Several favorites experience a fiasco, “pole-position” in Spain is won by Verstappen

Max Verstappen | Photo: “Red Bull”

Today, the qualification of the seventh stage of the Formula One (F-1) season took place in Spain. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the champion of the last two seasons, won his fourth pole position this year. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took second place, while Lando Norris (McLaren) completed the top three.

MAX VERSTAPPEN TAKES POLE! #SpanishGP #F1 @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/OoY0nkKQwf

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 3, 2023

In a relatively unpredictable qualifying that was initially slightly affected by the rain, Verstappen put in a convincing performance, completing the decisive section in one minute and 12.272 seconds, 0.462 seconds ahead of nearest rival Sainz. It was the best qualifying of the season for both the Ferrari driver and third-place finisher Norris. Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Nico Hilkenberg (Haas), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin”) and Oskar Piastri (“McLaren”).

Meanwhile, several surprises happened already in the first two parts of the qualification. Ferrari driver Charles Leclair experienced a major fiasco, finishing only 19th in the first qualifying session, while Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and George Russell (Mercedes) did not make it through the second session and will start tomorrow only from the sixth row, or from Items 11 and 12.

After the first 18 minutes, Valtteri Bottas (“Alfa Romeo”), Kevin Magnussen (“Haas”), as well as the two “Williams” pilots Alexander Albon and Logan Sargent could leave their formulas together with LeClair. In the second session, in addition to the already mentioned Perez and Russell, Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), Nick De Vries and Yuki Tsunoda (both – AlphaTauri) also retired.

Spanish Grand Prix qualification

Overall rating of the pilots

Constructors’ Cup