Key events
And that concludes our coverage of today’s qualifying session. McLaren had the speed, as expected, with very little changing despite all the chat around front wings and the FIA’s supposed clampdown on flexing. Versappen continues to be a lone wolf for Red Bull, with the rest battling for points.
Let’s see what unfolds in tomorrow’s main race. It’d be a major shock if we don’t see an orange car cross the line in first place. Here’s Giles Richards’ report from Barcelona:
If I was a betting man, I’d lump on Oscar Piastri winning this year’s championship. He looks to have the quickest car and he’s driving it slightly better than Lando Norris.
Verstappen: “We were lacking all weekend compared to them [McLaren]. We’re squeezing everything out of the car. Let’s see tomorrow what we can do from third. They will be tough to beat, I’ll try my best.”
Norris: “Oscar drove very well. The pace is definitely there, just a couple of little mistakes. It’s a good result for the team, a nice one-two. I expect a tough race tomorrow, we’ve got a lot of quick guys behind us.”
Piastri is on the mic: “It’s been a good weekend so far. Today the car has been mega, so thanks to the team for all their hard work. There were a couple of places in the lap where I’d be struggling all day, it wasn’t the perfect lap but I’m very happy with the work we’ve put in.
“It’s gonna be an interesting one tomorrow. I’m pretty glad I’m starting in pole. Hopefully we can have some fun tomorrow.”
I think we all have to appreciate just what Max Verstappen is doing. P3 in that Red Bull when his teammate qualified P20 … goodness me, it’s some effort.
You wouldn’t discount the Dutchman from upsetting the two McLarens in tomorrow’s race.
Q3 results
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Piastri
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Norris
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Verstappen
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Russell
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Hamilton
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Antonelli
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Leclerc
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Gasly
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Hadjar
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Albon
It’s a front row lock-out for McLaren at the Spanish GP for the first time since 1998. It looked like Norris was pushing a little too hard on his final qualifying lap and that cost him a fraction of time. Piastri was never going to miss the opportunity to take advantage. Seriously quick from both men, to be fair.
Oscar Piastri clinches Spanish Grand Prix pole position
He steals pole at the last off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris! How crucial might that prove tomorrow?
Norris is second.
Final couple of minutes. Can Piastri strike back? And who will join the two McLarens in the top three?
Norris snatches it – by 0.017 seconds ahead of the Australian! It’s only a provisional pole of course, as all the drivers will get a second bite of the cherry in this Q3 session.
Here’s how it currently stands: 1. Norris, 2. Piastri, 3. Russell, 4. Leclerc, 5. Verstappen.
Q3: Piastri sets a target time of 1 min 11.836 secs. Russell goes second and Verstappen cannot beat the Mercedes.
Now here’s Norris. Can he go beyond his teammate to try and claim pole?
“These McLarens are looking very dominant out there, then it looks like a tight race for P3,” says Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports. He’s not wrong.
Q3 is under way. It will probably take a mistake to unseat either Piastri or Norris from the front row of tomorrow’s grid.
Fernando Alonso has guaranteed himself a top 10 spot on the grid for his home grand prix, which will be pretty gratifying.
It’s hard to see anyone shifting Piastri off pole, here.
Fantastic pace from Isack Hadjar, who was in real danger of being eliminated there, with the Racing Bulls putting in a respectable performance at the moment, even though we lost Lawson in that Q2 session.
Q2 results
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Piastri
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Norris
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Verstappen
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Russell
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Hamilton
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Hadjar
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Leclerc
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Alonso
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Antonelli
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Gasly
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Albon
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Bortoleto
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Lawson
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Stroll
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Bearman
With a couple of minutes to go, we’re set to lose Bearman, Stroll, Albon, Lawson and Bortoleto unless any of them can conjure something up in their final lap.
Hadjar and Gasly are still at risk having been fairly slow in Q1 but will be praying they can sneak through.
Q2: “Dark clouds in the distance over turn 13,” says Michael Fish George Russell on the Mercedes team comms. Good to know he could get a gig with the Met Office if the race-driving doesn’t work out.
Five minutes remaining in this qualifying session.
