Spanish GP Qualifying: Verstappen on pole ahead of Sainz and Norris!

The Spanish GP qualifying saw, in a session full of driving errors, Max Verstappen's first career pole position on the Barcelona circuit. Before analyzing what happened, here's the result that makes up the starting grid for tomorrow's race:

QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION

Max Verstappen takes P1 for Sunday, with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris behind!#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FuWjyVPCAz

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 3, 2023

Verstappen drives on rails, Perez struggles on a cold track

The huge performance gap seen yesterday between Verstappen and Perez (only in P11) was amplified even more during today's qualifying session. If we think about it, it's not the first time that we've seen the Mexican driver struggling: leaving aside the crash in Monaco due to the peculiarity of the track, also in Australia (in Melbourne) Checo's qualifying had lasted the space of 3 corners, before he locked the front tyres and got stuck into the gravel.

Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

On that occasion, we analyzed how the cold and wet track conditions were the only Achilles heel of the RB19. Also in Barcelona, due to some rain at the beginning of Q1, as soon as the balance of the Red Bull car went out of the optimal window, the driving quality of the World Champion made a big difference compared to Perez - which on these occasions is very error prone.

In some respect, Max's words also confirm how his car needs a dry track to excel:

“The car ran very well. Qualifying was difficult at the start because it had rained, but after the track dried out in Q3 the car was on rails. Driving it was really pleasant. I love coming here to Barcelona: I love the fans, I love this track and I have so many good memories here. I hope to be able to add another one tomorrow”

Max Verstappen

Sainz and Norris complete the top 3 of a "mixed" starting grid

Behind the Dutch driver, as mentioned, we find the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz (+0.462 s) and the McLaren of Lando Norris (+0.520 s).

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

At Ferrari, Carlos Sainz's P2 is the only positive news of the day due to the result of Charles Leclerc (P19), never at ease during the session and eliminated directly in Q1. The no.1 suspect for his poor performance was the low temperature of his tyres, but even with a second set of Softs the situation didn't improve: also Charles concluded that there was likely a mechanical issue in his SF-23.

"Honestly, I'd be very surprised if the car is ok. Now we have to look closely at the data, but above all at the car, because there was something wrong. We drove in these conditions this morning and it was very good. The thing that tells me that there was something wrong is that I was doing right-hand corners and it went very well, while when I was doing left-hand corners it wasn't. We have to check, because today it cost us a lot, but tomorrow we need to get back to having a good feeling to get back in front"

Charles Leclerc

In the "surviving" Ferrari, Carlos Sainz exhibits truly inspired driving on his home circuit: the gap of almost half a second from the pole laptime is pretty large - and it would have been even more so if Verstappen had completed his last attempt in Q3, but considering the aero package still to be fully exploited (new floor and new sidepods) we can say that the Spaniard achieved the maximum possible result today.

"Today we were all close, we needed a good lap. Even going through Q1 and Q2 without problems wasn't easy or obvious. Doing just one lap with only one set in Q3 made this one of the more complicated qualifying sessions, but we managed to do everything right and we are in the best possible position for tomorrow's race: now we can concentrate on trying to get on the podium. 2nd place is the best possible result today"

Carlos Sainz

Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Moving on to talk about McLaren, having been the MCL60 a troublesome single-seater during the first rounds of this Championship, Norris' excellent performance becomes a bit of a feat: the P3 from which he will start in the race will allow him to face (in the case of a normal start) the first stint in clean air, a factor which could prove crucial to allow him securing an important result.

"I'm surprised to be here, I didn't think I could achieve this result. Maybe we could have gotten closer to second position, but this is Carlos' home race and so I said to myself 'okay, I'll give him a couple of tenths'! Seriously, we were fast throughout qualifying and we have to continue like this. Last corner? I like it, there are good conditions and for us it's a good track. High-speed corners are one of our strengths. In the complicated conditions we go well"

Lando Norris

Really not bad, if we think that the English team probably had the worst car on the grid in the first 2 races, together with Williams.

Telemetric comparison between the best laptimes of the two McLaren drivers, Norris and Piastri

McLaren's result, however, is all-round positive: Oscar Piastri also lands in Q3 and finishes 10th. It's interesting, as can be seen from the telemetric comparison above, that the Australian did his best lap on par with the Englishman. The 9 tenths that separate the two drivers at the finish line of their lap are all caused by a single mistake by Piastri in turn 10, which - due to the new track layout - spreads throughout the third sector. It's not wrong to say that without that mistake, Oscar could even have fought for a top 5 position.

Aston Martin below expectations, a mistake in Q1 excludes Alonso from the fight for pole

The buld up to the Spanish GP lived on the great expectations from Fernando Alonso, looking for his race win n.33 in Formula 1. But in the crucial moment, the Asturian missed a solid lap: more than a mistake (which in any case was there, in turn 10) it was a global lack of performance due to him going off track in Q1 during the wet track phase.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The excursion into the run-off area damaged the floor of his AMR23, to such an extent that at the end of the qualifying session, Lance Stroll qualified ahead of him for the first time this year.

Telemetric comparison between the best laptimes of the two Aston Martin drivers, Alonso and Stroll

As can be seen from the telemetric analysis of the comparison between the Spaniard and the Canadian, what has been said previously regarding the two Ferraris is valid: there is not a section of the track in which one of the two makes the difference, but it is a constant time gain by Lance on Fernando. So little to do for the latter, who will be forced to make a great comeback to satisfy his ambitions for the race.

Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

It will also be important to understand if his team will be able to mount a new floor on his AMR23, demonstrating that the replacement is necessary due to the damage suffered during qualifying; without such an intervention, Alonso's race could easily become a nightmare!

"We hope to recover something in the race, because the car is always very fast on Sunday. Even today, with the damage on the floor, we were still very competitive... If we put everything in order for tomorrow and if we have good tyre degradation, the top-5 it's still possible; maybe the podium is out of reach starting so far back, but we'll see"

Fernando Alonso

Two-faced Mercedes: Hamilton in P5, Russell in P12!

Let's conclude the analysis of today's qualifying by talking a little bit about Mercedes: the leading driver today proved to be Lewis Hamilton, who in some moments even seemed capable of hoisting himself into second position behind Verstappen - and in the end, he missed this target by just one tenth of a second! The problem for the Englishman is that Sainz, Norris and even Gasly's Alpine were placed in that tenth of a second!

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Worse went to his teammate Russell, who at the end of Q2 (from which he was unable to go into Q3) even had a contact with Hamilton in the straight, caused by a carelessness that could have cost the team much more than the damage on Lewis' front wing. Equipped with a W14 still not fast enough down the straights, George will have no other way to climb up the grid than to rely on strategy, perhaps extending the first stint to get rid of the traffic.

"This morning I woke up knowing I could have a chance, although I didn't expect to fight for the front row. The car really made a great impression, already from Free Practice 3. I think the whole package made the difference, it shows I was on the front row up to Turn 10... But then I lost power on input and I have to understand what happened, because I lost two tenths at that point. But I'm really encouraged by the improvements in the car. After the contact with George the car pulled a little to the right, but it should be okay”

Lewis Hamilton

Thus ends a qualifying made exciting also by the number of mistakes and twists that occurred due to the track not being in optimal conditions.

The race is set for tomorrow at 15.00 CET, for what can rightly be defined as one of the classics of the Formula 1 calendar.