Lewis Hamilton back on pole for Spanish Grand Prix

With the Mercedes man’s one-time 21-second advantage being reeled in by Vettel, Hamilton boxed on lap 21 for medium tyres – a different strategy to Ferrari – and rejoined the race down in third place, with Silver Arrows team-mate Bottas temporarily taking the lead.

The three time world champion was fastest in qualifying and also first in both practice sessions in Barcelona.

“OK, you can push”, came the eventual radio message from the pit wall as he set the fastest lap of the session before Hamilton and Raikkonen went quicker.

It was not all good news for Mercedes, though, as a crash sparked by Valtteri Bottas resulted in the retirements of Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen after just one corner.

Hamilton eventually stopped at the end of lap 21, taking on the more durable medium rubber, and exited the pit lane almost eight seconds adrift of Vettel. I don’t know how they managed it, but they did it in less than two hours.

The Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished line astern in fourth and fifth.

Hamilton took 14 seconds lead against Vettel.

“We’ve worked hard on them so I am just going to try and do the best job that we can”.

It was also a race in which Mercedes and Ferrari both lost a vehicle to retirement, allowing Daniel Ricciardo to take third for Red Bull despite finishing 72 seconds off the pace of the front two.

Hamilton clocked a best lap of one minute and 19.149 seconds to stay ahead of Vettel, who clocked 1:19.200, by the narrowest of margins after the German had required a rapid engine change shortly before the session began.

But the Ferrari of Vettel wasn’t overshadowed by much, and Vettel’s time in Q3 was just 0.051s behind the Mercedes.

Hamilton had vowed to take inspiration from Bottas’ lightning quick start in Russian Federation a fortnight ago, but it was Vettel who was fastest out of the blocks here.

Vettel resisted Hamilton’s initial attack on his out-lap but was overtaken around the outside into the first corner not long afterwards. Meanwhile Mercedes were down to just one vehicle as Bottas retired with an engine failure.

“I’m super proud that we can get back up there”, Hamilton said.

Hamilton trimmed four-tenths off that to set the Q1 pace, with Bottas third ahead of Raikkonen, who soon improved to second.

Hamilton had pitted just as a virtual safety vehicle period for Stoffel Vandoorne’s damaged McLaren was ending, helping him gain some time before the race was back to full racing conditions.

Ferrari immediately pitted Vettel for mediums on the next lap, but Hamilton was alongside as he rejoined.

Mercedes made a decision to keep Hamilton out, and he immediately pumped in the fastest lap of the race and stretched his stint by an extra five laps.

The German’s engine was changed after final practice as a precaution when a water leak was found, but he was still one of the first cars out at the start of qualifying.