL RICCIARDO: “I HOPE THE UPGRADE WILL GIVE US A CHANCE TO REALLY FIGHT”

Daniel Ricciardo heads to the Spanish Grand Prix feeling the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is amongst the best on the calendar as the layout offers a whole range of challenges on every lap.

The Red Bull Racing driver is also happy that his team can bring its Energy Station trackside for the first time in 2017, with the first four races being flyaway events in Australia, China, Bahrain and Russia, the Spanish circuit offering the opportunity for more privacy and better availability for training equipment.

“Barcelona is one of the better circuits on the calendar and it’s got a bit of everything,” said Ricciardo.  “Turns 1, 2 and 3 are really good flowing corners and the last section is very technical. The end of the lap is quite slow and that’s where your tyres start to drop off which is why it’s really hard to finish the lap clean.

“We’ll have the Energy Station back in Barcelona so that’s nice and it’ll be an easier environment to prepare in. We’ve got it now for a few months and that means that we can actually put some things in our room that we can come back to. Little things that give us privacy and that home feeling like favourite snacks, training equipment or our own shower.”

Ricciardo is hopeful that the planned upgrade Red Bull Racing are aiming to bring to Spain enables them to close the rather large gap between them and Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Scuderia Ferrari in 2017, with only the unsettled weather in China offering a chance for Red Bull to fight with those two teams ahead of them so far this season.

“I hope the upgrade will give us a chance to really fight with Mercedes and Ferrari or at least get us closer,” said Ricciardo.  “The reason why it comes in Barcelona is that we put everything back in the factory were very busy so now I hope that it’s a quicker improvement.

“It means that the people who do the work behind the scenes get their reward as well. It’s a good feeling for everyone when these upgrades work.”

Ricciardo does not believe that Pirelli’s decision to bring the hardest compound of tyre available to Spain will be beneficial for any of the teams on the grid, especially if it is held in relatively cold conditions, and as such the softer two compounds are likely to be the favoured ones this weekend.

“We’re going for the harder tyres for the first time this year in Barcelona,” said Ricciardo.  “I’m not sure if it’ll help us or not but I just don’t think it’s going to be good for anyone.

“The tyres are already hard enough so the harder compounds are just way too hard. Hopefully for Barcelona’s sake it’s hot and therefore these harder tyres work, but if it’s cold then it’s going to be a struggle for everyone

Vettel defends Raikkonen’s start to the season

Sebastian Vettel has said Kimi Raikkonen's poor start to the season is undeserved and has no doubts about the Finn's ability.

Just one podium finish has left Raikkonen 37 points adrift of team-mate and World Championship leader Vettel, but, according to the German, Raikkonen's results so far don't reflect the talent he still has.

"He probably didn't have the races he deserved," said Vettel. "In Bahrain obviously the start, the first lap cost him a lot, otherwise I'm sure he would've been on the podium.

"Obviously I see exactly what happens and things didn't go 100 percent in his direction so far but I don't think there's any doubt inside the paddock that he's one of the most talented drivers we have.

"I don't think anybody else could go to WRC and perform at the level he did, just come back and be right up to the pace again.

"I don't think there's anyone who doubts his skills or his talent but, as I said, you need to have a lot of things coming your way.

"If you look back last year, I had some races where things didn't come way – it's up and down but usually throughout the season it sort of equals out."

Vettel wins Australia for Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel won the Australian GP in Melbourne today, in his Ferrari, 9.9 seconds ahead of the polesitting Mercedes GP of Lewis Hamilton in second place and his team mate Valtteri Bottas (11.2s) in third place.

Vettel win is his first victory since Ferrari’s win in Singapore in 2015.

Kimi Raikkonen (22.3s) in the second Ferrari was fourth, followed by Max Verstappen (28.8s) in the Red Bull in fifth, Felipe Massa (83.3s) in the Williams-Mercedes in sixth, Sergio Perez (1 lap) in the Force India-Mercedes in seventh, Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso-Renault in eighth, his team mate Daniil Kvyat in ninth and Esteban Ocon in the second Force India scoring his first career point in tenth place.

Massa fastest on opening morning of Test Two

Barcelona Testing – Felipe Massa set the fastest time of the morning session on the opening day of the second pre-season test.

The Brazilian used the supersoft tyre in the final half hour of the session to set a 1:19.726; marginally slower than the fastest time of the first test – 1:19.705 set by Valtteri Bottas.

Daniel Ricciardo was second fastest having led for most of the session, sitting second on a 1:20.077 on the soft tyre. The Australian’s forst attempt at a lap on the ultrasoft tyre near the end of the sessionsaw him run into the gravel at Turn 4.

