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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took his first ever Spanish GP pole position with a comfortable victory over Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Verstappen, who won the event in 2016 and 2022 but has never started it from the front of the grid, turned his practice clean sweep into P1 for Sunday’s race with a dominant performance in the deciding hour of the grid.
Indeed, when Verstappen ran a first-lap 1m12.272s in the pole vault, he had the luxury of falling back on his second attempt and still ended up nearly half a second behind home hero Sainz and Norris, who emerged as his closest rivals. in a fast-paced session.
This included Charles Leclerc crashing out of Q1 amid car complaints, Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull crashing out at the second qualifying barrier after a gravel trip and George Russell also exiting Q2 after a bizarre incident with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. .
Pierre Gasly finished fourth in another strong showing for Alpine, although stewards’ investigations hung over him as he got into the way of rival cars as Hamilton and Lance Stroll rounded out the top six.
Esteban Ocon finished the second Alpi seventh, with Nico Hulkenberg leading Haas in eighth, Fernando Alonso ninth in a row with the rest of the field in Q3 and McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri 10th.
Perez continued his Q1 start in Monaco with another compromised qualifying session when he ran off the track at Turn 5 during Q2, while Russell could only manage 12th after locking wheels with Hamilton on the start and finish straight as the Mercedes pair closed in. racing line.
Zhou Guanyu was the leading Alfa Romeo in 13th, and AlphaTauri teammates Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda recovered from some early laps to finish 14th and 15th. The Dutchman continued to build confidence after a mixed start to the season.
Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen lacked the pace compared to their Alfa Romeo and Haas teammates, dropping out in Q1 in 16th and 17th respectively, with Leclerc following them dramatically after complaining of car problems from the start.
Leclercs first Q1 start since Monaco in 2019 left him 19th between Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. The latter failed to impress after mechanics worked hard to repair the car damaged in his final practice crash.
Qualifying highlights: 2023 Spanish Grand Prix
AS IT HAPPENED
Q1 spins a lot and Leclerc suffers from shock
Rain fell during final practice and continued into the following F2 support race, so it initially looked like qualifying would take place on a wet track, but with a break in the weather and continued warm temperatures, the tarmac dried quickly.
However, eyes were still in the sky as new Rains arrived just before the start of Q1 and a huge line of cars immediately headed to the track to get a banker’s lap on slick tyres, the chance of showers during the session. about 30%.
Drama ensued almost immediately when Tsunoda lost control of his AlphaTaur over the wet patch and spun exiting Turn 11, while Bottas and team-mate De Vries did the same a couple of minutes later, while Alonso ran wildly wide in the final corner and Albon left. off in turn 5.
At this point, with gravel in several areas of the track and needing to be cleared, Gasly threw out the red flag that had set the original benchmark of 1m 14.618 from team-mates Ocon, Stroll, Magnussen, Hamilton, Russell and Alonso. , because Hulkenberg lost time from crossing the track limits.
When track action resumed, Verstappen ran 1m 13.660s to go faster than his pace-set FP3 time from the start. Piastri finished second ahead of Ocon, Zhou and Sainz, who survived a near-miss while approaching the slow-moving Gasly into the penultimate corner in an event that will be reviewed after qualifying.
De Vries, meanwhile, went into the second lap from Turn 11 and lamented what am I doing wrong there?, but the rookie ended up jumping out of the drop zone next time, leaving Tsunoda, Russell, Albon, Sargeant and Leclerc in danger with six minutes to run.
Many drivers had moments when qualifying started in wet parts of the track
There’s something wrong with my rear, guys, Leclerc said after the Turn 1 off-track excursion, as the Monaco native then called the scales on his way back to the pits, adding pressure before it was all-or-nothing. -no last run.
But it would go from bad to worse for last years pole sitter, who failed to deliver the required improvement in the run to the checkered flag and finished a barely believable P19, with only Williams rookie Sargeant to run away. on the field after the FP3 accident.
