F1 Spanish Grand Prix LIVE: Qualifying updates and times in Barcelona

The British driver was trailing Verstappen heading into the final runs at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya before he delivered the goods to take top spot.

Norris edged out the Red Bull man by just 0.020 seconds, with Lewis Hamilton in third, and George Russell fourth for Mercedes, with three British drivers in the top four.

“Let’s f****** go, baby,” yelled Norris after taking only his second pole of his career. Norris’ wonder lap arrived on the same day a McLaren staff member was hospitalised after a fire broke out at the British team’s hospitality suite in the paddock.

“It’s disappointing. We are much further away than we anticipated. The pace was just not there today, we tried everything and it didn’t work.”

“We all believed it [pole]. Car felt great and historically we’ve gone well here – gap to Lando and Max was a bit bigger than expected. P3 and P4 is a great place to fight tomorrow.

“I think on a circuit like this, the pace of the car will win out. You can do some things with the strategy, but if you have one tenth in the car that will win out over strategy. We’ll be trying something. I think we can fight with Lando and Max for the victory.”

“It’s not great. Third and fourth could’ve been fifth and sixth, three-tenths to the leaders – it didn’t look it yesterday. A solid result but no more than that.

“The gaps are so tiny, it can swing one direction or another. Max is beaten by Norris, it’s three-tenths to us.

Asked about potential rain tomorrow: “We’ll have a go with whatever God throws at us!”

“I’m really happy. Super grateful to be in the top-3, it’s been a difficult year. I didn’t expect us to be fighting for pole, but we’d be close – to be there, I’m just gratefull!

“We’ve made huge steps forward. Slowly the car is crafting into a racing machine to challenge the guys in front. Hopefully we can challenge the guys ahead.”

Hamilton’s best qualifying of the season, by far…

“In qualifying, it was all coming together a bit nicer. I was quite happy, even in Q3 I got a nice tow to turn 1 – unfortunately it’s not quite enough. We can still be very happy.

“Overall, a good performance again in qualifying. You’re always in a battle with yourself, now it’s with more teams – that’s good for Formula 1 in general.”

“It was pretty much a perfect lap. Super happy. My best pole position, I’ve not had many! Needed a perfect lap so that’s what I did today!

“We’ve been quick the last two months, since Miami very strong. Today was the perfect lap, Max and Red Bull seemed a bit stronger all weekend, I had places to improve so happy to be on pole.

“It’s going to be tough against Max and Lewis, we’re here to win now so that’s my plan.”

*Three-place grid penalty