Charles Leclerc is the first new driver in seven years to start the Spanish GP from pole position, beating Max Verstappen to the coveted grid slot.
The Ferrari driver left it to the last lap, spinning on his first run in Q3 which meant he did not set a time, Verstappen on provisional pole.
But while Leclerc found pace, and put in a clean lap on his second run, Verstappen reported “no power” as he dropped to second place, unable to defend P1.
Carlos Sainz will start his home race from third, joined on the second row by George Russell, who bagged Mercedes’ best qualifying of this season.
POLE for @Charles_Leclerc! 👏👏👏 #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/yerg6UaI8O
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022
Track limits, simply put the white line marks the edge of the track, were in play with Yuki Tsunoda losing his opening time as he ran wide at Turn 12.
Red Bull played the slipstream game with Sergio Perez giving Max Verstappen a tow down the back straight, the Dutchman clocking a 1:20.091.
But that wasn’t enough to hold off the Ferraris, Charles Leclerc quickest with a 1:19.861 and Carlos Sainz 0.031s off his team-mate’s pace. The Mercedes driver were fourth and fifth with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
It was not a good qualifying session for the upgraded Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel out in 16th place with Lance Stroll P18. They were split by Fernando Alonso with Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi also not making it through.
Traffic at the end caught out Alonso, the Spaniard trying to jump the queue on his out-lap only to be blocked by Lando Norris.
Turns out the Astons are still quite different to the Red Bulls…#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/A14nNHjRNI
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) May 21, 2022
As the track temperature crept up to 47’C, Mercedes had the better early pace in Q2 with Russell’s 1:19.470 putting him 0.3s ahead of Hamilton. His lap time was the fastest of the weekend up to that point.
Perez was third ahead of Leclerc, the
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