Mercedes drivers in 'dangerous' collision behind dominant Verstappen – Spanish GP qualifying

“But once it started to dry out in Q3 as well, the car was on rails and it was really, really enjoyable to drive today.

“I love coming to Barcelona in general. I love the track. I love the fans. They really love racing. And I have a lot of great memories here and hopefully tomorrow we can add another one.”

“I needed it,” said Sainz of the Spanish home support. “It’s always one tenth here one tenth there, but I was pushing, I didn’t leave anything on the table today.”

“I’m surprised to be here but it’s a home race for Carlos so I thought I’d give him a couple tenths!” exclaimed Norris before highlighting Barcelona reverting to the old high-speed configuration.

“It’s one of our strengths, the high speed corners,” he remarked. “The tricky qualifying sessions we always seem to do well.”

Here’s how qualifying played out in Barcelona.

Q1

A large chunk of the field queued to go out at the start of Q1, with intermittent raindrops falling from bruised Spanish skies.

The crowd roared for Alonso as he hit the track, but there was early drama as Yuki Tsunoda lost control at Turn 11. Alonso then ran off the circuit at the final corner, damaging his floor.

“Rain is on the way I think,” said Mercedes’ Russell, as Ferrari played with fire by keeping both cars in.

Valtteri Bottas and Nyck De Vries then dropped it at the same section as Tsunoda, with Albon throwing it into the gravel at Turn 5.

The red flag was thrown to clear gravel from the track,

Once cars got back out on the circuit, Verstappen immediately set out his stall with a 1min 23.660sec, but McLaren’s rookie Oscar Piastri remarkably went just 0.031sec slower.

Carlos Sainz complained about an inadvertent block from Pierre Gasly in the final section, as Russell said “the tyres aren’t working” and could only go 13th fastest.

Verstappen slightly improved, as it became clear the field had split into two – drivers who could heat up their tyres, and those who couldn’t.

“There’s something wrong with my rears guys,” said Leclerc, who was soon joined in the bottom five as the clock ticked down.

Action from there on track was frantic as the asphalt’s offering rapidly improved – Gasly shocked by going fastest of all, immediately deposed by Hülkenberg, Norris and Hamilton.

The biggest shock was at the bottom though, Charles Leclerc was knocked out in 19th.

Bottas (16th), Magnussen (17th), Albon (18th) and Sargent (20th) were also eliminated.

“I don’t have the answer,” said an exasperated Leclerc. “The left-hand corners were undriveable. It was on the rear tyres. I had no grip at all. I’ll be very surprised if everything was fine.

Q2

Both Red Bulls made sure to leave their garage early, with Verstappen clocking a 1min 12.7sec lap, 0.9sec faster than team-mate Perez.

Alonso, Stroll and Russell managed to insert themselves inbetween the Red Bulls, but the Spaniard was still 0.5sec off the reigning champion.

Hamilton then appeared to find pace, going fastest in the first sector and managing to get into second on the time sheets – 0.25sec away from Verstappen.

“****ing Norah,” said Russell, having a huge moment out of Turn 11. “No confidence on these tyres.

All cars went out for a second run, but Perez’s challenge was over early – he went off at Turn 5.

“We’ve got the fuel, we can go again,” his engineer told him.

Sainz wasn’t having the same issues as Leclerc, going second, before he was soon deposed by a scintillating lap from Norris.

Piastri leapt into sixth but there were two big shock eliminations – Perez in 11th and Russell in 12th.

Just prior the Mercedes cars had a close call – Hamilton tried to slipstream his team-mate on the start-finish straight, before Russell moved over and inadvertently took off part of the seven-time world champion’s front wing.

The team blamed the incident on miscommunication, with one side of the garage not realising that both rivers were on push laps: Russell said that he was trying to slipstream a Ferrari ahead and then moved back to the racing line without realising that Hamilton was approaching behind.

Also knocked out were Zhou, De Vries and Tsunoda from another eventful session.

Q3

The final act of a frantic qualifying began with Verstappen laying down a marker: 1min 12.272sec.

Norris was closest – 1.3sec off – before Hamilton clocked a time a second slower than the Dutchman, but the Mercedes was running on old soft tyres as opposed to the Red Bull’s new.

Nico Hülkenberg impressed by almost matching Hamilton’s time, the Haas only setting one flying lap in Q3.

Alonso circuited to roars of the crowd, but his time was only good enough for ninth; floor damage only accounted for 0.2sec of the gap, with the home crowd’s favourite saying that he had also lost time on a damp patch of track at Turn 10.

His countryman Sainz lifted himself onto the front row with a lap 0.4sec slower than Verstappen, with Norris and Gasly (subject to a stewards’ investigation) filing in behind respectively with fine laps.

Not so fine was Hamilton’s effort, which ended in fifth, with Lance Stroll outqualifying Alonso to grab sixth.

Verstappen aborted what he said was looking like a “lovely” lap, as it became clear that he would take pole regardless with a dominant showing.

2023 Spanish Grand Prix qualifying results