F1 Spanish GP Live Updates - final practice and qualifying
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Out in Q1: Magnussen, Grosjean, Russell, Latifi and Giovinazzi.
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Hamilton goes quicker with a 1m16.872s to top Q1. But it is bad news at Haas as both Magnussen and Grosjean improve but fail to get out of Q1.
Ocon, who complained about Q1 traffic at the last race and picked up a grid penalty for an incident with Russell, times it perfectly to lead the train and avoid any traffic dramas.
Radio Comms
"Mate you've just put me in a massive traffic jam," Russell says over Williams team radio. That's the case for pretty much every other driver on track currently.
Apart from the Racing Point pair, every driver is coming back out on track for a second (or third for some) run in Q1.
The incident between Magnussen and Kvyat will be investigated by the race stewards after qualifying. That'll be the Haas driver's second trip to the stewards today after his FP3 incident with Ocon.
TV replays catch Giovinazzi running very wide at the final corner which explains why he asked his Alfa Romeo team to check over his car floor after his first run.
After those first Q1 runs the drivers in the drop zone are: Grosjean, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Latifi and Giovinazzi.
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A Turn 2 incident between Magnussen and Kvyat has been noted by race control.
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Here come the Racing Points, as Perez - back in action after missing the last two races due to positive COVID-19 tests - goes P2 less than one-tenth off Hamilton. He'll definitely be positive about that, as team-mate Stroll moves into P3 directly behind him.
Stopwatch
Verstappen is duly shuffled back to P3 by the Mercedes duo as Hamilton puts in a 1m17.037s to take top spot and push Bottas into second.
Stopwatch
Verstappen goes top with a 1m17.415s - a flurry of timed efforts coming up now...
Here come the Mercedes pair along with Verstappen, Leclerc, Stroll and Norris. Q1 is about to get busy.
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Latifi, who is yet to out-qualify Russell this season, sets the quicker first timed lap with a 1m19.231s against his team-mate's 1m19.560s.
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Latifi and Russell head out early for Williams looking to take advantage of any empty track. Traffic is likely to be a major issue in Q1, especially with drivers easing off around the final sector ahead of a timed lap.
Green flag
The green flag is shown to start Q1, here we go!
The air temperature is reaching 31oC with the track temperature at 49oC. Hot enough to make those soft tyres suffer towards the end of a lap. There's also no chance of rain this afternoon.
Race control has confirmed "blue head padding material must be used", which is good to know. Not sure if it will impact qualifying much, but there you go.
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Verstappen remains the closest challenger to Mercedes and will be looking to pull off another upset having claimed victory last time out at the 70th Anniversary GP.
So, qualifying. All-important at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya given the track can be a tricky place to overtake so gaining a strong grid position will be vital. Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas have dominated practice with a hat-trick of 1-2 finishes, with the Brit leading FP2 and FP3.
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Here's the full story on the Ocon/Magnussen incident from final practice: 
Quick update on the strange end to FP3 which saw Ocon crash at Turn 3 after almost hitting Magnussen, which has been put down to "an unfortunate accident" by the FIA stewards.
Hello once again and good afternoon ahead of qualifying for the Spanish GP!
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So time for a breather, unless you are a Renault mechanic in which case you just lost your lunch break, with qualifying getting underway at 14:00 BST (15:00 local time).
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Checkered flag
It also brings an end to FP3 which sees Hamilton top the session from Bottas with Verstappen in third place.
The result of that clash is a badly damaged Renault, with two hours to go until qualifying, and an investigation into the incident.
Ah, that's not good. Magnussen overtakes Ocon heading towards Turn 3 but then backs off and pulls across the track which puts him directly in the path of the French driver. Ocon slams on the brakes to avoid the Haas car and spins into the inside wall.
Red flag
Oh! Big crash for Ocon - red flag!
To illustrate the traffic point, Raikkonen on a timed lap comes across four drivers all together and all going slowly. Credit to the Finn he puts in a good lap of 1m18.721s to go P14.
It is noticeable how slow the cooldown laps are by all drivers with most at a crawl compared to those on a timed effort. It is creating a huge amount of traffic on track which will no doubt be a factor come qualifying.
Verstappen also restores relative normality by taking P3 for Red Bull with 1m17.737s to push Sainz into P4. The TV director puts together a great shot from the helicopter behind the cameraman up on the crane at Turn 1 who duly gives a wave. Rather him than me up there.
Stopwatch
The F1 champion goes top with a 1m17.222s to beat Bottas who set an earlier time of 1m 17.373s.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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