LEWIS HAMILTON and George Russell clashed on track during qualifying for the Spanish GP.
It is the first time the two have made contact – with Russell accepting he was to blame for driving into his Mercedes team-mate.
While Russell was eliminated from qualifying in the second session, Hamilton will start the Spanish GP in fifth place.
But he was still half a second off the pace of pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who continued to blow away the rest of the field.
The Dutchman’s pace was so superior he was comfortable to abort his final flying lap, despite looking like he would better his provisional pole.
Hamilton and Russell’s flashpoint happened on the way down to Turn One with Russell driving into his team-mate.
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The contact broke off a piece of Hamilton’s front wing and will no doubt spark off an internal investigation.
But this was a routine pole for the championship leader, who looks untouchable.
Verstappen said: “The car was really good. It was initially tricky with the weather but it started to dry out and the car was on rails.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start in second place with McLaren’s Lando Norris qualifying in third place, his best starting position of the season.
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There were early spins for Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon as the drivers initially struggled with the damp track on slick tyres.
The FIA took no chances to stop the session when Albon went off, sending stones scattering all over the track.
But that was not an excuse for another woeful performance from Ferrari, who saw Charles Leclerc qualify down in second-to-last place.
While he initially complained of problems with his car’s set up, Leclerc was then held up at the weighbridge and ultimately ran out of time to set a quick lap time on the drying track.
The second qualifying session saw two more scalps as Russell was eliminated after his clash with Hamilton.
Russell was given the boot from Q2 and will start in 12th place after labelling his performance as “nowhere”.
The Mercedes man was also joined by Sergio Perez as his title challenge continues to wilt at an alarming rate.
The Mexican made an unforced error and ran into the gravel and eventually paid the price after he was eliminated and will start outside the top 10 in 11th place.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
