Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen achieved pole position in a weather-effected Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
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.
In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q2 after he too went off the circuit in what were tricky conditions throughout the session.
In a fully dry Q3, Verstappen was the remaining runner to take new softs for the first runs and set a provisional pole time of one minute, 12.272 seconds.
This ended up being the pole time as the defending champion’s rivals – running ahead on the road – could not threaten even with new tyres.
Home hero Carlos Sainz shot onto the front row with a final lap that featured personal bests in all three sectors, edging out his former team-mate Lando Norris, who took third for McLaren.
Then came Pierre Gasly, who faces two post-qualifying investigations for appearing to impede Sainz and Verstappen in separate incidents in the busy Q1.
Lewis Hamilton had looked to be Verstappen’s main threat for pole after he sat second after his first Q3 run on used tyres, but the Mercedes driver paid the price for not improving enough in the final sector and he could only score fifth with his best lap of the final segment.
Lance Stroll finished sixth as the lead Aston Martin, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, who completed just one Q3 run – offset from the rest and set a few minutes before the final fliers.
Alonso led the pack for these as Aston used the most time they could to work on his damaged floor, but he never appeared to be in the fight for the top positions as a result and so only beat Oscar Piastri to P10.
Running at the rear of the pack for the final runs, Verstappen, with his pole already secured by the lack of improvement from the rest, was ordered to abandon his final flier in the pits.
Q2 was dry throughout but there were big casualties, as Perez paid the price for going off into the gravel at Turn 5 having touched the slippery painted kerbs on the outside line going into the downhill long left ahead of his final flier.
He had enough time to set another time, and was running just inside the top ten at the time, but others improving meant he was at serious risk of being knocked out.
Perez blazed to personal bests in all three sectors but could not beat Hulkenberg’s time and so was knocked out in P11 by 0.051 seconds.
That final lap had been completed in George Russell’s wake, the Mercedes driver finishing P12 but also in the wars, having moved over on team-mate Hamilton ahead of their final Q2 runs.
While Hamilton went through despite not setting a last time and having his right-side front wing endplate knocked off in the contact, Russell was knocked out as his last effort was compromised – the incident also involving Russell passing Sainz on his inside on a cool-down lap and Hamilton getting a big tow to close in on the other Mercedes.
The incident will be investigated after the session, with Russell also complaining throughout Q2 that his tyres were not working as expected – George saving a big snap out of Turn 11, where Nyck de Vries had spun twice in Q1.
Zhou Guanyu and the AlphaTauri pair were eliminated behind Russell – Zhou and de Vries setting personal bests on their last Q2 laps, with Yuki Tsunoda ending up 15th behind.
Q1 started with many cars waiting at the end of the pitlane to head out early in anticipation of rain impacting proceedings as clouds had built up to the south of the track as the time for qualifying action began.
Drops of rain were falling in the pitlane when the session started, but the action only lasted a few minutes as the greasy conditions caused several drivers to have off-track moments.
Alonso shot through the gravel at the exit of the final corner and picked up his floor damage, while Valtteri Bottas spun at Turn 12 having lost the rear of his Alfa in the proceeding Turn 11 right kink – a few minutes after de Vries had done likewise.
With Albon off in the gravel at Turn 5 and stones strewn across the track at multiple points, Q1 was red-flagged.
When it resumed after a nearly 10-minute delay, there was much focus on Ferrari, which had not sent its cars out to join the first pitlane queue and they were amongst a big gaggle lacking a time on the board by the time of the stoppage.
Leclerc and Sainz immediately registered times on their first fliers, but the former’s was much slower and he struggled for pace from there – complaining “there’s something wrong with my rears”.
He escaped the drop zone with a flier set just before the chequered flag dropped at the end of Q1, but with the rain no longer a problem and rubber being laid down ever more, Leclerc was shuffled back and dumped out in P19, with only Logan Sargeant behind.
Also eliminated in the late flurry of personal best times were Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Albon, who all slotted in ahead of Leclerc.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in the flying Red Bull. The defending champion is in the zone and with this major rivals suffering in this qualifying session and will start the race in not ideal conditions, Super Max is looking good for the race.
Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12.272
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.734
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.792
4 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:12.816
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.818
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.994
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:13.083
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.229
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:13.507
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:13.682
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.334
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:13.447
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:13.521
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:14.083
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:14.477
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:13.977
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:14.042
18 Alex Albon Williams 1:14.063
19 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.079
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:14.699
Spanish Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen charged to his first-ever Spanish Grand Prix pole position by comfortably getting the better of Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Verstappen, who won the event in 2016 and 2022 but has never started it from the front of the grid, converted his practice clean sweep into P1 for Sunday’s race with a dominant performance across the grid-deciding hour.
Indeed, having pumped in an initial lap of 1m 12.272s, Verstappen was afforded the luxury of backing off during his second attempt and still finished almost half a second up on Sainz and Norris, who emerged as his nearest rivals in an action-packed session.
That included Charles Leclerc dropping out of the Q1 phase amid car complaints, the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez falling at the second qualifying hurdle after a trip through the gravel, and George Russell also exiting in Q2 after a bizarre incident with team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Pierre Gasly took fourth in another strong showing for Alpine, albeit with a stewards’ investigation hanging over him after he got in the way of rival cars, as Hamilton and Lance Stroll completed the top six positions.
Esteban Ocon put the other Alpine seventh, with Nico Hulkenberg leading Haas’ charge in eighth, Fernando Alonso ninth after running out of sequence with the rest of the field in Q3, and McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri 10th.
