© Vladimir RysMax Secures A Front Row Start In SpainThe Dutchman claims the Team's best Spanish Grand Prix starting position since 2011.
Final Preparations For Quali© Getty Images
At the start of Q1, as the rest of the field lapped on soft tyres, Mercedes opted to send its drivers out on mediums and Valtteri Bottas took top spot in the session with a lap of 1:18.005. Max slotted into P2 on softs with an opening time of 1:18.090.
Sergio’s opening lap of 1:18.609 initially saw him take P4 with the Bulls split by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, but he soon slid back towards the edge of the top 10 as quicker laps were posted. The Mexican therefore went for a second flying lap and jumped back to P4 with a lap of 1:18.203.
There was a precautionary final run for Hamilton though on a set of soft tyres, which he eventually abandoned. The Bulls elected to stay in the garage for the final runs and as McLaren’s Lando Norris put in the segment’s fastest lap to rise from the drop zone to P1 with a lap of 1:17.821, Max went through in P4 and Checo in P6.
Norris’ rise to the top of the timesheet meant that AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda slid into the drop zone. The Japanese driver made a mistake on his own run, in turn nine, and he was eliminated in P16 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen, Haas’ Mick Schumacher, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the second Haas of Nikita Mazepin.
Spanish Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying
Max To Start P2 For The Spanish GP© Getty Images
Climbing In For Quali© Getty Images
Setting Times On Softs© Getty Images
Sending It During Qualifying© Getty Images
In The Zone And Ready To Roll© Getty Images
Starting From The Front Row Tomorrow© Getty Images
Sun Shines In Spain For Qualifying© Getty Images
Congratulations To Lewis Hamilton On His 100th Career Pole© Getty Images
Sergio's Set To Get To Work© Getty Images
Making The Most Of The Track© Getty Images
Studying The Data During Quali© Getty Images
Checo To Start P8 In Spain© Getty Images
In a shift away from the norm in Q2, both the Bulls and Mercedes shied away from trying to use medium tyres to get through to the final top-10 shootout. Instead they opted for soft compound rubber at the start of the second segment.
And it was Max who set the pace in the opening runs. Mercedes were first across the line with Bottas setting a lap of 1:17.400 to edge Hamilton by 0.232. However, Max was flying and when he crossed the line he was almost a second clear of Bottas with a lap of 1:16.922.
Checo, meanwhile, was struggling to find a comfort zone with his RB16B and his opening lap of 1:180.69 left him P12 and in the drop zone ahead of the final runs.
The Mexican was finding a groove, however, and on his final run he posted a time of 1:17.669 to jump to P5 and safety.
While Max stayed in the garage for the final runs, Mercedes sent its drivers out again and Hamilton improved on the set of softs he had used for his precautionary lap in Q1. He finished in P3 behind Bottas on a time of 1:17.166.
Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P11 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Aston’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Williams’ George Russell.
Checo Sends In Into Q3© Getty Images
Max’s blistering pace in Q2 seemed to indicate that the Dutch driver would be irresistible in the top-10 shootout, but in the opening runs of Q3 Hamilton responded to take provisional pole with a lap of 1:16.741.
Max got closest to that benchmark, finishing his opening flying lap just 0.038s behind the Mercedes driver and a tenth clear of Bottas.
It set up a knife-edge finale, but soon after the start of the final flying laps it became apparent that none of the top three drivers were improving and Hamilton scored his 100th career pole with his opening time, while Max had to settle for a 17th career front-row start ahead of Bottas.
For Checo Q3 was a tough session. The Mexican struggled with the balance of his car throughout and spun at turn 13 on his first run. Checo had it all to do on his final lap, but he managed to extract a solid effort from his RB16B and qualified in P8. He’ll start on row four alongside McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Starting behind Max in P4 is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon will start P5 and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz is P6. Starting on the row behind Checo is Mclaren’s Lando Norris in P9 and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P10.
P2 For Max In Qualifying© Getty Images
“From my side it was a good qualifying. I’m pleased with my lap with no mistakes and I feel like I extracted the most out of the car. It was very close, but it wasn’t quite enough and sometimes you have to accept that. Mercedes seem to be a little bit ahead of us over one lap but to be on the front row here, especially compared to last year where we really struggled, we can be very happy with that.
I think we have decent race pace, if it’s enough to beat them I don’t know but we will push them all the way.
"We know that the start is very important here and it can impact the race result, so of course we are focused on it, but we want to keep it clean as well as it’s a long race. We will of course give it our best tomorrow and I think we have decent race pace, if it’s enough to beat them I don’t know but we will push them all the way.”
“It was a tough qualifying out there and just a bad day in general. I didn’t get a good lap throughout today and I was not feeling 100% in qualifying with some shoulder pain so we did well to progress to Q3 which shows what a good car we have. In terms of pace, we have a very good race car so it’s a shame we are starting out of position as it’s a difficult place to overtake but I’m confident we will be able to fight for a very strong result.
"Tomorrow is a new opportunity, hopefully we are able to minimize the damage and take some steps forward. I’ll be aggressive as I need to come through the field and catch up to the leaders as early as possible. In general, it’s not been the best weekend from my side but looking at previous races this year, you can see things are coming together and I’m just getting to know the car better which is the key.”
Max was once again so close to pole and being on the front row is very encouraging.
“It was another very exciting qualifying and a fantastic performance by the Team. Our first front row start in Barcelona for 10 years and Max was once again so close to pole. Being on the front row is very encouraging and there are a lot of positives to take from today. Last year we were 0.7s off pole and this year Max has completed an almost identical lap time to Lewis, so it’s great progress.
Despite it being a difficult track to overtake on I’m confident Checo will make good progress tomorrow. "Checo recovered after having a spin on his first lap in Q3 and will start in P8, but we know how strong he is in the race and despite it being a difficult track to overtake on I’m confident he will make good progress. It will be important to get a good start, the margins are so tight between us and Mercedes at the moment that the small things make a big difference, so the start and that run down to the first corner is going to be important and very exciting to watch.”
SpanishGrandPrixQualifyingTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Max Verstappen | Valtteri Bottas | Charles Leclerc | Esteban Ocon | Carlos Sainz | Daniel Ricciardo | Sergio Pérez | Lando Norris | Fernando Alonso |
| Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Ferrari | Alpine | Ferarri | McLaren | Red Bull Racing Honda | McLaren | Alpine |
| 1.16.741 | 1.16.777 | 1.16.873 | 1.17.510 | 1.17.580 | 1.17.620 | 1.17.622 | 1.17.701 | 1.18.010 | 1.18.147 |
