Lando Norris took his second profession pole place on Saturday on the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, main Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Norris, who hadn’t secured a pole place since Sochi in 2021, trailed Verstappen after the primary makes an attempt in Q3. However an outstanding closing time of 1:11.383 seconds noticed him edge out the Oracle Purple Bull Racing driver by a mere two-hundredths of a second.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Workforce translated their promising apply tempo into robust qualifying outcomes. Hamilton outperformed teammate George Russell for simply the second time this season, grabbing third on the grid for Sunday’s race, with Russell proper behind in fourth.
Charles Leclerc and native favorite Carlos Sainz Jr. settled for fifth and sixth, respectively, in one other intently contested session on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Pierre Gasly impressed with a stellar efficiency, taking seventh place for BWT Alpine F1 Workforce.
Sergio Pérez, regardless of ending eighth in his Purple Bull, will begin three positions decrease on account of a penalty from Montreal. This promotes Esteban Ocon within the different Alpine automotive and McLaren F1 Workforce’s Oscar Piastri, who had a difficult Q3 and couldn’t set a time.
Lando Norris — McLaren F1 Workforce — 1st
“I’m tremendous, tremendous blissful. We’ve been near the entrance all weekend, however wanted to have an ideal lap, and I feel we delivered that. We’ve been fast for the final two months, and we’ve in all probability missed a pole by not having that excellent lap. At present, for the ultimate run, we made a couple of adjustments, discovered some locations to make tiny enhancements and all of it labored out.
“We’re in an important place to transform pole right into a victory nevertheless it’s going to be extremely robust towards Max, towards Lewis and everybody behind them – however we’ve been robust since Miami, we’re right here to win, and that’s undoubtedly the goal.”
Max Verstappen — Oracle Purple Bull Racing — 2nd
“We made some good arrange adjustments going into qualifying and the automotive was loads higher. I feel we actually maximised that and the automotive felt extra linked and good to drive. We have been robust into the excessive pace and I felt actually comfy there and the excessive pace corners have been actually fast.
“We’ve got had a clear weekend and have been high quality tuning the automotive all through the week. Through the apply session I felt like we weren’t the quickest on the market however qualifying felt actually good. McLaren have been fast the entire weekend and we’ve been slightly bit behind them, so we have to have a look at what we will do to optimise the efficiency tomorrow and be extra aggressive.
“Trying to tomorrow, I feel it will likely be very tight; it will likely be about how we strategy the tyres, particularly with the excessive degradation. It is going to be an in depth and thrilling race tomorrow. We have to analyse a couple of issues however qualifying has been good so we will intention to battle for the win.”
Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Workforce — third
“That is one other encouraging consequence for us as a staff. Everybody has been working so laborious to carry updates and enhancements to the automotive, making incremental good points and small steps over the season to date. We’re beginning to change into extra constant too and that’s large for us. That’s down to each member of the staff placing within the additional hours and I wish to say a giant thanks to them.
“The automotive is getting extra gratifying to drive. At present, the hole was three tenths, however I feel in actuality it was much less as we didn’t get every little thing out of the automotive on that final lap.”
“I’m going into tomorrow targeted on attempting to battle for the win. We’re in a superb beginning spot with that future down to show one. Degradation will even play a key position tomorrow and I feel our lengthy runs in apply appeared robust in that respect. I hope that interprets into Sunday and we will have a superb afternoon.”
George Russell — Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Workforce — 4th
“The automotive has been feeling nice this weekend. Our tempo was robust all through apply, and we felt assured going into Qualifying. A second-row lock-out is an honest consequence however the hole to Norris and Verstappen was barely greater than we anticipated. Each mine and Lewis set good laps, however I don’t suppose both of us felt that we maximised them.
“Getting the tyres completely within the window round a difficult monitor like that is so tough. I feel these forward managed to try this and possibly we didn’t at present.
“On a circuit like this, the last word race tempo of a automotive will all the time win out. I feel our race tempo appeared good all through the weekend to date and I hope we will battle for the rostrum and doubtlessly victory. The latest steps we’ve taken with the automotive are clearly serving to and we’re trying ahead to constructing on that momentum.”
Charles Leclerc — Scuderia Ferrari — fifth
“It’s a bit disappointing, as a result of we have been farther from pole than we anticipated. Then again, my staff and I did a superb job altering the set-up of the automotive fully from yesterday to at present, which helped me to search out the appropriate feeling once more.
“Nevertheless, the tempo simply was not there. Our goal shall be a podium and if the climate is hard, we are going to take any alternative to go for one thing even higher.”