A second run saw him also go below 1:20 with a 1:19.900.

Lewis Hamilton was third, also on the soft tyre, with just under half a century of laps completed. Valtteri Bottas will take over for the afternoon.

Sebastian Vettel led the session in the early stages but finished the morning in fourth having done the most mileage with 82 laps.

Esteban Ocon was fifth for Force India, also completing more than 50 laps. The Frenchman had a late push on the supersoft tyre, keeping him ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas in sixth.

Daniil Kvyat complete 45 laps for Toro Rosso, who are in need of the mileage after being hampered by several reliability issues in the first test.

Also putting in much-needed laps were Stoffel Vandoorne and McLaren, who had their best morning of pre-season testing so far. The Belgian driver put in 34 laps and just under three seconds off Massa’s pace on the soft tyre.

However, shortly after the chequered flag it was revealed that McLaren would need to change Vandoorne’s engine, which is most likely to cost the team most of their running for the rest of the day.

Pascal Wehrlein put in his first testing laps for Sauber after his recovery from a back injury he suffered during his crash at the Race of Champions in January.

The German spent most of the morning on the medium tyre before putting in some laps on the softs which saw his lap times slowly come down to a 1:23.336. He put in 47 laps for the session.

Jolyon Palmer could only put in 15 laps before his Renault ran into trouble. He started to slow as he came into the pit lane, and had to be pushed to the garage by his mechanics.

It was later revealed that Renault needed to change the engine in Palmer’s car, costing him most of his morning’s running. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg is due to drive in the afternoon.

Ferrari Formula 1 team evaluating new injection system

Ferrari is believed to be evaluating a 'double anchor' injection system for its Formula 1 engine that could be introduced later in 2017.

As it looks to bounce back from a frustrating 2016 campaign, Ferrari enjoyed an encouraging start to pre-season testing with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel setting the second- and third-fastest times at Barcelona last week.

Engine customer Haas says Ferrari has made a significant step with its new engine but there could be another significant performance leap to come.

Under the orders of president Sergio Marchionne, there has been a lockdown on Ferrari communication with the media, but word has leaked out of Maranello that efforts are under way to perfect a new type of fuel injector that has a double anchor.

While double jets are not allowed within F1 rules, this double anchor can deliver similar benefits, because the injector needle can be opened and closed with much greater precision.

This will reduce the possibility of excess fuel entering the chamber, which is then not burned perfectly.

The end result should be more power and less consumption, one of the keys to performance in the turbo-hybrid V6 era.

It is thought this new technology has not been tested on track yet, with the version of the engine that ran at Barcelona the standard version.

Both Ferrari and Haas completed the first week of testing using a single version of that 062 engine.

If work on the innovation is successful, it is possible Ferrari could introduce it alongside its Turbulent Jet Ignition concept for pre-combustion in the chamber.

While much of the focus this year has been on the aerodynamic changes, the higher drag of the 2017 cars means engine performance will also be a key part of the development race.

Lewis Hamilton says he has the 'best' working relationship with Valtteri Bottas

Lewis Hamilton believes his working relationship with Valtteri Bottas is already "better" than any of his past Formula 1 team-mates.

After four years alongside friend-turned-foe Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, Hamilton is joined by Bottas for 2017 with the Finn considered one of the most apolitical drivers in the sport.

The pair spent their first week working alongside each other at a track when they shared driving duties at the first Barcelona test and Hamilton has given his fifth F1 team-mate an immediate ringing endorsement.

"What I so far like about working with Valtteri is that it is all to do with the track - what we do on the circuit - and not outside," Hamilton told the official F1 website.

"There are no games - there is complete transparency. I like that. I feel we already have a better working relationship than I ever had with any team-mate I had before.

"He wants to do the best thing that he can in his first year with the team - and with me being here for quite a while now, I want to deliver and make sure that I give as much information so that he will learn. And we do our talking on the track!"

The first Barcelona test pointed towards Mercedes retaining their speed advantage of recent seasons despite the overhaul of aerodynamic rules for this year.

Hamilton's two-year reign as world champion was ended by the now-retired Rosberg last November and the 32-year-old has made clear both his and Mercedes' desires to end 2017 ahead.

"Well, I am fitter, I am working harder than ever before and I am super focused and driven after last year - when I also worked hard through the year but didn't get the result I wanted," said Hamilton.

"So I want change and that is what the team and I are working so hard to achieve. I am not really sure, but I don't think that any team has ever won championships across rules changes - and that is the big goal for us."

Hamilton is the bookmakers' overwhelming favourite for the drivers' title and when asked what would satisfy him in the Australia season opener on March 26, Hamilton replied: "I want pole position, fastest lap, being fastest in every session - and to win!"