Qualifying news
Stands out in qualifying for the Spanish GP Lando Norriswho after a weekend as an absolute protagonist took pole position in Barcelona, his first since Sochi 2021. The Englishman from McLaren improved his time by over half a second on his last lap, managing by a handful of thousandths to get the better of Max Verstappensecond.
Behind the two friend-rivals there are not Ferraris but Mercedesnow reborn after the good result in Canada. Hamilton is third ahead of Russell, while Leclerc and Sainz – albeit by a few hundredths – are ‘only’ fifth and sixth on the grid. Marc Gené interviewed the top three in Q3.
The words of the top-3
Lando Norris (1st, McLaren): “The ride was practically perfect. As you do it you understand that it’s going well and your enthusiasm grows. Everything went perfectly. We were close, I think this is my best pole position. I haven’t made many, but of the ones I’ve made, it’s the best. Today I did a perfect lap because it was needed. In the last two months we have been very fast, it is since Miami that we have become strong. We probably missed some poles, not doing perfect laps. Today, however, that was not the case. Winning the race? That’s the goal, but it will be difficult against Max, Lewis and those behind us. But now we are here to win, that’s the goal“.
Max Verstappen (2nd, Red Bull): “In qualifying we put everything together in a more positive way. We struggled to find the right balance all weekend, but I was quite happy with qualifying. In run 2 I also had a good slipstream from Checo in Turn 1, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. But overall we can be happy with the performance in qualifying, everything will be at stake tomorrow. Random trail? Yes it was by chance, I didn’t even know where Checo was at first. Then they warned me about his position and I tried to keep up with him. The wind blew strongly in Q3 and this perhaps made life more difficult for us. Doing pole is never easy, you are always in battle with yourself. Now there are more teams ahead and this is the goal of F1. When there are so many of us so close for pole it’s always very nice to see.”
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Mercedes): “P3? I’m really happy. Thank you all, I’m happy to be here and very grateful to be in the top-3. It has been a difficult year so far, there has been work from everyone in the factory and so far we see an improvement. We’re getting close to the top. I didn’t think I’d be fighting for pole, but we’re getting closer and closer and I’m grateful for that. Are we moving forward as a team? We have made enormous progress. It’s due to all the people in the factory who are pushing the manufacturing and design levels. Little by little the car is becoming a racing car that can fight for victory“.
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