Home F1 Spanish GP: Norris beats Verstappen by 0.020s to take pole

Spanish GP: Norris beats Verstappen by 0.020s to take pole

22/06/2024

Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen in straight fight to take F1 Spanish GP pole by 0.020s, with Lewis Hamilton ending up third.

Q1:

It was slightly cloudy for first part of F1 Spanish GP qualifying at Barcelona, as a late lap from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m12.143s) put him on top ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with the Top 18 covered by 0.932s.

A lot of the drivers at front didn’t have to do double run apart from Hamilton, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. While both the Stake F1 Team drivers made it in Q2, the pair of Visa Cash App RB and Williams were knocked out.

Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m12.937s) was first to be knocked out by just 0.056s margin, as he led the Visa Cash App RB pair of Yuki Tsunoda (1m12.985s) and Daniel Ricciardo (1m13.075s), who were ahead of Williams pair.

It was Alexander Albon (1m13.153s) ahead of Logan Sargeant (1m13.509s). There was an impeding investigation against the American driver, though for getting in the way of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who just scrapped through to Q2.

Q2:

The second part in F1 Spanish GP qualifying saw the weather remain the same as Verstappen took the top spot with a 1m11.653s lap from Hamilton, who set a late quick time. Likewise teammate George Russell improved late to be third.

Local hero Fernando Alonso (1m12.128s) missed out on Q3 by 0.019s in his Aston Martin car, where both of their drivers were knocked out with Lance Stroll (1m12.372s) only 14th. The Top 14 drivers were covered by 0.719s margin.

Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas (1m12.227s) was 12th from Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg (1m12.310s), with Stroll 14th ahead of the other Stake F1 Team’s Zhou Guanyu (1m12.738s).

Q3:

The final part in F1 Spanish GP qualifying saw Verstappen head the field with 1m11.673s lap with provisional pole, as Norris and Hamilton were second and third, with Russell slotting in fourth from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was left with just one lap after his initial lap was deleted due to tracklimits. The Australian didn’t get a laptime eventually after another off moment at Turn 12 which ruined his run, but his teammate Norris took the mantle.

He secured F1 Spanish GP pole by 0.020s margin after his lap of 1m11.383s with Verstappen having to content with second after his 1m11.403s lap, as Hamilton rounded out the Top 3 with his own solid lap of 1m11.701s.

He finally beat his teammate Russell (1m11.703s) by just the 0.002s margin as they managed to slot themselves ahead of Ferrari pair of Leclerc (1m11.731s) and Sainz (1m11.736s), with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly (1m11.857s) doing well to end up seventh.

His teammate Ocon (1m12.125s) was ninth just behind Perez (1m12.061s), who will have a three-place penalty for the race. With no lap from Piastri, the Top 9 were covered by just the 0.742s margin.