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 remaining time of 1:11.383 seconds noticed him edge out the Oracle Pink Bull Racing driver by a mere two-hundredths of a second.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Workforce translated their promising follow 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 Pink Bull, will begin three positions decrease as a result 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 completely satisfied. We’ve been near the entrance all weekend, however wanted to have an ideal lap, and I believe 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 good lap. In the present day, for the ultimate run, we made a couple of modifications, discovered some locations to make tiny enhancements and all of it labored out.
“We’re in a fantastic place to transform pole right into a victory however it’s going to be extremely powerful towards Max, towards Lewis and everybody behind them – however we’ve been robust since Miami, we’re right here to win, and that’s positively the goal.”
Max Verstappen — Oracle Pink Bull Racing — 2nd
“We made some good arrange modifications going into qualifying and the automotive was so much higher. I believe we actually maximised that and the automotive felt extra related and good to drive. We had been robust into the excessive pace and I felt actually snug there and the excessive pace corners had been actually fast.
“We now have had a clear weekend and have been high quality tuning the automotive all through the week. In the course of the follow session I felt like we weren’t the quickest on the market however qualifying felt actually good. McLaren had been fast the entire weekend and we’ve been a little bit bit behind them, so we have to take a look at what we will do to optimise the efficiency tomorrow and be extra aggressive.
“Trying to tomorrow, I believe it will likely be very tight; it will likely be about how we strategy the tyres, particularly with the excessive degradation. It will likely be a detailed and thrilling race tomorrow. We have to analyse a couple of issues however qualifying has been good so we will goal 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 exhausting to carry updates and enhancements to the automotive, making incremental positive factors and small steps over the season to this point. We’re beginning to turn out to be extra constant too and that’s big for us. That’s down to each member of the staff placing within the additional hours and I wish to say an enormous thanks to them.
“The automotive is getting extra satisfying to drive. In the present day, the hole was three tenths, however I believe in actuality it was much less as we didn’t get all the things out of the automotive on that final lap.”
“I’m going into tomorrow centered on making an attempt to battle for the win. We’re in a superb beginning spot with that long term down to show one. Degradation can even play a key position tomorrow and I believe our lengthy runs in follow seemed 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 follow, 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 assume 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 believe these forward managed to try this and perhaps we didn’t right now.
“On a circuit like this, the final word race tempo of a automotive will at all times win out. I believe our race tempo seemed good all through the weekend to this point and I hope we will battle for the rostrum and doubtlessly victory. The current 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 had 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 right now, which helped me to search out the precise feeling once more.
“Nevertheless, the tempo simply was not there. Our goal shall be a podium and if the climate is difficult, we are going to take any alternative to go for one thing even higher.”
Carlos Sainz Jr — Scuderia Ferrari — sixth
“Not a simple qualifying. I actually assume our laps had been good, however we had been clearly lacking a little bit additional right now to be additional up the order. Tomorrow nevertheless, I believe we may 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 proper reward for all of the tifosi that got here right here to assist us. We’ll do our greatest!”
Pierre Gasly — BWT Alpine F1 Workforce — seventh
“It’s a constructive staff consequence right now with each vehicles in Q3 for the primary time this season. We knew yesterday throughout Follow that there have been some good indicators however we had been barely cautious as we didn’t absolutely know the efficiency of others. Now, in seventh place, we confirmed that we had 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 essential for us to grasp why we’ve had a rise in efficiency degree like right now.
“The automotive felt good, I felt like we maximised all the things and there are at all times issues we will enhance. Tomorrow shall be a difficult race and it seems to be just like the situations might be totally different once more. We now have put ourselves in a fantastic place to safe one other good staff consequence.”
Sergio Pérez — Oracle Pink Bull Racing — eighth (will begin eleventh as a result of 3 place grid penalty)
“I’m not pleased with my place right now, the goal was to be increased up. It was a tough qualifying, we struggled initially and we burned by means of the tyres rapidly sadly, which meant we weren’t capable of extract the utmost out of it.
“My remaining lap wasn’t as clear because it wanted to be in Q3, I didn’t have sufficient of a rhythm or a tempo. We would have liked extra of a development by means of the session and we didn’t have that, we are going to work exhausting to have that for the race. We now have made some good modifications so we needs to be heading in the right direction for Sunday.
“It will likely be a tough race from P11 with the grid penalty and it will likely be essential to be affected person and get the precise alternatives, particularly if it’s moist as a result of something can occur. We now have to be able to be on the market when it issues. Hopefully we’re capable of safe some good factors and take them away from our rivals.”
Esteban Ocon — BWT Alpine F1 Workforce — ninth (will begin eighth as a result of Pérez’s penalty)
“It is a good consequence with each vehicles in Q3 for the primary time this season. It’s one thing we didn’t actually see taking place coming into the weekend and is barely surprising 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 right now. We had a difficult Free Follow 3 within the sizzling situations however I believe 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 at the very least preserve place tomorrow and hold the opposite vehicles behind us and battle for factors. It will likely be a protracted race and this monitor is especially exhausting on tyres, so there can even be some degradation to deal with within the race.”
