He tore up the track record by signing the fourth pole position of the season in the Spanish GP: Max Verstappen’s first run in Q3 was enough to carve a 1’12″272 in stone which earned him his 24th pole start, equaling Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet The Dutchman was also breaking the 1’12” wall when the wall told him that he was already ahead of everyone so he aborted another magical lap.
Red Bull demonstrates a potential that is unapproachable for everyone because Carlos Sainz who takes the SF-23 Evo to the front row paid a gap of 462 thousandths. A real eternity. The problem is that Sergio Perez stays out of Q3: the Mexican combines another disaster with Red Bull after crashing in Q1 in Montecarlo. He goes off the track with the second train of Q2 and gets his tires dirty in the sand: he tries to relaunch himself but can’t find the necessary performance and can’t do anything but apologize to the team. It’s a bad time for Checo.
Carlos Sainz was good at keeping a cool head in front of his home crowd: the Madrid native brought the new red to the front row. And there was no hope of being able to do better. Ferrari lost something in the flying lap (the gap from the RB19 is exaggerated), but it should have improved its behavior in the race with the new aerodynamic look.
The big disappointment is Charles Leclerc who did not come out of Q1: the Monegasque will be in the last row while his teammate is in the first. His redhead didn’t want to go: the “prince” believes it wasn’t a problem with the tyres, pointing out that there was something wrong with the rear. One Ferrari indicates a path of hope and the other sends the Prancing Horse fans into depression: there are no half measures. It is clear that something broke on Leclerc’s car, but Charles’ confidence continues to receive heavy blows.
And so we find ourselves in a second row of luxury outsiders: Lando Norris invented an extraordinary lap with the McLaren: with 1’12″792 he put Pierre Gasly’s Alpine at 24 thousandths. The Frenchman showed his claws to the point , leaving Esteben Ocon in seventh place with the other A523, but Pierre was the author of an impiding twice (the first at Sainz and the second at Verstappen) so a retreat on the grid is easily foreseeable. ?
Lewis Hamilton, with a car that is perhaps not perfect after the turn suffered by George Russell in Q2, is only fifth with the Mercedes, but the seven-time world champion arrived within 26 thousandths of a third place from Norris. The feeling is that the potential could have been greater and Lewis defended himself as best he could.
Disastrous qualification for George Russell only 12th. The Briton complained a lot about the W14 bouncing and the inability to light the tyres. In his last attempt in Q2 he touched Lewis Hamilton on the main straight: the Englishman had caught up with his team-mate and then attacked him on the outside, but George must not have seen him and put him dangerously in the grass at very high speed. Hamilton’s Black Arrow seems to have suffered more damage in the crash: Russell will be investigated after qualifying. A penalty of three positions on the grid is inevitable.
Aston Martin disappoints: Fernando Alonso, after damaging the floor in Q1, made mistakes in Q3 and the home idol did not go beyond the ninth time with a gap of 1″235. paying half a second from Lance Stroll who for the first time this year managed to stay in front of him, conquering the sixth position.
Excellent performance by Nico Hulkenberg eighth with the Haas: the German only had a train of new softs for Q3, so he only made one attempt. He made no mistakes and got the most out of VF-23.
The top 10 is completed by Oscar Piastri who puts the second McLaren on the fifth row: the rookie is taking measures for the MCL60.
Positive 13th place for Guanyu Zhou who saved what could be saved for Alfa Romeo: the Chinese placed himself in front of the two AlphaTauri drivers with Nyck De Vries ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, author of a long run in Q1.
Valtteri Bottas is 16th with the Alfa Romeo: at the start of the session the Finn had spun at turn 10, bringing gravel onto the track for which the race direction red-flagged to clean up the asphalt. Kevin Magnussen was also bad with the second Haas if we compare the Dane’s performance with that of his teammate Hulkenberg.
The Williams are 18th with Alexander Albon and 20th with Logan Sargeant. Not even they expected to find Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in the middle, never been able to build a competitive lap to pass the first trap.
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