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 exceptional remaining 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 Staff translated their promising follow tempo into sturdy 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 carefully contested session on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Pierre Gasly impressed with a stellar efficiency, taking seventh place for BWT Alpine F1 Staff.
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 automobile and McLaren F1 Staff’s Oscar Piastri, who had a difficult Q3 and couldn’t set a time.
Lando Norris — McLaren F1 Staff — 1st
“I’m tremendous, tremendous blissful. 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. At present, for the ultimate run, we made a number of modifications, discovered some locations to make tiny enhancements and all of it labored out.
“We’re in an ideal place to transform pole right into a victory but it surely’s going to be extremely robust towards Max, towards Lewis and everybody behind them – however we’ve been sturdy since Miami, we’re right here to win, and that’s positively the goal.”
Max Verstappen — Oracle Purple Bull Racing — 2nd
“We made some good arrange modifications going into qualifying and the automobile was lots higher. I believe we actually maximised that and the automobile felt extra linked and good to drive. We have been sturdy into the excessive velocity and I felt actually comfy there and the excessive velocity corners have been actually fast.
“We’ve got had a clear weekend and have been high-quality tuning the automobile all through the week. Through the follow 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 now we have been a little bit bit behind them, so we have to have a look at what we are able to do to optimise the efficiency tomorrow and be extra aggressive.
“Seeking to tomorrow, I believe will probably be very tight; will probably be about how we strategy the tyres, particularly with the excessive degradation. Will probably be an in depth and thrilling race tomorrow. We have to analyse a number of issues however qualifying has been good so we are able to purpose to combat for the win.”
Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Staff — third
“That is one other encouraging end result for us as a group. Everybody has been working so laborious to deliver updates and enhancements to the automobile, making incremental positive factors and small steps over the season up to now. We’re beginning to develop into extra constant too and that’s enormous for us. That’s down to each member of the group placing within the further hours and I need to say a giant thanks to them.
“The automobile is getting extra pleasant to drive. At present, 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 automobile on that final lap.”
“I’m going into tomorrow targeted on attempting to combat for the win. We’re in a superb beginning spot with that future down to show one. Degradation may also play a key position tomorrow and I believe our lengthy runs in follow regarded sturdy in that respect. I hope that interprets into Sunday and we are able to have a superb afternoon.”
George Russell — Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Staff — 4th
“The automobile has been feeling nice this weekend. Our tempo was sturdy all through follow, and we felt assured going into Qualifying. A second-row lock-out is a good end result however the hole to Norris and Verstappen was barely larger 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 troublesome. I believe these forward managed to do this and perhaps we didn’t at the moment.
“On a circuit like this, the last word race tempo of a automobile will all the time win out. I believe our race tempo regarded good all through the weekend up to now and I hope we are able to combat for the rostrum and doubtlessly victory. The latest steps we’ve taken with the automobile are clearly serving to and we’re wanting 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. Alternatively, my group and I did a superb job altering the set-up of the automobile utterly from yesterday to at the moment, which helped me to search out the precise feeling once more.
“Nevertheless, the tempo simply was not there. Our goal will probably 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 assume our laps have been good, however we have been clearly lacking a little bit further at the moment to be additional up the order. Tomorrow nevertheless, I believe we might have an open race.
“We want a clean begin and with good methods we are able to make up some locations and hopefully combat for a podium, which might be the right reward for all of the tifosi that got here right here to assist us. We are going to do our greatest!”
Pierre Gasly — BWT Alpine F1 Staff — seventh
“It’s a optimistic group end result at the moment 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 have been barely cautious as we didn’t totally 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 troublesome moments this 12 months, which now we have and can proceed to study from, and it’s equally as vital for us to know why we’ve had a rise in efficiency stage like at the moment.
“The automobile felt good, I felt like we maximised all the things and there are all the time issues we are able to enhance. Tomorrow will probably be a difficult race and it seems to be just like the situations could possibly be completely different once more. We’ve got put ourselves in an ideal place to safe one other good group end result.”
Sergio Pérez — Oracle Purple Bull Racing — eighth (will begin eleventh on account of 3 place grid penalty)
“I’m not proud of my place at the moment, the goal was to be increased up. It was a difficult qualifying, we struggled initially and we burned by the tyres shortly sadly, which meant we weren’t in a position to 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 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 modifications so we needs to be heading in the right direction for Sunday.
“Will probably be a troublesome race from P11 with the grid penalty and will probably be crucial to be affected person and get the precise 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 Staff — ninth (will begin eighth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“This can be a good end result with each vehicles 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 surprising given we didn’t deliver any upgrades to this occasion.
“The automobile was aggressive and carried out properly straight out of the blocks on Friday and that carried over to at the moment. We had a difficult Free Follow 3 within the scorching 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 are able to a minimum of keep place tomorrow and maintain the opposite vehicles behind us and battle for factors. Will probably be an extended race and this monitor is especially laborious on tyres, so there may also be some degradation to take care of within the race.”