At the other end of the trials, improvements in the ever-improving conditions saw Hamilton lead the way with a 1m 12.937, just under four-tenths clear of Norris and team-mate Russell, followed by Sainz, Hulkenberg, Alpine. the pair of Ocon and Gasly, De Vries, Verstappen second losing time after Gasly and Zhou.
Piastri dropped down the order to 11th, but still made it safely into Q2 in 11th, along with the Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll, Tsunoda and Perez, who was unlucky not to join Leclerc in another Q1 upset in another Red Bull.
Bottas and Magnussen were unable to follow their teammates into Q2, dropping out in 16th and 17th respectively, with Albon the second driver to crash out at the first qualifying barrier alongside the aforementioned Leclerc and Sargeant.
Dropped: Bottas, Magnussen, Albon, Leclerc, Sargeant
Leclerc was a shocker in the first qualifying round
Q2 Perez drops out as Mercedes drivers clash
At the start of Q2, Verstappen picked up where he left off with a 1m 12.760s on the new softs, with Perez dropping back to second, more than eight-tenths behind, but having completed his first stint on the used rubber.
After the abandoned lap, Hamilton lit up the timing screens to take second, 0.239 seconds clear of Verstappen, with Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Russell and Gasly also between the Red Bulls and Sainz and Zhou making the final passes of Q3.
This left Norris, Piastri, De Vries, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg in the drop zone before the final lap, when Perez ran wide at Turn 5, slid through the gravel and left him with a battle for pole. shooting.
Verstappen didn’t have to rewrite as he once again finished at the top, finishing marginally ahead of Norris and Sainz, as Hamilton led the Mercedes attack after a freak encounter with team-mate Russell saw the Silver Bulls blow tires on the main circuit. straight leaving the seven-time world champion with front wing damage.
Ocon, Piastri, Stroll’s Aston Martins and Alonso, Gasly and Hulkenberg were the last drivers to qualify for Q3, with Perez missing out after a visit to the gravel and lamenting another compromised qualifying session behind Q1. accident in Monaco.
Russell apologized on the radio as he missed out and had to settle for 12th with the added drama of an intra-team clash with Hamilton, while Alfa Romeos Zhou and AlphaTauri pair De Vries and Tsunoda moved up the rear in the Q2 segment.
Dropped: Perez, Russell, Zhou, De Vries, Tsunoda
Red Bulls Perez and Mercedes Russell crashed out in Q2
Q3 Verstappen beats the field in pole position
Verstappen started Q3 with another bang on another set of new soft tyres, clocking 1m 12.272s, nearly a second clear of nearest rival Hamilton, as Hulkenberg took his one and only penalty to finish third.
Alonso also put in one flying lap to climb to P4 before a late-lap burst could send the timesheets rolling, but there would be no change at the top as Verstappen took his fourth pole of the season without needing to complete a second lap.
The last lap was very nice, Verstappen commented on the radio, before being told that the final sector should not be taken on the revised layout, which now has a fast final corner that puts a lot of stress on the tires.
Sainz and Norris took advantage of surprise Q1 and Q2 crashes to finish second and third respectively, followed by Gasly on his way to the blocking events with Sainz and Verstappen Hamilton and Stroll.
Ocon took two Alps into the top 10, followed by Hulkenberg, Alonso, who has a tall order to reach the podium in front of his adoring home fans, and Piastr. The top ten runners covered just over a second.
No one could stop Verstappen as he grabbed pole number four for the season
Key quote
The car was really good, said pole keeper Verstappen. Qualifying started a little difficult with the weather, but in Q3 the car was on the rails. It was really nice to drive today. I love the song, I love the fans and I have great memories here.
What next
The 2023 Spanish Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the destination RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
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Sources 2/ https://amp.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-storms-to-spanish-gp-pole-ahead-of-sainz-and-norris-after-leclerc.4lC7wfwA255YmvW3MErFni.html The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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