Piastri, McLaren dominate Spanish GP qualifying

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren front-row lockout ahead of teammate Lando Norris for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix after dominating qualifying in Barcelona.

Piastri controlled the grid-setting hour from the beginning, topping Q1 and Q2 on his way to pole position, but Norris threatened an upset after the first runs of Q3 by pinching top spot by just 0.017s. The Briton had positioned himself perfectly to pick up a limited slipstream out of the final two corners and onto the front straight to seize a small but decisive advantage in the first sector that got him ahead.

“Cheeky,” Piastri retorted over team radio. But the Australian would get the last lap via a sizzling final lap for which Norris had no response.

Norris set a purple first sector with his second lap, but Piastri, immediately behind him on the road, took it back immediately. He then failed to improve with his final two sectors, leaving the door wide open for Piastri to regain the advantage.

Crossing the line in 1m11.546s, the Australian took his fourth pole of the season by a comfortable 0.209s, the largest pole margin of the season.

“Very happy,” he said. “It’s been a good weekend so far. “The car has been mega and I’ve been able to put in some good laps as well. Thank you to the team for putting in so much hard work.

“It all just came to me in the first half of the lap, and the second half I could just about hang on. It wasn’t the perfect lap, but I think around here with the tires going off so much through the lap it’s very tough to do that.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done today. We’re starting from the best spot. I can’t thank the team enough, and hopefully we can have some fun tomorrow.”

Though Norris fumbled his final lap, he conceded Piastri has been the stronger driver so far this weekend.

“Oscar drove very well,” he said. “I think the pace is definitely there, just a couple of little mistakes."

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Max Verstappen will start third but was never in pole contention, the Dutchman ending the day 0.302s off the pace despite Friday hopes that the Red Bull Racing car was in a good place to challenge for top spot.

“I think we were lacking all weekend compared to them [McLaren]. but I think we executed well,” he said. “I think third position is where we more or less should be, even though it’s quite close behind.”

George Russell set an identical time to Verstappen but qualified fourth after having set the lap second.

Lewis Hamilton was Ferrari’s surprise best performer in fifth, but the Briton was 0.499s off the pace, He’s set to share the third row with his Mercedes successor, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who qualified ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari.

Pierre Gasly will line up eighth for Alpine ahead of Isack Hadjar in the Frenchman’s fifth Q3 appearance of the year, while Fernando Alonso will start 10th in his third consecutive top-10 appearance.

Alex Albon was only 0.03s short of a spot in Q3, his 11th place beyond Williams’s expectations at a track around which the team has struggled in recent history. The Thai driver was frustrated nonetheless for encountering a slow-moving Oliver Bearman in the final sector, for which he accused the Haas driver of dirty tactics to ensure he couldn’t make it through to the top 10.

Gabriel Bortoleto qualified a career-best 12th for Sauber ahead Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll – who will see the stewards after the session over an alleged failure to follow instructions regarding the driver weigh-in – and Bearman, who had used up all his new soft tires in Q1 and was therefore powerless to qualify higher than 15th.

Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver eliminated from Q1 ahead of Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz, whose 18th place will set him up for his lowest ever start at his home grand prix.

Franco Colapinto was ahead of teammate Gasly on the time sheet ahead of the final runs of the session when a technical problem prevented the Argentine from leaving pit lane, leaving him awkwardly stuck in the fast lane. After queuing cars undertook the stricken Alpine from the slow lane, Colapinto was able to roll out of the way to pit exit before jumping out of the car.

Yuki Tsunoda bombed out of qualifying 20th and last for Red Bull Racing. The Japanese driver has been struggling all weekend, and though he felt his lap was clean, he ended up 0.587s behind teammate Verstappen in Q1 and 0.246s short of a Q2 berth.

The only potentially mitigating factor to Tsunoda’s underperformance is possible floor damage picked up over the curbs exiting the final corner preparing for his first lap of the session, him having asked the team immediately to check the underside of his car.