Barcelona Grand Prix: Pole for Russell
Sunny. Dry. Air +31°C, track +51°C
Qualifying in Barcelona is the key session of the weekend; here the race result depends even more on the starting position than in Monaco, but not because overtaking is impossible on the Spanish track.
Overtaking is possible, but the demanding track during qualifying sorts the cars by speed so accurately that their order hardly changes during the race.
Pirelli brought compounds one step softer than a year ago – C2, C3, and C4 in Hard, Medium, and Soft roles.
In the first session, Ocon and Berman went out on Medium, while the others immediately used Soft. In the hot weather, the tires were good for one fast lap. Both Williams drivers ended up in the gravel trap, and then Stroll had to get out of it, but Lance managed.
Hamilton showed the best time – 1:15.625, with Ocon, Albon, Perez, Bottas, Stroll, and Alonso eliminated from further contention.
In the second session, everyone went out on Soft. Russell topped the protocol with 1:15.228 – and this result remained the best. Hulkenberg had his lap time canceled due to going off track, and then a black-and-white flag was shown.
Lindblad, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Gasly, Berman, and Sainz did not make it to the final.
In the final, the battle continued for five minutes, then Charles Leclerc went off track and crashed into the barrier. The car started to spin in the fourth corner; he tried to catch it but ended up in the gravel.
Red flags appeared. In the final of the second qualifying session in a row – just like in Monaco – Leclerc found himself out of the action. The car was evacuated. Charles was unharmed.
George Russell was the fastest – 1:15.145, then improved to 1:14.679, and maintained the lead. It seemed that the Mercedes drivers would occupy the entire front row, but Hamilton broke up that pair, conceding pole by 64 thousandths.
Kimi Antonelli qualified third, showing – it's hard to believe – the worst result of the season. The top three were separated by three tenths.
Qualifying results
Driver
Team
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
No.
Time
Lap
No.
Time
Lap
No.
Time
Lap
1. G. Russell
Mercedes
2
1:15.717
3
1
1:15.228
3
1
1:14.679
7
2. L. Hamilton
Ferrari
1
1:15.625
3
5
1:15.418
3
2
1:14.743
8
3. K. Antonelli
Mercedes
4
1:15.977
3
3
1:15.295
3
3
1:14.998
8
4. L. Norris
McLaren
7
1:16.287
3
4
1:15.361
6
4
1:15.001
5
5. M. Verstappen
Red Bull
8
1:16.352
3
6
1:15.484
3
5
1:15.021
6
6. A. Hajar
Red Bull
10
1:16.427
3
9
1:15.754
3
6
1:15.077
8
7. O. Piastri
McLaren
6
1:16.138
3
7
1:15.518
6
7
1:15.090
6
8. L. Lawson
Racing Bulls
15
1:16.673
3
8
1:15.585
6
8
1:16.542
5
9. N. Hulkenberg
Audi
5
1:16.066
6
10
1:15.768
6
9
1:16.657
5
10. C. Leclerc
Ferrari
3
1:15.964
3
2
1:15.281
3
10
–
2
11. A. Lindblad
Racing Bulls
9
1:16.425
3
11
1:15.840
5
12. G. Bortoleto
Audi
14
1:16.616
3
12
1:16.001
6
13. F. Colapinto
Alpine
12
1:16.590
6
13
1:16.191
6
14. P. Gasly
Alpine
13
1:16.599
6
14
1:16.261
6
15. O. Berman
Haas
11
1:16.571
9
15
1:16.389
6
16. K. Sainz
Williams
16
1:16.881
9
16
1:17.827
6
17. E. Ocon
Haas
17
1:17.073
9
18. A. Albon
Williams
18
1:17.424
9
19. S. Perez
Cadillac
19
1:17.545
6
20. V. Bottas
Cadillac
20
1:17.757
9
21. L. Stroll
Aston Martin
21
1:18.758
8
22. F. Alonso
Aston Martin
22
1:18.815
8
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