Max Verstappen on pole at the Spanish Grand Prix after George Russell and Lewis Hamilton collided

[ad_1]

With both Mercedes men starting the hot laps, Hamilton came off Russell’s drag at 210mph on the main straight.

But the seven-time world champion had to take to the grass after his team-mate, who was making his way past the Ferrari Sainz, inadvertently closed the door in front of him.

Hamilton kicked dirt out of the turf when his front wing flew off his Mercedes.

“George just backed off,” Hamilton said over the radio. “This is really dangerous. I might have some damage to the car.”

Although Hamilton’s time was good enough to advance to Q3, Russell was eliminated in 12th place.

“You didn’t tell me there was a car in the back,” Russell said. “I don’t know what the hell was going on in this session. The car was jumping. I couldn’t get my tyres to work.”

Russell would start one place behind Perez after the Red Bull driver also failed to get out of the second quarter.

Perez is Verstappen’s closest competitor in the championship, but after a week of his horror show in Monaco where he finished 16th and two in a row, he only qualified 11th here.

The Mexican ran across the gravel, and although he managed to get his Red Bull off the wall, the next lap wasn’t fast enough to take him into Q3.

[ad_2]