The battle was on for pole position in the final ten minutes of qualifying at Barcelona, but in the end it was Hamilton's first run lap time that scored him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel, despite still struggling with a variety of mechanical issues, managed to get it together to score a second place front row grid position, with Bottas and Räikkönen settling for the second row.

Fernando Alonso managed to get McLaren into Q3 for the first time, and ended up with seventh place. Vandoorne dropped out in the first session however, along with Kvyat who complained his car was not right at all, and Stroll who must have been disappointed compared to teammate Massa up in the top ten.