Oscar Piastri hails 'mega car' after beating McLaren teammate Lando Norris to Spanish GP pole

Australian clocks near flawless final lap and will start from front of grid ahead of Briton in Barcelona with world champion Verstappen third

McLaren's Oscar Piastri celebrates after qualifying in pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix. AFP

Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

The championship leader clocked a near flawless final lap of one minute and 11.546 seconds to beat Norris by 0.209 seconds as McLaren claimed a dominant one-two having also topped all three practice sessions.

McLaren have won six of the eight rounds so far, and their rivals might have hoped that a clampdown on flexible front wings – which some believe has contributed to the British team's rise – would slow them down.

However, the rule tweak has done little to influence McLaren's speed, with Piastri and Norris embroiled in a tense battle for pole.

Norris secured top spot in Monaco a week ago before going on to claim his first win since March's season-opener in Melbourne.

“I am very happy,” said Piastri, who is three points ahead of Norris in the title chase and 24 clear of Verstappen in third, after securing his fourth pole in nine races so far this season

“It didn't start off in the best way. I was struggling but I found pace and the car has been mega.

“I improved quite a lot in Turn 1 on my second lap and it all came together. It wasn't the perfect lap. It is going to be an interesting one tomorrow and I am pretty glad I am starting from pole.

Norris was left to rue “a couple of little mistakes” that were to prove costly. “Turn One, where you don't want to make a mistake because it harms the tyres for the rest of the lap,” said the Briton.

“A couple of little squiggles there. And Turn Four as well. The pace was easily there but a couple of little mistakes.”

He added: “A good result for the team, a nice one-two and an interesting start for tomorrow.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari and Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.

“Turn 1 was never good even though I tried different approaches,” said Verstappen, who set the same lap time as Russell but will start ahead because he set it a few seconds earlier.

“The rest was fine, the car was in a decent window, unfortunately not fast enough.”

Russell – who is fourth in the drivers' championship on 99 points, 62 behind Piastri, said: “Very close with Max and Lando, definitely not in the fight for pole but other than Monaco we have been in the top five every qualifying. We know that's where the car is on a Saturday.

“Our goal is to try to improve the race pace. We have made some pretty drastic changes to the set-up this weekend, positive that it hasn't hindered qualifying pace but whether it will improve the race pace is another story.”

Charles Leclerc was seventh in the second Ferrari ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Racing Bulls' impressive rookie Isack Hadjar and local hero two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Hamilton called his car “undriveable” in practice on Friday, but he will take comfort from out-qualifying Leclerc for the first time since the second round in China, albeit half-a-second back from Piastri.

The seven-time world champion said he was “relatively happy with it” because it had been “definitely an improvement from where we've been”.