The Latest Breaking News from Valtteri Bottas

Verstappen will start ahead of Sainz and Lando Norris (McLaren) after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Spots of rain falling ahead of Q1 led to that segment featuring many offs and a red flag, with Fernando Alonso picking up damage in an incident that meant he was not a pole threat.

Championship leader Max Verstappen both practice sessions on Friday for Red Bull, with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso emerging as his nearest rival in FP2.

Following his victory in Monaco last weekend, Verstappen carried on where he left off by clocking the fastest times in both free practice sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona on Friday.

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1 and FP2, but Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.17s of the championship leader in the latter.

At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli's range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.

At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli’s range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.

The Hinwil outfit currently lies eighth in the constructors’ championship, with Bottas only logging points when he finished eighth in the opening race in Bahrain.

Verstappen led every lap, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, but had to negotiate his way through a heavy rain shower. He clipped the wall just before pitting for intermediate tyres but benefited when Alonso stopped for slicks just before the rain arrived.