Spanish GP: Leclerc takes pole despite spin; Verstappen faces issues
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole in F1 Spanish GP despite a spin with teammate Carlos Sainz third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Spanish GP qualifying saw an unsafe release at the start between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll which will be investigated after the session. On track, it was Ferrari 1-2 with Charles Leclerc leading Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third but teammate Sergio Perez was eighth after an off moment in the gravel. The knockout zone saw a big casualty in Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m21.043s) who was only 17th behind Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m20.954s).
The German was not happy to miss out on a Q2 spot, while replays showed a possible impeding between Norris and Alonso which was cleared by the stewards. The other Aston Martin of Stroll slotted in 18th after a 1m21.418s lap.
The final row on the grid saw Williams pair of Alexander Albon (1m21.645s) and Nicholas Latifi (1m21.915s) in 19th and 20th.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Spanish GP went smoothly mostly with no incidents as a late lap from Red Bull’s Verstappen put him on top from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell with both the Haas drivers in the Top 10.
McLaren’s Norris (1m20.471s) initially finished inside the Top 10 but his lap time was deleted due to track limits which helped Mick Schumacher to make it inside. The Brit eventually finished 11th with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m20.638s) in 12th.
The two AlphaTauri pair followed with Yuki Tsunoda (1m20.639s) ahead of Pierre Gasly (1m20.861s) in 13th and 14th, while Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu (1m21.094s) was 15th.
Q3:
The third part in F1 Spanish GP saw a bit of shock start for Ferrari’s Leclerc who had a spin at Turn 14 which ruined his first flying lap as he dived into the pitlane. Red Bull’s Verstappen took provisional pole with a 1m19.073s lap.
Ferrari’s Sainz slotted in second with Red Bull’s Perez in third. The game changed in the second run where Leclerc smashed the standings with a 1m18.750s lap to take pole in F1 Spanish GP with Verstappen ending up second due to power issues (which was later clarified to be a DRS issue).
He couldn’t improve his lap time but remained second, with Sainz (1m19.166s) in third from Mercedes’ Russell (1m19.393s) as he demoted Red Bull’s Perez (1m19.420s) to fifth and Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m19.512s) to sixth.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (1m19.608s) was seventh where he beat the Haas pair with Kevin Magnussen (1m19.682s) in eighth and Schumacher (1m20.386s) 10th behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m20.297s).