Carlos Sainz Jr — Scuderia Ferrari — sixth
“Not a straightforward qualifying. I actually suppose our laps have been good, however we have been clearly lacking slightly additional at present to be additional up the order. Tomorrow nevertheless, I feel we might have an open race.
“We’d like a clean begin and with good methods we will make up some locations and hopefully battle for a podium, which might be the right reward for all of the tifosi that got here right here to help us. We’ll do our greatest!”
Pierre Gasly — BWT Alpine F1 Workforce — seventh
“It’s a optimistic staff consequence at present with each automobiles in Q3 for the primary time this season. We knew yesterday throughout Follow that there have been some good indicators however we have been barely cautious as we didn’t absolutely know the efficiency of others. Now, in seventh place, we confirmed that we have been aggressive and we ended only one and a half tenths from the highest three.
“We’ve had tough moments this 12 months, which we’ve and can proceed to study from, and it’s equally as vital for us to know why we’ve had a rise in efficiency degree like at present.
“The automotive felt good, I felt like we maximised every little thing and there are all the time issues we will enhance. Tomorrow shall be a difficult race and it appears just like the situations may very well be totally different once more. We’ve got put ourselves in an important place to safe one other good staff consequence.”
Sergio Pérez — Oracle Purple Bull Racing — eighth (will begin eleventh on account of 3 place grid penalty)
“I’m not pleased with my place at present, the goal was to be greater up. It was a tough qualifying, we struggled initially and we burned via the tyres shortly sadly, which meant we weren’t in a position to extract the utmost out of it.
“My closing lap wasn’t as clear because it wanted to be in Q3, I didn’t have sufficient of a rhythm or a tempo. We wanted extra of a development via the session and we didn’t have that, we are going to work laborious to have that for the race. We’ve got made some good adjustments so we must be heading in the right direction for Sunday.
“It is going to be a tough race from P11 with the grid penalty and it will likely be essential to be affected person and get the appropriate alternatives, particularly if it’s moist as a result of something can occur. We’ve got to be able to be on the market when it issues. Hopefully we’re in a position to safe some good factors and take them away from our rivals.”
Esteban Ocon — BWT Alpine F1 Workforce — ninth (will begin eighth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“It is a good consequence with each automobiles in Q3 for the primary time this season. It’s one thing we didn’t actually see occurring coming into the weekend and is barely sudden given we didn’t carry any upgrades to this occasion.
“The automotive was aggressive and carried out effectively straight out of the blocks on Friday and that carried over to at present. We had a difficult Free Follow 3 within the scorching situations however I feel the cloud cowl helped throughout Qualifying.
“We have to analyse and perceive why we’re fast right here, in these situations at this explicit monitor. Hopefully we will not less than keep place tomorrow and hold the opposite automobiles behind us and battle for factors. It is going to be a protracted race and this monitor is especially laborious on tyres, so there will even be some degradation to take care of within the race.”
Oscar Piastri — McLaren F1 Workforce — tenth (will begin ninth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“Not one of the best Qualifying, we simply struggled with the steadiness of the automotive the entire method via. Clearly the automotive has tempo so we’ll dig into what went fallacious and work out how we will battle again tomorrow. At present was simply a kind of days, sadly.”
Fernando Alonso — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Workforce — eleventh (will begin tenth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“It was very shut in Qualifying at present with only a few tenths between a number of automobiles. We have been barely pessimistic heading into the session, so I feel we’ve to be fairly happy with tenth place for tomorrow’s race following Sergio’s [Perez] penalty.
“The help from the house followers has been wonderful and I’m very grateful for this. Whereas we’d like to be combating for one thing extra, we’ll see what we will do tomorrow beginning inside the highest ten and attempt to maximise our race to attain some factors.”
Valtteri Bottas — Stake F1 Workforce Kick Sauber — twelfth
“It’s good to see each automobiles moving into Q2: the sensation on monitor was good at present, and the weekend has been fairly respectable to date. We undoubtedly have a greater automotive this weekend in comparison with earlier occasions, I’ve felt assured with all of it weekend to date; the brand new elements we’ve introduced have certainly performed their position as effectively, permitting us to make a small, however concrete step.
“I feel this consequence was the utmost we might obtain at present, that’s the place we’re with our tempo in the intervening time – and it’s not that removed from Q3 both, which is unquestionably encouraging.
“I reckon that is one of the best likelihood at factors we’ve had this season to date, however the job is clearly solely midway completed: we should be on the high of our recreation tomorrow, to transform this place into an precise shot on the high ten.”
