Russell takes pole position at Barcelona, Hamilton on front row
Under the powerful Spanish sun, George Russell proved upbeat after topping qualifying and securing pole for the Grand Prix at Barcelona. Lewis Hamilton was a similarly happy chap as second place will put him right in between the Mercedes duo for the race start.
Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the well known Barcelona circuit kicked off with Ocon out first and with the first time on the board. Just like his teammate, the Haas driver opted for medium tyres while the Williams duo that follewed them out were immediately on the softs.
Alonso and Stroll were out next with Alonso gladly taking the time to wave to the crowd as he left the pitlane.
When the Astons had completed their laps, the big guns slowly came into action, one y one leaving the pitlane. Verstappen was among the first, going fastest with 10 minutes left of the clock. 2 minutes later Verstappen was only 5th anymore with the Mercedes and Ferraris all going faster, Hamilton notably taking top spot ahead of Russell and Leclerc.
The McLaren drivers slotted into 5th and 6th a minute later.
For the front runners that immediately meant the end of the session given the high degradation on the softs. With no need to burn another set, the top 10 at the time remained in the garage, enabling others to worry less about traffic.
In the dying minutes it was mainly Haas who did the best job, initially pushing both Williams out. Bearman at the end made it through while Ocon was the fastest to be eliminated. Sadly for home hero Alonso, the Spaniard didn't have the greatest session and ended up 22nd, first the first time in more than 40 qualifying sessions, outqualified by his team mate, and required to start his home race from the back of the grid.
The Spanish crowd still had Sainz to look forward to into Q2.
The Alpine duo kicked of the second part of qualifying but predictably their times were soon imrproved upon. First by Hulkenberg, but the German's lap was quickly deleted for track limits.
4 minutes into the session there was already a clear picture as the big teams chose to take the track all at the same time. Russell emerged on top, less than a tenth faster than Leclerc. Antonelli sat in third, than Hamilton, the Red Bull duo and Lindblad.
The McLaren duo continued to struggle somewhat, unable to replicate the pace displayed on Friday. Today in Q2, their first laps were good enough only for 8th (Norris) and 10th (Piastri). Following up on that, both papaya drivers went out again quickly. Piastri for example started his second attempt with 2:40 left on the clock, a time when others at risk of dropping out were will still leaving the pits.
Both managed decent improvements, good for 4th for Norris and 7th for Piastri. The next driver crossing the finish line was Hulkenberg who moved up into 10th and thereby immediately securing himself of a spot in Q3 as improvements for others coming behind him were all insufficient to better Hulkenberg's effort.
The final part of qualifying saw teams wait a bit to get out, knowing they would be doing a single flying lap per set so there was plenty of time left in the session. When it did get started, Verstappen was out first. Piastri was next and topped Verstappen's time just before the session got red flagged.
Leclerc had meanwhile lost grip at the rear of his Ferrari in Turn 4. The Monegasque tried to correct it but that sent him straight into the tyre barrier on the outside of the corner, forcing him out of qualifying and relegating him to 10th on tomorrow's starting grid.
After a stoppage of approximately 10 minutes the pit exit light switched to green, enabling Antonelli to kick it off after waiting at the end of the pitlane for several minutes. Antonelli was immediately two tenths off in the first sector and despite clawing a little bit back he ended up behind Piastri and Verstappen's earlier times.
Russell on the other hand aced sector two once again and jumped atop the timing sheet. Hadjar was only 5th and Hamilton 6th. Norris, Lawson and Hulkenberg went for a single flying lap only and were therefore watching this from their cockpit inside the garages.
Two minutes from the end everybody but Leclerc was out on track, preparing for that ultimate effort.
Antonelli was again the first to start a lap, followed by Russell and Norris.
Antonelli improved and took provisional pole, but three purple sectors got Russell into provisional pole again. Lando Norris also had a great second sector but was fourth only after Hamilton, as the last one out on track, secured second place on the grid, confirming his and Ferraris seemingly improved form.
