Could either Fernando Alonso or Carlos Sainz take a famous Pole Position at home to deny one of the Red Bull drivers?
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Alex Albon, Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. Valtteri Bottas will be disappointed with himself for not getting out of Q1 whilst Kevin Magnussen had a shocking Qualifying for Haas. Alex Albon wasn’t quick enough to advance any further in Qualifying, but he absolutely destroyed his teammate whilst Charles Leclerc’s day was just awful. Logan Sargeant was the slowest driver in Q1 and he really needs to pick up the pace soon to avoid harsh criticism. Lewis Hamilton topped Q1 by over 3 tenths to McLaren’s Lando Norris!
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Sergio Perez, George Russell, Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Sergio Perez suffered another really tough day and if his championship challenge wasn’t already over, it’s getting closer and closer to ending which is a real shame. George Russell struggled as well as he only managed P12 in his Mercedes after a weird collision with his teammate whilst Zhou Guanyu can be satisfied with his efforts today. Nyck de Vries managed to out-qualify his Alpha Tauri teammate which was much needed for him as Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the second part of Qualifying. Max Verstappen topped Q2 by just 16 thousandths of a second to Lando Norris who was continuing to show really good pace in his McLaren.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, Max Verstappen pulled out a blisteringly quick 1:12.272 to take yet another Pole Position. Max once again showed that the combination of him and Red Bull is almost unstoppable. Spaniard Carlos Sainz pulled out a great lap to put his Ferrari on the front row whilst Lando Norris put in one of the performances of the season so far to get his McLaren into P3. Pierre Gasly showed real pace to qualify P4, but two lots of 3-place grid penalties means the Gasman’s only going to be starting 10th which is a massive shame for him. Lewis Hamilton will be disappointed that he couldn’t qualify higher than 5th whilst Lance Stroll picked up his biggest result this season in terms of significance. Esteban Ocon will be slightly disappointed with only P7 yet he will be the lead Alpine for tomorrow’s race whilst Nico Hulkenberg pulled out a brilliant qualifying to get his Haas into P8. Home favourite Fernando Alonso had his toughest day of the season as he only managed P9 whilst Oscar Piastri rounded out the top 10.
Starting Grid for the Spanish Grand Prix and my Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Carlos Sainz: 10
Lando Norris: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 7
Lance Stroll: 7
Esteban Ocon: 7
Nico Hulkenberg: 9
Fernando Alonso: 5
Oscar Piastri: 6
Pierre Gasly: 8
Sergio Perez: 3
George Russell: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 5
Nyck de Vries: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 3
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Kevin Magnussen: 1
Alex Albon: 2
Charles Leclerc: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the Spanish Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Carlos Sainz
Lando Norris
Esteban Ocon
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