Spanish Grand Prix: Pole with Verstappen

Mainly cloudy. Dry. Air + 21C, orbit + 24 … 26C

Although it is not easy in Barcelona, ​​it is possible to overtake, and the strategy includes several pit stops, but the statistics of victories from pole on the Spanish circuit are even more convincing than in Monaco – pole holders in the last twenty years have race won fifteen times. The reason, of course, is that the track demands a lot from the cars’ efficiency, so to win qualifying here you need the same qualities as to win the race.

For the first European stage on a stationary circuit, the teams prepared many new products and spent Friday evaluating their effectiveness. Saturday morning rain and red flags prevented everyone, so not everyone was able to find the optimal balance, but the joining of forces was obvious. Max Verstappen was in the lead in all practice sessions.

For the second time in the season, Pirelli brought a tough trio of C1, C2 and C3 setups as Hard, Medium and Soft to the podium. The composition of C1 was softer than in previous years.

At the start of qualifying, the track had dried up, but water remained on the curbs, some sections were wet, which increased the risk of incidents in case of mistakes.

In the first session all left on slicks. Already on the exit lap at the exit of turn 10, Tsunoda blocked the tires, the car flew into a skid for a hundred meters, but managed to avoid departure – and Yuki continued to drive.

There was a brief rain shower. In the fifth minute, first Alonso, then Bottas and Albon flew out and de Vries turned around. The session was stopped with red flags, although all incidents ended without consequences, but there was gravel on the track. Racers returned to the pits. Seven riders managed to complete the circle, the best time was set by Pierre Gasly – 1:14.618.

Five minutes later qualifying continued, everyone went back on slicks. Verstappen marked a new benchmark – 1:13.660. Gasly prevented Sainz on a fast lap – the stewards will look into this incident after qualifying. Nick de Vries crashed into the gravel, but was able to get out and continue his attempt.

The track gradually got faster, with the result that Hamilton led the protocol with 1:12.937 and Bottas, Magnussen, Albon, Leclerc and Sargent fell out of further contention.

In the second session the asphalt is completely dry. Verstappen drove a lap for 1:12.760 on the first attempt. Hamilton got closest to him and lost two-tenths.

In the second attempt, Sergio Perez ruined the circle by flying into the gravel – he kept moving, but could not add, in the second qualifying in a row he did not reach the final. Verstappen’s result was the best, Norris showed the second fastest time and lost only 16 thousandths.

Russell did not share the track with his teammate on the start line – Lewis overtook him with a slipstream but George did not see or let Hamilton in – he squeezed him off the track, the cars touched and Lewis lost the front wing endplate .

Perez, Russell, Zhou, de Vries and Tsunoda failed to qualify for the final.

In the final Verstappen drove even faster – 1:12.272. The underside of Alonso’s car was examined by mechanics for a long time after the curb attack, he missed the first attempt and left for the second.

On the second attempt nobody could match Max’s result, Carlos Sainz came closest to the leader and lost almost half a second.

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Max Verstappen won qualifying in Barcelona to take his fourth pole of the season and 24th of his career. In the race he shares the front row of the grid with Carlos Sainz, Norris and Gasly start from second, Hamilton and Stroll start from third.

Qualifying results