Perez followed up his Q1 exit in Monaco with another compromised qualifying session, having run off-track at Turn 5 in Q3, while Russell could do no more than 12th after banging wheels with Hamilton down the start/finish straight.
Zhou Guanyu was the lead Alfa Romeo in 13th position, with AlphaTauri team mates Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda recovering from some early spins to take 14th and 15th respectively – the Dutchman continuing to build up confidence after a mixed start to the season.
Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen lacked pace compared to their respective Alfa Romeo and Haas team mates, dropping out at the Q1 phase in 16th and 17th respectively, with Leclerc dramatically following them as he complained about car problems from the outset.
Leclerc’s first Q1 exit since Monaco 2019 left him a lowly 19th on the grid, between Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, the latter unable to make an impression after mechanics worked hard to repair the car he damaged during a final practice crash.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-storms-to-spanish-gp-pole-ahead-of-sainz-and-norris-after-leclerc.4lC7wfwA255YmvW3MErFni.html
Charles Leclerc says he has ‘no answer’ on the undiagnosed issue with his Ferrari Formula 1 car that left him 19th in qualifying for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
In a briefly red-flagged Q1 session, Leclerc reported a problem with his rear tyres over the radio as he struggled to hook up a solid qualifying lap.
After fumbling his first flyer, Leclerc was under pressure to secure a Q2 spot in the final seconds of the session, but he could do no better than 19th while team-mate Carlos Sainz sailed through in fourth.
Afterwards, Leclerc said he didn’t know what was wrong with his Ferrari through Barcelona’s left-hand corners during Q1.
“I don’t have the answer. For now, the only thing I can say is that the left-hand corners were undriveable,” he said.
“Through the right-hand corners the feeling was very similar to this morning, but there’s just something off in the left-hand corners that we need to analyse and understand because it was very far off what I expected.”
Leclerc initially thought there was a problem with his tyres, but the issue persisted on his second set, which mystified him as he had no issues in Saturday morning’s third free practice session.
“I thought it was the tyres on the first set, but then we went on the second set, and the feeling was exactly the same,” he expanded.
“I just had no grip in the left-hand corners from the rears, so we’ll check the car well and I would be very surprised if everything was fine.
“Even in the tricky conditions of this morning, I was feeling really good with the car, so there’s something off.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/leclerc-has-no-answer-after-q1-exit-in-f1-spanish-gp-qualifying/10477972/
George Russell says miscommunication was behind his hair-raising collision with Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, for which he has been summoned by the stewards.
Near the end of Q2, Russell and Hamilton were starting flying laps when the former moved to the inside of the pit straight to grab a tow from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, and then moved back onto the racing line.
But Russell appeared to be unaware that Hamilton behind him was also on a flyer and was about to overtake him on the outside when his team-mate inadvertently closed the door on him.
Hamilton had to take avoiding action with his left wheels onto the grass, but still made contact with Russell and broke his front wing endplate in a collision that could have had much worse consequences.
On the radio, Hamilton said: “George just backed off, that was really dangerous.”
The FIA stewards summoned both Mercedes drivers to review the incident, investigating why Russell’s “car 63 normally changed direction directly causing impact with car 44” on Barcelona’s start-finish straight.
When asked if the incident was simply down to a miscommunication, Russell said: “Yeah, pretty much. I wasn’t even aware he was there. I was starting my lap, trying to take the slipstream from Sainz and fortunately, nothing bad happened.”
The incident topped a messy qualifying session in which Russell struggled to get any grip from the tyres and faced a lot of bouncing, which meant that his 12th position on the grid was no surprise to him.
“I’m not too sure why straight out the box in run one I just had no grip from the tyres,” Russell explained.
“I was really struggling, the car started to bounce a lot in the high-speed corners, so I couldn’t take the [final] corner flat out when we were doing so this morning.
“A really, really odd session; not surprised to be out in Q2 because the car was just totally off the pace. I didn’t have a good feeling with it. And yeah, disappointing for sure.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-not-aware-of-hamilton-in-spanish-gp-f1-qualifying-clash/10478029/
Fernando Alonso says he could have qualified second for Formula 1’s Spanish GP despite damaging his Aston Martin when he went off right at the start of Q1.
Alonso ran wide through the gravel on his out-lap at the start of the session, damaging the floor sufficiently to make the car tricky to drive for the remainder of qualifying.
Thereafter, he noted that it handled “weirdly” but the Spaniard remains convinced that he was still on target for the front row before he made a mistake and ran wide on his final lap.
“P2, probably even with the floor as it was,” the Aston Martin driver said. “Because in the Q3 lap I was coming for 12.7s until Turn 10. Then again I ran wide into the damp part in Turn 10 on the outside, so when I saw that 12.7 is P2 and P3 I was surprised.
“That’s why I’m optimistic for tomorrow, because the car seems to have a lot of pace.”
His mistake meant Alonso had to settle for ninth on the grid for his home race.
“Q1 probably did compromise everything today, I did a mistake,” said Alonso. “I went on the damp part of the circuit, I guess, on the last corner, because I lost the car.
“And then it was very costly because that gravel completely destroys the floor. And yeah, it hurts even more because it was the lap.
“I was not even pushing, it wasn’t a push lap, it was the out-lap. So I’m disappointed with my performance today, hopefully I can do better on Sunday.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-says-p2-on-spanish-gp-grid-was-possible-even-with-floor-damage/10478043/