Spanish Grand Prix: Pole in Leclerc

Sunny. Dry. Air +34C, Highway +47C

Most teams have prepared many novelties for the Spanish stage that could affect the balance of power. Not all of them were equally effective, the more interesting was qualifying, which always plays a key role in Barcelona.

Charles Leclerc was in the lead in all three practices, but the results were very tight.

Gasly and Schumacher did not actually participate in the third practice. Pierre stopped the smoking car in the pits on the first lap. Almost immediately after, Mick’s brakes caught fire – he turned into the pits and didn’t go away. He had the brakes, rear suspension, gearbox and damaged wiring replaced. The mechanics did everything they could to bring the cars back to the start of qualifying. Gasly left immediately, and Schumacher – after seven minutes.

Pirelli has traditionally brought the toughest lineups to Barcelona – C1, C2 and C3 as Hard, Medium and Soft. On the asphalt, hot from the heat, the tires wore out quickly – on Sunday this factor can play a key role.

In the first session everyone tried to limit themselves to one set of Soft. Gasly’s car was smoking in the back again, but he did a quick lap and then drove off again.

Aston Martin dangerously let Stroll’s car loose in the pit lane, nearly hitting Norris’s car – the stewards will consider this incident after qualifying.

Pérez hit the gravel in turn 7 with no effect on the car.

Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Perez and Okon limited themselves to one attempt, the rest left for the second.

Norris prevented Alonso from a quick lap, ruining the Spaniard’s attempt – and for the first time this season, he failed to advance to the second part of qualifying.

The best time was shown by Leclerc, who had completed the lap in 1:19.861. From further battle fell: Vettel, Alonso, Stroll, Albon and Latifi. Scandalous novelties from Aston Martin did not help.

In the second session many opted for coiled tires on the first try, but Russell showed the best time on fresh tires – 1:19.470. Leclerc on the bead gave him half a second, Verstappen – more than six tenths.

Russell, Hamilton and Leclerc gave up on the second attempt, the rest kept fighting – and Verstappen set the best time and drove the fresh Soft in 1:19.219. Norris’ best lap was canceled due to a run off the track at Turn 12 – and he dropped out of the top ten.

Norris, Okon, Tsunoda, Gasley and Zhou did not make it to the final.

In the final Leclerc made a mistake on a fast lap – after a corner in the last chicane he returned to the pits. Verstappen led the scoresheet with a lap time of 1:19,073.

On the second attempt, Leclerc took off first – and showed the best time – 1:18.750. Verstappen complained about problems with the DRS and was unable to improve.

Charles Leclerc won qualifying in Spain to take 13th pole of his career and fourth of the season.

For the fourth time this season, Leclerc and Verstappen share the front row of the grid, Sainz and Russell start from second, Perez and Hamilton start from third.

Qualification Results