Nico Hulkenberg — MoneyGram Haas F1 Workforce — thirteenth
“I really feel like I left nothing on the market, produced some clear laps, and I feel this was our final tempo, that’s the image at present. The automotive has been okay, but in addition tough at instances, however we nonetheless have to work on the high-speed steadiness, and common grip.
“I feel on excessive gas, all of the weaknesses do get uncovered much more, however everyone seems to be in the identical boat. I anticipate an in depth race tomorrow and doubtless some DRS trains.”
Lance Stroll — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Workforce — 14th
“We knew this was going to be a tricky Qualifying, so I feel two automobiles in Q2 was essentially the most that was attainable at present. The automotive is simply missing the tempo to battle with the highest groups on this monitor. We acquired caught in slightly little bit of visitors in Q1, however we selected to go early and had a reasonably clear monitor for my closing Q2 run.
“Our future tempo appears slightly stronger than our qualifying tempo, so we’ll see what we will do within the race tomorrow.”
Guanyu Zhou — Stake F1 Workforce Kick Sauber — fifteenth
“It feels actually good to have made it again into Q2 at present however, whereas it is a good consequence, it’s equally vital for me that the sensation within the automotive and my confidence are again. We knew that getting out of Q2 may be robust since we already used a brand new set of tyres in Q1, forcing us to start out on used softs earlier than switching to a brand new set., however we will’t complain with the ultimate end result.
“We took a step again and made a little bit of a reset this weekend: the previous couple of races had been robust, so we opted for some important adjustments, together with swapping my chassis – and it appears like issues are coming collectively significantly better now.
“I’m additionally blissful to see that we’ve made a step ahead and have been a lot faster as a staff this weekend: we’ll proceed working laborious to show these higher grid positions into a superb consequence tomorrow, though we all know that the highest ten appears very robust in the intervening time.”
Kevin Magnussen — MoneyGram Haas F1 Workforce — sixteenth
“We knew qualifying was going to be shut, it’s essential get every little thing out of it today on this tight subject. For those who miss your greatest efficiency by even one tenth, you pay for it massively. It wasn’t a clear session once more for us at present, there was visitors. We’d have been via with slightly bit extra tempo, and it’s essential have one thing within the financial institution when these issues occur.
We’re P16 however we appear to have an honest race automotive, so I feel we will battle from there tomorrow if we decide a couple of off and get into a superb race from there.”
Yuki Tsunoda — Visa Money App RB — seventeenth
“We’ve been scuffling with tempo this weekend and tried a number of issues to try to enhance, and ultimately, I felt higher in qualifying than in Free Follow. A minimum of I’m pleased with my lap and really feel like I used to be in a position to maximise the present package deal.
“The final races have been going effectively and even when it’s a disgrace, I feel it’s vital that we’re dealing with this tougher second collectively as a staff. It’s a superb alternative to study from our struggles and develop as a staff. An important factor is to stay optimistic, and we actually will.”
Daniel Ricciardo — Visa Money App RB — 18th
“It’s a tough weekend. We’ve got lots of new elements on the automotive, and we nonetheless want to know one of the best ways to make them work. After yesterday, once we have been nonetheless discovering a little bit of steadiness, we made fairly huge adjustments in a single day and at present in qualifying the automotive felt way more collectively.
“We made progress by way of feeling and steadiness, however sadly, we’re nonetheless in a tricky spot by way of the stopwatch. Being out of Q1 with each automobiles, particularly utilizing three units of soppy every, exhibits that in the intervening time, we don’t have the tempo. There’s nonetheless extra to search out and we’ll hold chipping away.
“Tomorrow goes to come back round fast, however we’ve a couple of races forward of us with related monitor traits, so we clearly want to determine collectively the issues we’re lacking.”
Alex Albon — Williams Racing — nineteenth
“We knew that FP3 wouldn’t be consultant, though we end Qualifying a bit disillusioned. The lengthy corners at this monitor haven’t suited us for the previous few years, however the automotive felt good at present and we’ve made an enormous step in comparison with final 12 months.
“There was possibly a nook or two the place I might’ve squeezed extra out of the automotive, nevertheless it felt good general, and I feel highlights how robust the midfield is at this stage of the season. It’s very shut on the market so we’ll see what alternatives come our method tomorrow.”
Logan Sargeant — Williams Racing — twentieth
“Sadly, the automobiles weren’t the identical spec ultimately. The flooring that we’ve introduced are underperforming which is a disgrace. We’ve been working laborious all weekend by attempting to alter issues to get the flooring to work as they need to.
It was barely higher in Qualifying than it was in FP3. We have to perceive the issue and get it fastened for the longer term. It’s not nice for me or the staff and none of us wish to be on this place. We’ll hold combating irrespective of the scenario.”
