Event: Spanish F1 Grand Prix
Track: Catalunya Circuit
Weather: dry 34.9°C
Tarmac: wet 47.8°C
Humidity: 18%
Wind: 3.0 m/s SW
Pressure: 1003.5 bar
Charles Leclerc qualified as quickest for the 13th time today. The Ferrari driver scored pole position for tomorrow's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. It was the fourth pole of the season for the Monegasque driver and the 234th pole for the Ferrari team.
Q1 session
Both Red Bull drivers got straight out. Sergio Perez first lap was a 1:20.447 on soft tyres. Max Verstappen's lap was 0.356s quicker and the Dutch driver put in a 1:20.091. After the Red Bulls both Ferrari drivers clocked their laps and were a lot quicker than Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was 0.031s quicker and Leclerc another 0.2s.
Then it was time for both Mercedes driver to show the world there car improvements. George Russel was fastest in the first sector and was on P4 on +0.357s of Leclerc's P1. His famous Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was 5th and only 0.034s behind.
With five minutes to go the driver who had to improve to get into Q2 were: Alex Albon (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).
Both Haas driver improved a lot as the track was getting quicker by the second. Kevin Magnussen even improved to P5, while his teammate Schumacher got up to P11 and pushed out local hero Fernando Alonso in the Alpine. It was a very tight session and the top 14 positions were only 1 second apart.
Q2 session
I took three minutes before there was any action during the 15 minutes second quali session. With only 9 minutes to go Hamilton was the first to set a lap time on the timesheet. The Mercedes driver did the lap in 1:19.974 min. His teammate Russell shaved of another 0.324 sec. and went fastest.
With 5 minutes to the drivers in the drop zone were: Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTuari) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).
The top five order was: P1 Russell (1:19.470 min), P2 Hamilton (+0.324), P3 Perez (+0.360), P4 Leclerc (+0.499) and P5 Bottas (+0.639). Verstappen and Sainz were on P6 and P7 and had to go out again to defend their position.
In the end Lando Norris got kicked out because his lap time got deleted because the McLaren driver exceeded the track limits. Schumacher improved enough to get into Q3 for the first time in his F1 career.
Verstappen and Sainz who used a used set of softs in their first run, were a lot faster on a set of new tyres and ended up on P1 and P2.
Q3 session
We saw drive out all 10 cars right away as the twelve minutes long final quali session started. After the first runs Max Verstappen was quickest with a 1:19.073 min. Championship leader Leclerc went in to fast at the chicane and spun the Ferrari. He didn't hit anything and drove back to his team and now the only one that had not clocked a lap time this Q3 session.
During the final run Leclerc was the first who got out the box. Verstappen waited as long as possible before he got out for his final run. Leclerc drove a great lap and beat Verstappen's lap by 0.323 sec. and scored pole again. Verstappen could not defend, because the Dutchman lost power in his final attempt.
Last years pole time was a 1:16.741 min driven by Lewis Hamilton with the Mercedes W12.
Quali Times 2022 Spanish F1 GP
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:19.861 | 1:19.969 | 1:18.750 | 12 |
2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:20.091 | 1:19.219 | 1:19.073 | 16 |
3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:19.892 | 1:19.453 | 1:19.166 | 16 |
4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:20.218 | 1:19.470 | 1:19.393 | 14 |
5 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:20.447 | 1:19.830 | 1:19.420 | 17 |
6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:20.252 | 1:19.794 | 1:19.512 | 15 |
7 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:20.355 | 1:20.053 | 1:19.608 | 18 |
8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:20.227 | 1:19.810 | 1:19.682 | 18 |
9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:20.549 | 1:20.287 | 1:20.297 | 15 |
10 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:20.683 | 1:20.436 | 1:20.368 | 18 |
11 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:20.838 | 1:20.471 | 12 | |
12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:20.880 | 1:20.638 | 9 | |
13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:20.707 | 1:20.639 | 15 | |
14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:20.719 | 1:20.861 | 15 | |
15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:20.476 | 15 | ||
16 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:20.954 | 6 | ||
17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:21.043 | 5 | ||
18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:21.418 | 6 | ||
19 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:21.645 | 6 | ||
20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:21.915 | 9 |
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Race pace is another matter.
Norris seemed to have two wheels on the track, though, so surprising.
The width between the gravel edge & white line is too narrow for the entire car width without touching the gravel & he didn't, so how could he have had right-hand side wheels over the line?
Jere, race control has head on views at the corners. If they say he was over the line, he was over the line. Did he gain advantage, probably not but there has to be a definitive line.
Where? In the sky, LOL.
Nothing concrete directly overhead.
Jere, F1 cars have over 300 sensors that provide race control precise information.
Ror off thread topic I know but for me that's the thing, Rules are Rules,I used to serve as a Magistrate for bout ten yrs and , its the same The Laws the Law, a law maybe not have been enforced properly / or at all/ but the Fact IS , Like the law,Its in the book, and if the Fia or Judiciary decide to enforce it, then fine in my book , now society and f1 drivers can say the law/the fia rule books out of date, that's another discussion for another day , that's where I stand on it
Regardinging over the line, I thought there were sensors in the wheels that told fia -over the line, Maybe i'm imagining that, ill call it a Jaxthought just in case
You are absolutely correct re the sensors and track limits. Notice you hear whining, but never protests. Race control has a better perspective than tv.
Great site & information, however, think it's time to update the full diver photo shot.
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.