Formula One championship leader Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position by a massive margin at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday with rivals Ferrari trailing behind.

The pole is a third in a row for the re-energized and smiling Finn, who leads Hamilton by a single point after four of the 21 races, and he did it in a track record time of one minute 15.406 seconds.

That was a hefty 0.634 quicker than Hamilton's best effort, dashing the five-time world champion's hopes of record-extending 85th career pole.

“I really enjoyed that, enjoyed the adrenaline rush you get from those laps so I'm really pleased,” said Bottas, who had also been fastest in Friday practice and looks a different driver to last year when he failed to win anything.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was third ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull, Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari and Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull.

Mercedes have won the first four races one-two, a record start for any team, despite Ferrari setting the pace in pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Mercedes have dominated qualifying in Barcelona for the past seven years, with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado the last driver from any other team to start from the top slot when he did it with Williams in 2012.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)