Yet his dash to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix was made that bit easier again when the only other driver to top a qualifying shootout this term, Charles Leclerc, was knocked out in Q1. Two more big scalps were claimed in Q2 as Sergio Perez and George Russell were also eliminated.
His path looking clearer, Verstappen was left to bolt to a 1m12.272s effort with some eight minutes of Q3 remaining. Despite track evolution being exacerbated by drizzle earlier in the day helping to clean the asphalt, no one could use the faster track to knock him off the top spot.
