Pole after cold sweat for Charles Leclerc in Barcelona

And four for Charles Leclerc ! As in Bahrain, Melbourne and Miami, the Monegasque took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this Saturday, thanks to his last Q3 attempt. The leader of the world championship is doing particularly well since he made a mistake a few minutes earlier in the last chicane of the circuit for having resumed the gas too early. But the pilot Ferrari did what was necessary to make the difference on his last lap, inflicting more than three tenths on Max Verstappen, his main rival. 

The Dutchman was however on provisional pole after his first lap of Q3. Then reliability concerns, again, prevented him from completing a final flying lap, the Batavian complaining of a loss of power. In these conditions, the essential is saved for the reigning world champion, who will be ahead of a Carlos Sainz still a little shy and finishing half a second behind his pole-sitter teammate. 

Mercedes' small leap forward 

As for Mercedes, this time, the progress demonstrated in free practice was confirmed in qualifying as George Russell took a superb second row. The Briton was once again ahead of his seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton, which will share the third line with Sergio Perez. New performance of choice also for Alfa Romeo et Haas, since Valtteri Bottas et Kevin Magnussen signed the 7th and 8th times of the session. Daniel Ricciardo he beat his teammate Lando Norris for the first time this season and will start 9th, just ahead Mick Schumacher. 

French side, Pierre Gasly et Esteban Ocon were both eliminated in Q2. As a reminder, the pilot Alpha Tauri had not driven in Free Practice 3 due to a problem with his car. Esteban Ocon seems to have been somewhat hampered in his last run and will start in 12th position. Disappointment on the other hand for Lando Norris, who thought he had qualified for Q3 but who saw his last decisive lap finally canceled for having gone beyond the track limits at turn 12. 

Despite their change in concept, the Aston Martin frankly have not shown any progress. Sebastian Vettel et Lance stroll were in fact both eliminated in Q1. This is actually not that surprising, since pilots and engineers will need to understand the specifics of this concept. In any case, the German seemed extremely surprised to come out, given the content of his comments on his radio. Both Williams from Alex Albon and Nicholas latifi were also eliminated in Q1. Painful end of session for Fernando Alonso. In front of his home crowd, the Spaniard, hampered by Lando Norris before setting off for his last flying lap, was unable to improve his mark.