Oscar Piastri — McLaren F1 Workforce — tenth (will begin ninth as a result of Pérez’s penalty)
“Not one of the best Qualifying, we simply struggled with the steadiness of the automotive the entire manner by means of. Clearly the automotive has tempo so we’ll dig into what went mistaken and work out how we will battle again tomorrow. In the present day was simply a type of days, sadly.”
Fernando Alonso — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Workforce — eleventh (will begin tenth as a result of Pérez’s penalty)
“It was very shut in Qualifying right now with only a few tenths between a number of vehicles. We had been barely pessimistic heading into the session, so I believe we’ve to be fairly happy with tenth place for tomorrow’s race following Sergio’s [Perez] penalty.
“The assist from the house followers has been superb 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 vehicles entering into Q2: the sensation on monitor was good right now, and the weekend has been fairly first rate to this point. We positively have a greater automotive this weekend in comparison with earlier occasions, I’ve felt assured with all of it weekend to this point; the brand new components we’ve introduced have absolutely performed their position as effectively, permitting us to make a small, however concrete step.
“I believe this consequence was the utmost we may obtain right now, 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 this point, however the job is clearly solely midway achieved: we should be on the prime of our recreation tomorrow, to transform this place into an precise shot on the prime ten.”
Nico Hulkenberg — MoneyGram Haas F1 Workforce — thirteenth
“I really feel like I left nothing on the market, produced some clear laps, and I believe this was our final tempo, that’s the image right now. The automotive has been okay, but additionally tough at occasions, however we nonetheless have to work on the high-speed steadiness, and basic grip.
“I believe on excessive gas, all of the weaknesses do get uncovered much more, however everyone seems to be in the identical boat. I anticipate a detailed race tomorrow and possibly some DRS trains.”
Lance Stroll — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Workforce — 14th
“We knew this was going to be a tricky Qualifying, so I believe two vehicles in Q2 was probably the most that was doable right now. The automotive is simply missing the tempo to battle with the highest groups on this monitor. We received caught in a little bit little bit of site visitors in Q1, however we selected to go early and had a reasonably clear monitor for my remaining Q2 run.
“Our long term tempo seems to be a little bit 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 right now however, whereas it is a good consequence, it’s equally essential for me that the sensation within the automotive and my confidence are again. We knew that getting out of Q2 may be powerful since we already used a brand new set of tyres in Q1, forcing us to begin 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 powerful, so we opted for some important modifications, together with swapping my chassis – and it looks like issues are coming collectively significantly better now.
“I’m additionally completely satisfied to see that we’ve made a step ahead and have been a lot faster as a staff this weekend: we’ll proceed working exhausting to show these higher grid positions into a superb consequence tomorrow, although we all know that the highest ten seems to be very robust in the intervening time.”
Kevin Magnussen — MoneyGram Haas F1 Workforce — sixteenth
“We knew qualifying was going to be shut, you might want to get all the things out of it today on this tight area. Should you miss your finest efficiency by even one tenth, you pay for it massively. It wasn’t a clear session once more for us right now, there was site visitors. We’d have been by means of with a little bit bit extra tempo, and you might want to 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 believe we will battle from there tomorrow if we choose a couple of off and get into a superb race from there.”
Yuki Tsunoda — Visa Money App RB — seventeenth
“We’ve been fighting tempo this weekend and tried a number of issues to attempt to enhance, and in the long run, 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 capable of maximise the present package deal.
“The final races have been going effectively and even when it’s a disgrace, I believe it’s essential that we’re going through this harder 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 constructive, and we definitely will.”
Daniel Ricciardo — Visa Money App RB — 18th
“It’s a tough weekend. We now have quite a lot of new components on the automotive, and we nonetheless want to grasp the easiest way to make them work. After yesterday, once we had been nonetheless discovering a little bit of steadiness, we made fairly huge modifications in a single day and right now in qualifying the automotive felt far 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 vehicles, particularly utilizing three units of sentimental every, reveals 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 return round fast, however we’ve a couple of races forward of us with comparable 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 right now and we’ve made an enormous step in comparison with final 12 months.
“There was perhaps a nook or two the place I may’ve squeezed extra out of the automotive, however it felt good general, and I believe 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 manner tomorrow.”
Logan Sargeant — Williams Racing — twentieth
“Sadly, the vehicles weren’t the identical spec in the long run. The flooring that we’ve introduced are underperforming which is a disgrace. We’ve been working exhausting all weekend by making an attempt to vary 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 long run. It’s not nice for me or the staff and none of us wish to be on this place. We’ll hold combating regardless of the state of affairs.”
