George Russell bounces back in style to claim pole at Barcelona-Catalunya GP

• ‘I feel like my old self again. It’s a bit of a relief’

• Lewis Hamilton second ahead of Kimi Antonelli

George Russell scorched to pole position for Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton narrowly failed to pip him with a thrilling last-ditch effort for Ferrari. Another dramatic qualifying session was stopped early in Q3 when Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate, suffered a heavy high-speed crash that knocked him out of contention.

Russell had said on arrival in Spain that the pressure was off him, having fallen 68 points behind championship leader and Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli due to a run of bad luck. The latest episode had come with an incorrect penalty for pit lane speeding last weekend in Monaco. But his fastest lap of 1min 15.717sec was enough to put him top of the standings, with Hamilton 0.064sec slower.