Oscar Piastri — McLaren F1 Staff — tenth (will begin ninth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“Not one of the best Qualifying, we simply struggled with the stability of the automobile the entire manner by. Clearly the automobile has tempo so we’ll dig into what went mistaken and work out how we are able to combat again tomorrow. At present was simply a type of days, sadly.”
Fernando Alonso — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Staff — eleventh (will begin tenth on account of Pérez’s penalty)
“It was very shut in Qualifying at the moment with only a few tenths between a number of vehicles. We have been barely pessimistic heading into the session, so I believe now we have 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 preventing for one thing extra, we’ll see what we are able to do tomorrow beginning inside the highest ten and attempt to maximise our race to attain some factors.”
Valtteri Bottas — Stake F1 Staff Kick Sauber — twelfth
“It’s good to see each vehicles entering into Q2: the sensation on monitor was good at the moment, and the weekend has been fairly first rate up to now. We positively have a greater automobile this weekend in comparison with earlier occasions, I’ve felt assured with all of it weekend up to now; the brand new components now we have introduced have absolutely performed their position as properly, permitting us to make a small, however concrete step.
“I believe this end result was the utmost we might obtain at the moment, that’s the place we’re with our tempo in the intervening time – and it’s not that removed from Q3 both, which is certainly encouraging.
“I reckon that is one of the best probability at factors we’ve had this season up to now, however the job is clearly solely midway accomplished: we must be on the prime of our sport tomorrow, to transform this place into an precise shot on the prime ten.”
Nico Hulkenberg — MoneyGram Haas F1 Staff — 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 at the moment. The automobile has been okay, but in addition difficult at occasions, however we nonetheless have to work on the high-speed stability, and normal 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 an in depth race tomorrow and possibly some DRS trains.”
Lance Stroll — Aston Martin Armaco F1 Staff — 14th
“We knew this was going to be a troublesome Qualifying, so I believe two vehicles in Q2 was essentially the most that was potential at the moment. The automobile is simply missing the tempo to combat with the highest groups on this monitor. We bought 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 future tempo seems to be a little bit stronger than our qualifying tempo, so we’ll see what we are able to do within the race tomorrow.”
Guanyu Zhou — Stake F1 Staff Kick Sauber — fifteenth
“It feels actually good to have made it again into Q2 at the moment however, whereas this can be a good end result, it’s equally vital for me that the sensation within the automobile 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 begin on used softs earlier than switching to a brand new set., however we are able to’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 vital modifications, together with swapping my chassis – and it seems like issues are coming collectively significantly better now.
“I’m additionally blissful to see that now we have made a step ahead and have been a lot faster as a group this weekend: we’ll proceed working laborious to show these higher grid positions into a superb end result tomorrow, despite the fact that we all know that the highest ten seems to be very sturdy in the intervening time.”
Kevin Magnussen — MoneyGram Haas F1 Staff — sixteenth
“We knew qualifying was going to be shut, it’s good to get all the things out of it today on this tight subject. Should you miss your greatest efficiency by even one tenth, you pay for it massively. It wasn’t a clear session once more for us at the moment, there was site visitors. We’d have been by with a little bit bit extra tempo, and it’s good to have one thing within the financial institution when these issues occur.
We’re P16 however we appear to have a good race automobile, so I believe we are able to combat from there tomorrow if we decide a number of off and get into a superb race from there.”
Yuki Tsunoda — Visa Money App RB — seventeenth
“We’ve been combating tempo this weekend and tried a number of issues to try to enhance, and ultimately, I felt higher in qualifying than in Free Follow. No less than I’m proud of my lap and really feel like I used to be in a position to maximise the present bundle.
“The final races have been going properly and even when it’s a disgrace, I believe it’s vital that we’re dealing with this tougher second collectively as a group. It’s a superb alternative to study from our struggles and develop as a group. A very powerful factor is to stay optimistic, and we actually will.”
Daniel Ricciardo — Visa Money App RB — 18th
“It’s a difficult weekend. We’ve got a variety of new components on the automobile, and we nonetheless want to know one of the simplest ways to make them work. After yesterday, once we have been nonetheless discovering a little bit of stability, we made fairly large modifications in a single day and at the moment in qualifying the automobile felt far more collectively.
“We made progress when it comes to feeling and stability, however sadly, we’re nonetheless in a troublesome spot when it comes to 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 maintain chipping away.
“Tomorrow goes to return round fast, however now we have a number 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 upset. The lengthy corners at this monitor haven’t suited us for the previous few years, however the automobile felt good at the moment and we’ve made an enormous step in comparison with final 12 months.
“There was perhaps a nook or two the place I might’ve squeezed extra out of the automobile, but it surely felt good total, and I believe highlights how sturdy 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 ultimately. The flooring that we’ve introduced are underperforming which is a disgrace. We’ve been working laborious all weekend by attempting 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 group and none of us need to be on this place. We’ll maintain preventing irrespective of the state of affairs.”
