2023 Spanish Grand Prix qualifying report and highlights: Verstappen storms to pole at Spanish GP ahead of Sainz and Norris after Leclerc fails in first quarter | Formula 1®
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stormed to his first-ever pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix by comfortably beating Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Verstappen, who has won the event in 2016 and 2022 but has never been at the front of the grid, converted his clean practice win into P1 for Sunday’s race with a dominant performance during the crucial hour.
After Verstappen had completed a first lap of 1:12.272 minutes in the pole shootout, he had the luxury of backing down on the second attempt and still finished the race almost half a second ahead of local heroes Sainz and Norris, who qualified as his closest rivals emerged in an action-packed session.
These included Charles Leclerc retiring from Q1 due to car complaints, Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull crashing at the second qualifying hurdle after a trip into the gravel trap and George Russell following a bizarre incident with teammate Lewis Hamilton also eliminated in Q2.
Pierre Gasly finished fourth with another strong showing for Alpine despite stewards’ investigations on him after getting in the way of rival cars, while Hamilton and Lance Stroll completed the top six.
Esteban Ocon took the other Alpine to seventh place, Nico Hulkenberg led Haas’ group in eighth, Fernando Alonso was ninth after failing to keep up with the rest of the field in qualifying three, and McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was in ninth place tenth place.
Perez followed his retirement from Q1 at Monaco with another impacted qualifying session as he went off the track at Turn 5 in the second qualifying session, while Russell was unable to finish above 12th after crashing on the start/finish straight when the Mercedes pairing met Hamilton, the ideal line collided.
Zhou Guanyu was the leading Alfa Romeo in 13th, while AlphaTauri teammates Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda recovered from some early spins to finish 14th and 15th respectively – the Dutchman continuing to build confidence after a patchy start to the season on.
Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen lacked speed compared to their respective Alfa Romeo and Haas team-mates and retired in the Q1 stage in 16th and 17th, followed by Leclerc who complained about problems with the car from the start .
Leclerc’s first Q1 exit since Monaco 2019 gave him a weak 19th on the grid between Williams duo Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. The latter failed to make an impression after mechanics worked hard to repair the car he had damaged in an accident during final practice.
Qualifying Highlights: 2023 Spanish Grand Prix
WHEN IT HAPPENED
Q1 – Plenty of spinning and Leclerc suffers a surprise exit
With continued rain during the final practice session and subsequent F2 support race, qualifying looked set to take place on a wet track surface, but a change in the weather – and persistently warm temperatures – meant the tarmac dried out quickly.
However, all eyes were still on the sky as more rain showers hit just before the start of the first qualifying session and a huge line of cars immediately set out to take a quieter lap on the slick tires – risking that there were showers during the session is around 30%.
Drama ensued almost immediately when Tsunoda lost control of his AlphaTauri in a wet patch and spun on the exit of Turn 11. Bottas and his teammate De Vries did the same a few minutes later, while Alonso went wide at the last corner and Albon retired at Turn 5.
A red flag was raised at this point, with gravel lying in several places on the track and in need of cleaning – Gasly had set the first best time with 1:14.618s ahead of his teammates Ocon, Stroll, Magnussen, Hamilton, Russell and others Alonso, when Hulkenberg lost a time for exceeding the track limits.
When action resumed on track, Verstappen set a time of 1m13.660s, faster than his pace-setting FP3 time from the start. Piastri was second ahead of Ocon, Zhou and Sainz, who survived a near miss as he approached a slow-moving Gasly in the penultimate corner, an incident which will be investigated after qualifying.
Meanwhile, De Vries made another spin out of Turn 11 and lamented, “What am I doing wrong?” but the rookie pulled himself together the next time and jumped out of the drop zone, leaving Tsunoda, Russell, Albon, Sargeant and Leclerc are in danger with six minutes to go.
Many drivers had moments as qualifying kicked off amid wet spots on the track
“Something’s wrong with my butt guys,” Leclerc reported after a slip at Turn 1 as the Monegasque put pressure on the scales on his return to the pits before a total -or-nothing final run.
