F1 live: Spanish GP qualifying as it happened
Friday's action set up an intriguing battle with little to separate pace-setters Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes from the chasing pack, with McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all in close pursuit.
Causing a surprise in the top 10 were both Alpine drivers, with Pierre Gasly fourth and Esteban Ocon ninth.
FP3 will get under way at 12:30pm local time (11:30am BST) with qualifying following at 4pm local time (3pm BST).
By: Stefan Mackley, Ewan Gale
That is us done for the day, with coverage of the race to come tomorrow. Keep abrest of all the biggest news of the day across the website, and find the report from qualifying here!
Thanks for joining us!
It's expected to be a two-stop race tomorrow. With rain also anticipated at some point during the day, a green track is the very least we could see spice proceedings up.
It must be said that, whilst there are two Spaniards on the grid, the appreciation for Norris' lap there was pretty stunning from the crowd.
Verstappen has revealed the tow with Perez happened "by chance" given where the cars were on track.
Norris: "It was pretty much a perfect lap. It was cool. It is not just this weekend, we have been quick these last two months.
"I know it will be tough against Max, Lewis, anyone behind. We are here to win, that's my plan."
Gasly was seventh, Perez eighth - though will take a three-place grid penalty - Ocon ninth and Piastri 10th.
Hamilton jumped to third after the flag, with Russell fourth. Ferrari has to settle for the third row.
The gap between those four was a tenth.
Perez gave Verstappen a tow on his final lap and it still wasn't enough.
It's been a heck of a day for McLaren given the fire in the paddock earlier, but it has been a happy ending on track.
It's just 0.020s between them.
Simply sensational. Sensational from both drivers. Where has that come from?
Checkered flag 05:01:35 pm
NORRIS!
What a lap that is from the McLaren driver, who snatches pole at the very end.
VERSTAPPEN GOES FASTER!
That's another two tenths fatser for Verstappen, a 1m11.403 is a tall order for the others now...
No disruption to qualifying though as Sainz comes through and goes second.
Leclerc then usurps his team-mate but is 0.058s outside of Verstappen's time.
Time has been lost in the middle sector but it should be an improvement for Piastri...
Ahhhhh! He's off three corners from home. That will leave him down in 10th.
The Australian is up in sector one, but Verstappen has had the pace in the final two sectors...
Piastri will be the first to answer that question as he crosses the line to start the final runs.
2:30 left on the clock and the cars are filtering out. Does anyone have an answer to Verstappen?
Russell: "What the f**k was Lewis doing prepping that lap?"
"He just... it's fine. We will talk about it afterwards, head in the game."
Six minutes remain, take a breath, regroup, the cars are back in the pits to prepare for the final run.
That pushes Ferrari into fifth and sixth, with Gasly and Ocon ahead of used-running Perez and Piastri.
A scintillating middle sector for Norris gives him a chance but he goes a tenth slower than Verstappen, with Hamilton going third.
Russell is fourth in the second Mercedes, 0.167s down on provisional pole.
As Sainz proves by crossing the line three-tenths down.
Piastri goes third but way off on a used set.
Verstappen posts a 1m11.673s. That's a good benchmark.
It's a 1m13.0s to get us underway in the shootout.
Verstappen didn't fancy queuing in the pits again and managed to get out at the head of the field, other than Perez, who will be the first to set a time.
He is on used tyres though.
Here we go then. A short lull as the lights go green but there is activity.
So who will take pole? Verstappen's lap in Q2 has thrust him into favouritism for the first time this weekend.
It really is a huge moment in the season for Alpine. After nightmarish results early on, intra-team shenanigans and controversy over the hiring of Flavio Briatore as executive advisor this weekend, this will taste so good.
Russell managed to improve up to third at the death there, he and Hamilton putting Mercedes back in the fight.
Alonso needs to finish off strong to make Q3, but NO! He misses out in front of his home crowd. Just 0.019s between him and Ocon.
Bottas, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Zhou also miss out.
Checkered flag 04:40:47 pm
Perez now goes seventh, that drops Bottas into the drop zone as the chequered flag flies.
Ocon has done a fine job in the Alpine to go seventh fastest, whilst Hulkenberg misses out.
Next across the line is Gasly and he jumps his team-mate.
That's much better from the seven-time champion, he goes second, a tenth down on Verstappen.
Bottas also improves up to ninth.
90 seconds to go and Hamilton is on a lap. This is crucial for his weekend...
It's not a lap that will get Stroll into the final part of quali though. A 1m12.372s is good enough for only 10th at this stage.
Stroll is alone on track and is 14th. He remains out of sequence after running early at the start of the session.
Bottas, Alonso, Hamilton and Zhou are the others in danger of missing Q3.
Just five minutes to go in this session - the clouds are covering the track and track temperature is down compared to practice, is that why Mercedes is struggling?
The shock on the first runs was Mercedes - Russell almost half a second down in sixth and Hamilton, on a used set it must be said, down in 13th.
This is relentless!
Norris goes 0.002s faster than Sainz but then Verstappen blitzes the lot of them.
The championship leader sets a 1m11.653s to take the ascendency.
