BARCELONA, May 8 — Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finally got the better of the men from Mercedes at the third attempt in practice when clocking the fastest lap in today’s closing session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Eclipsed by Valtteri Bottas in the first session and Lewis Hamilton in the second, Verstappen rose to the top of the times ahead of what promises to be an evenly contested qualifying session.

The Dutch driver, eight points adrift of Hamilton in the drivers’ standings, was 0.235sec too quick for the seven-time world champion, with Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and Bottas completing the top five.

With less than a second separating Verstappen from Esteban Ocon’s Alpine in 13^th place the fight for the top of the grid for tomorrow’s race should be intense.

Hamilton has strong ties with this race, having won it for the past four years, and five in total, and is in pursuit of his 100^th pole after being denied that milestone by his teammate Bottas in Portugal last week.

Qualifying gets under way at 1300GMT.

The importance of a prime front row seat tomorrow at a circuit not known for its abundance of overtaking opportunities is borne out by past results -- 22 of the past 30 winners have occupied pole position. — AFP