Bottas dominates Hamilton: 'I enjoyed that'

Valtteri Bottas was thrilled to take a third pole position on the spin, smashing the entire field, including Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. Bottas secured pole by a whopping six tenths of a second around the Circuit de Catalunya.

The Finn demolished Hamilton's lap record of last year to clock a 1:15.406, with the Briton unable to dip below the 1min16sec barrier.

Bottas' margin of victory is the largest since last year's Belgian Grand Prix, when Hamilton came through a torrential Q3 at Spa-Francochamps.

There were no such climatic influences in Barcelona, putting the scale of Bottas' dominance into impressive context.

With a one-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers' standings, another victory in Spain would cement Bottas' standing as a serious title challenger in 2019 – something he is keen to press home.

"By the time Quali 3 [arrived] it was just getting better and better," Bottas said.

"I really enjoyed that, enjoyed the adrenaline rush you get from driving those laps so I'm very pleased.

"Practice 3 was difficult obviously with the spin, so I just forgot that and moved on.

"It's started well, the season, and the way I hoped for. I feel better and better in the car so I look forward to tomorrow."

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