Shock of all shocks … Oscar Piastri continues to go fastest. But he’s only marginally ahead of his teammate Norris this time. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has found the speed that deserted him in Q2. He’s into the top five. The Briton usually enjoys it round the Barcelona roads.
Looks like Franco Colapinto would have easily avoided the bottom five, but had his lap chalked off due to a technical issue. A shame for the rookie.
The early pace-setters in Q2 are Bearman and Albon, but plenty haven’t ventured out onto the track yet. The big hitters like to leave things late.
Right, here we go with Q2 …
So five drivers from five different teams are eliminated. Huge disappointment for the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, while Carlos Sainz will be gutted to be P18 for his home grand prix, where he’s traditionally yielded decent results. How ironic that Liam Lawson, ceremoniously demoted by Red Bull earlier in the season, is flying high in the top 10 after that qualifying session while Tsunoda – who was promoted – is down in P20.
Q1 results
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Piastri
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Verstappen
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Norris
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Russell
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Antonelli
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Leclerc
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Stroll
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Lawson
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Albon
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Bortoleto
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Hamilton
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Bearman
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Gasly
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Alonso
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Hadjar
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Hulkenberg
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Ocon
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Sainz
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Colapinto
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Tsunoda
Last minute of Q1. Who can save themselves?
Verstappen goes a touch quicker than Norris to sit sandwiched by the two McLarens. As it stands, we’re on course to lose the following five drivers:
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16th – Hulkenberg
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17th – Ocon
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18th – Sainz
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19th – Tsunoda
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20th – Bortoleto
There’s a bit of traffic in the pit lane slowing things up right now …
Q1: Piastri seemed to make a slight error yet still clocks the fastest time, up 0.2 seconds on his teammate Norris. George Russell, as has often been the case this season, sits third.
Max Verstappen is the only driver now not to have clocked a time. How fast can he go?
Only five drivers have clocked a time thus far, but of them Lance Stroll has gone fastest. The Haas cars of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman look to be lacking a smidge of pace.
Q1: There’s a few cars hanging back in the garages with the weather in Barcelona very warm and clear. We’re under way – who can set the early pace?
Right we’re almost ready to get going.
There’s lots of talk of various drivers “porpoising” in practice, especially on slightly older tyres. That basically means the car bumping up and down.
The front wing crackdown “doesn’t seem to be effecting McLaren” is the word from down in the pit lanes … “there doesn’t seem to be a change in the pecking order,” says Sky Sports’ Naomi Schiff.
So, can we just expect Piastri and Norris to go quickest, as per?
Lewis Hamilton will hope this issue doesn’t plague him when qualifying commences in 20 minutes or so.
There’s lots of focus on the grid’s two Spanish drivers this weekend, for obvious reasons. Neither Carlos Sainz Jr nor Fernando Alonso have particularly troubled the sharp end of the leaderboard this season but could be inspired by a home crowd.
Let’s not forget Alonso is 43 now so it’s difficult to be too harsh on his failure to pick up a point this season. The Williams of Sainz and Alexander Albon have generated speed at times and could, possibly, push towards the podium places.
There’s plenty of live sport going on around Europe today. Here are our other offerings, plus the Champions League final buildup.
The FIA’s clampdown on the flexing of front wings has dominated all the preview talk in Barcelona. Let’s see what effect it has. More details from our man Giles Richards here.
Piastri was the quickest in practice with Norris around half a second slower. That’s a fair bit of time in elite terms. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third fastest then came Russell and Verstappen, the Red Bull driver who was down nearly a whole second from Piastri.
Practice is one thing though … qualifying is often very different.
Preamble
Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of Spanish GP qualifying in Barcelona. It feels only right, given that the footballing giants of Paris and Milan are competing in Munich tonight, that Formula 1 is representing Spain this weekend.
Two Englishmen will hope to go fastest this afternoon, with Lando Norris and George Russell chasing Oscar Piastri at the top of the championship standings this year, with the Dutchman Max Verstappen – slowish in practice so far – always likely to have a say. It feels like the established order of this season has now been set, with the McLarens quicker than everyone else, but Verstappen refusing to go gentle in that good night in a rusty old Red Bull. The rest are in their slipstream.
It all gets going at around 3pm so stick with us for all the buildup and then the qualifying sessions.
