Max Verstappen storms to F1 Spanish GP pole from Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, with three big names not making it in Q3.

Q1:

It was a damp start to first part in F1 Spanish GP qualifying due to light rain as majority of the field ventured out for a quick lap. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went off a bit but managed to go on, with multiple drivers having a moment after the Japanese drivers.

Teammate Nyck de Vries had a 360 degree before recovering, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had an off moment in the final corner, while Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Alexander Albon had separate gravel moments too.

All of them managed to make it out of the gravel but Albon brought a lot on the track which resulted in a red flag, as Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon led the way from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with only seven timed laps on the board.

The re-start saw an impeding from Alpine’s Pierre Gasly against Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, as de Vries had a moment again at the same place he did before to rub some gravel. The late flurry of laps saw Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on top with 1m12.937s.

It was McLaren’s Lando Norris in second with Mercedes’ George Russell third, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez barely made it in 15th. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was knocked out in 16th with a 1m13.977s lap from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m14.042s).

Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m14.053s) was only 18th with Logan Sargeant (1m14.699s) 20th behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m14.079s), who was knocked out in Q1 in 19th. The Monegasque complained of a problem with the rear of his car.

Q2:

The second part in the F1 Spanish GP qualifying saw a more somber first run with Red Bull’s Verstappen leading from Mercedes’ Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Alonso at the halfway mark. But the second run saw immediate gravel moment for Red Bull’s Perez.

That ended up in a disaster as he was knocked out by 0.051s with a Perez (1m13.334s) only 11th after a small kerb moment did not help him at all. Mercedes’ George Russell was only after replays showed a collision with teammate Hamilton.

The latter tried to pass Russell who had a Ferrari on his right. The two touched with damage to Hamilton’s front wing. The former was put under investigation for impeding. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 13th after his 1m13.521s lap.

AlphaTauri’s de Vries was 14th with a 1m14.083s lap with Yuki Tsunoda in 15th with a 1m14.477s lap after his best lap of 11th was deleted due to track limits.

Q3:

The final part in F1 Spanish GP qualifying saw Red Bull’s Versrappen set a storming 1m12.272s lap on his first attempt on a new set ahead of Mercedes’ Hamilton who set a 1m13.196s as McLaren’s Norris rounded the Top 3.

With work going on the underside of his car, Aston Martin’s Alonso kept it late along with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg. The German put the third best time running out of sequence with a a 1m13.229s lap but he tumbled down the order after improvements.

Verstappen aborted his final lap to take F1 Spanish GP pole from Sainz (1m12.734s) with Norris (1m12.792s) jumping up to third from Gasly (1m12.816s) and Hamilton (1m12.818s) in the Top 5, where the Frenchman could be penalised.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m12.994s) was sixth from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m13.083s) with Hulkenberg (1m13.229s) managing eighth from Alonso (1m13.507s) who had a moment in Turn 10, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri (1m13.682s) rounding the Top 10.

UPDATE: Gasly has been handed separate three places grid drop for the F1 Spanish GP after having been found to have impeded both Sainz and Verstappen. He has six places in of penalty which drops him to 10th which means the likes of Hamilton, Stroll, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Piastri will move up by one place. Separately, Russell has been given a formal warning after his moment with Hamilton.

Here’s Sainz impeding note; https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2010%20-%20Impeding%20Car%2055.pdf

Here’s Verstappen’s: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2010%20-%20Impeding%20Car%201.pdf

Here’s for Russell: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Spanish%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2063%20-%20Abnormal%20change%20of%20direction.pdf

More to come

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