However, things were only going to get worse for last year’s pole-sitter as he failed to make the improvement en route to the checkered flag and ended up a barely credible 19th place, just ahead of Williams rookie Sargeant, who was trailing the field after his crash in FP3.
At the other end of the timesheets, a flurry of improvements in increasingly improving conditions saw Hamilton prevail with a time of 1’12.937, just under four tenths ahead of Norris and his teammate Russell, followed by Sainz, Hulkenberg and Alpine pair Ocon and Gasly, De Vries, Verstappen – another who lost time behind Gasly – and Zhou.
Piastri crashed down to 11th in the leaderboard but still made it safely into Q2 in 11th, along with the Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll, Tsunoda and Perez, who was lucky not like Leclerc in the other Red Bull for to provide another surprise in Q1.
Bottas and Magnussen were unable to follow their teammates through to the second qualifying session and were eliminated in 16th and 17th place. Albon was the other rider to drop out of the first qualifying hurdle alongside the aforementioned Leclerc and Sargeant.
Eliminated: Bottas, Magnussen, Albon, Leclerc, Sargeant
Leclerc was surprisingly eliminated in the first qualifying phase
Q2 – Perez is eliminated as the Mercedes drivers collide
As the second qualifying session began, Verstappen picked up where he left off, setting a time of 1m12.760s on a set of fresh soft tyres. Perez trailed him in second place, more than eight tenths back, but had completed his first timed attempt on used rubber.
After an aborted lap, Hamilton lit up on the timing screens and finished second, 0.239s off Verstappen. Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Russell and Gasly also slotted in between the Red Bulls and Sainz and Zhou made the final passes for Q3.
That left Norris, Piastri, De Vries, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg in the drop zone ahead of the final lap sequence where Perez ran too far at Turn 5, sliding through the gravel trap and leaving him with a fight for pole in the shootout.
Verstappen didn’t have to concede again as he secured top spot again, finishing just ahead of Norris and Sainz while Hamilton led the Mercedes charge after a strange run-in with team-mate Russell caused the Silver Arrows’ wheels to slam on the main axle straight ahead – the seven-time world champion suffered damage to the front wing.
Ocon, Piastri, Stroll and Alonso’s Aston Martins, Gasly and Hulkenberg were the last drivers to make it into Q3, while Perez retired after his visit to the gravel trap and lamented another impaired qualifying after his Q1 accident in Monaco.
Russell apologized over the radio for missing the cut and having to settle for 12th place due to the added drama of the team’s internal clash with Hamilton, while the Alfa Romeo Zhou and AlphaTauri duo of De Vries and Tsunoda were in Q2 segment brought up the rear.
Eliminated: Perez, Russell, Zhou, De Vries, Tsunoda
Red Bull’s Perez and Mercedes’ Russell retired in Q2
Q3 – Verstappen storms the field in pole shootout
Verstappen started the third quarter with another smashing performance on another set of soft tyres, clocking a 1m12.272s, almost a second ahead of his nearest rival Hamilton, while Hulkenberg used his lone shootout run to finish third.
Alonso also managed a single flying lap and improved to P4 before a spate of late laps rocked the timesheets, but there should be no change at the top as Verstappen took his fourth pole of the season without completing a second lap must.
“That last lap was going to be very nice,” Verstappen commented over the radio, before being told “it’s not worth taking the last sector” on a revised layout that now features a fast final corner that puts a lot of stress on the track brings tires.
Taking advantage of the surprise eliminations in Q1 and Q2, Sainz and Norris finished second and third respectively, followed by Gasly – on his way to the stewards over the blocking incidents with Sainz and Verstappen – Hamilton and Stroll.
Ocon provided two Alpines in the top 10, followed by Hulkenberg, Alonso – who has a tough challenge ahead of his adoring home fans to get on the podium – and Piastri, with the top 10 runners just a little over a second behind lay.
No one could stop Verstappen as he took his fourth pole of the season
key quote
“The car was really good,” said pole setter Verstappen. “Qualifying started a bit difficult due to the weather, but in the third quarter the car was on track. It was a lot of fun driving the car today. I love the track, I love the fans and I have some great memories here.”
What’s next
The 2023 Spanish Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 15:00 local time on Sunday. Go to RACE HUB to find out how to follow the action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.