Lewis Hamilton defeated title rival and points leader Sebastian Vettel in the battle for pole position in Barcelona. Their respective team mates Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen will fill the second row of the grid for Sunday’s race.

The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and sixth, with local hero Fernando Alonso a remarkable seventh in what was arguably the drive of the day for McLaren. The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, split by the Williams of Felipe Massa, completed the top ten.

The most eye-catching display of all, though, belonged to Fernando Alonso, who defied the dreadful unreliability of McLaren’s Honda engines to qualify in seventh for his home grand prix. The quality of that result was reflected in the fact that his team-mate, Belgium’s Stoffel Vandoorne, could only manage 17th. Evidently, the Spaniard’s preparations to compete in the Indianapolis 500 on May 28 have only enhanced his F1 race-craft. “It is a gift,” he said, grinning. “Maybe on the ovals in America I have learned how to go faster on the straights.”