After a tense qualifying battle, it will be Charles Leclerc on pole in Spain. He stormed to pole in Q3 as Max Verstappen couldn’t respond as he suffered more reliability issues in his Red Bull.
Aston Martin Woes Continue
Despite a heavily modified car that has a little nod to the Red Bull design, the Aston Martin woes continued. Both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll couldn’t make it out of Q1. They were joined by the Williams duo and Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver failed to make it out of Q1 for the first time ever at the Spanish GP.
Ferrari were still dominating, leading the pack with Leclerc narrowly ahead of Carlos Sainz. Both Mercedes drivers kept up their improvements from the practice sessions to be much closer to the top of the tree than in recent weeks.
Mick Schumacher Maiden Q3
After a slice of good luck, Mick Schumacher found himself in Q3 for the first time in his F1 career. He was provisionally just outside the top 10 after Lando Norris’ time. However, the Brit had his lap time deleted for track limits and thus was out in Q2. Schumacher benefitted to take the final spot in Q3.
Norris was joined by Esteban Ocon, both Alpha Tauris and Guanyu Zhou in having their Spanish GP qualifying ended after Q2.
Verstappen lead from Sainz with the Mercedes cars following closely with Kevin Magnussen completing the top five in the session.
Charles Leclerc on Pole in Spain
Max Verstappen took the initiative after the first runs in Q3, leading Sainz and Sergio Perez. Leclerc spun on his first flying lap, meaning it all rested on his final run if he was to take pole.
Roles reversed on the second runs as Leclerc stormed to pole position. Verstappen didn’t get a chance to better his time as he was on the radio reporting a loss of power. He had to settle for P2 ahead of Sainz.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took P4 and P6 respectively, sitting either side of Sergio Perez as Valtteri Bottas continued his impressive form to take seventh place.
Driver Reaction
Charles Leclerc lauded his car: “I made a mistake early in Q3 and I only had one lap, but it went extremely well and I made it stick. The car was amazing.”
Max Verstappen was thankful to be on the front row: “I couldn’t do my final run, either the DRS didn’t open or I just lost power. But overall to be on the front row is a good achievement.”
Carlos Sainz is looking forward to tomorrow: “The conditions haven’t been the easiest with the heat and the wind… but it’s a decent position to start. I think everything is possible tomorrow. We will try our best.”
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