Norris steals pole from Verstappen in thrilling Barcelona showdown

Going head-to-head with the Red Bull giant, Lando Norris secured his second-ever career pole position by outpacing Max Verstappen in a thrilling Barcelona qualifying battle.

The McLaren driver has not started from pole position in a Grand Prix since his infamous victory blunder in Sochi three years ago, with his “perfect lap” today dissolving the wait between accolades.

He will have the two powerhouse drivers of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in his mirrors on the run to Turn 1 tomorrow, with the Dutchman looking to restart his winning streak ahead of Red Bull’s home race next week.

While the #4 side of the McLaren garage celebrates their triumph, it’ll be an evening of ‘what could have been’ for Oscar Piastri’s crew.

Although he had been constantly trailing his teammate in the weekend’s practice sessions, Q1 and Q2 were both positive for Piastri. 

The Australian came into the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session as one to watch, setting the sixth fastest time in the 18-minute opener, a 1:12.460s.

He replicated that positioning in Q2, improving his time by over four-tenths while securing himself the leniency to not have to compete in the dying stages of the session. 

When it came to the top ten shootout, however, Piastri could have used that extra running around the circuit. 

The 23-year-old’s first lap in Q3 was deleted, forcing his team to send him out as the leader of the pack.

With one final opportunity for redemption, Piastri wasted no time in heading back out on track, setting personal bests in Sectors 1 and 2 before his hopes came to a grinding halt. 

Replicating his FP3 error at Turn 13, Piastri ran wide across the gravel and was forced to sit out the remainder of the shootout. 

As a result, the #81 finished qualifying without a time to his name, however, thanks to Sergio Perez’s three-place grid penalty, will start the Spanish Grand Prix from P9 behind the revitalised Alpine duo.

Although he qualified in P8, Perez is instead forced to line up from P11 due to the penalty he obtained in Canada. 

Speaking of Canada, a run of positive qualifying positions just wasn’t in the cards for Daniel Ricciardo.

The Honey Badger and his teammate were both knocked out in the opening Q1 session, with their extensive upgrade package taking them back a step at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. 

Eager to kickstart his qualifying campaign early, Ricciardo was just the third driver out on track at the green light.

The RB driver set himself an opening time of a 1:13.771s, improving on that lap by seven-tenths at the time of the chequered flag, however, it just wasn’t enough. 

Ricciardo had only managed to promote himself to the at-risk 15th position on two occasions, a slot that left him stumbling back into P18, nine-hundredths behind Yuki Tsunoda in P17.

The elimination came as a shock to Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver blindsided by the lack of promotion at the chequered flag. 

Carlos Sainz didn’t manage to put a smile on his adoring home crowd’s faces, with the blow for the Spanish crowd worsened by the Q2 elimination of long-time favourite Fernando Alonso.

The Ferrari driver looked on track for a potential top-three start in Barcelona but fell drastically short in the closing stages of the 4.7km lap.

Charles Leclerc echoed that upsetting sentiment for the Spanish Tifosi, outpacing their last remaining hope, however, by just one position.

The Ferrari teammates, both having expected more from their upgraded SF24s, will line up from P5 and P6 for Sainz’s 66-lap home race. 

A podium is most certainly not out of reach for either prancing horse-sporting driver, with Ferrari’s pace across all three practice sessions proving them a threat in both long runs and on the soft compound tyre.

With wet weather expected to hit the circuit overnight leading to a change in conditions and the possibility of a three-stop strategy coming into play for some teams, Sainz has all the chances in the world to edge closer towards achieving his boyhood dream of winning the Spanish Grand Prix.

Lights out in Barcelona will take place at 11:00 PM on Sunday (AEST).

Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images

2024 Spanish Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday June 21st:

FP1: 21:30 – 22:30

Saturday June 22nd:

FP2: 01:00 – 02:00

FP3: 20:30 – 21:30

Sunday June 23rd:

Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00

Race: 23:00

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