Third in 2022, second in 2023…. had to be first in 2024, but Carlos Sainz has had to settle for being sixth in the classification of a Spanish Grand Prix that sees the second pole of his sporting career for a fabulous Lando Norris, who continues to fly high this season, escorted on the front line by Max Verstappen, covered all weekend, in one of the most even classifications of the season.
Everything was decided in the final ‘run’ of Q3, and although it was known that it would not be the half-second advantage of last year, the Max guy still held up well and put three points on Mercedes and Ferrari… but not on McLaren , at least Lando’s, because Piastri went off slightly at the moment of truth. The orange car was the only one to withstand the pull. While Ferrari lost some punch, although for Sainz, who had a spectacular Saturday, “a good start puts us on the podium.”
A real boost for McLaren, which is the second real force in F1, and for Mercedes, which has been reunited within one lap and can surpass the two Ferraris, especially if the temperature drops almost 10 degrees as it has, to occupy the third row of grill. Norris did not celebrate in style, worried both about the morning fire in the team’s hospitality area (he had to run out of the room), as well as about the hospitalized team member and the building’s own dubious future, as a second thought. house for pilots, family and guests, which suffered damage.
Only Checo celebrated more, who did not enter Q3 since Miami and seems to be slowly regaining his pulse, in line with the car he has.
Leclerc like Stroll who fell in Q2, will keep their positions since in two different maneuvers, the Ferrari and the Aston Martin overran and touched Norris and Hamilton, respectively, in a very dangerous way, but the stewards washed their hands of them and applied the sanction. minimal reprimand, without sporting consequences.
Q3, Spanish GP 2024
1st L. Norris (B) McLaren 1’11″383
2nd M. Verstappen (B) Red Bull 1’11″403 +00″020
3rd L. Hamilton (B) Mercedes 1’11″701 +00″318
4º G. Russell (B) Mercedes 1’11″703 +00″320
5º C. Leclerc (B) Ferrari 1’11″731 +00″348
6th Carlos Sainz (B) Ferrari 1’11″736 +00″353
7th P. Gasly (B) Alpine 1’11″857 +00″474
8º S. Perez (B) Red Bull 1’12″061 +00″678
9º E. Ocon (B) Alpine 1’12″125 +00″742
10th O. Piastri (B) McLaren, no time
Alonso, eliminated in Q2 by thousandths
In Q2, Fernando Alonso was already left out, as expected, eleventh, one and a half tenths away from being able to enter the top 10., the same as Stroll, so this was the limit of the car in this race. Alpine has even surpassed the green cars in this event, of which Fernando already expected that he would not be able to “fight for big things.”
Fernando will finally start tenth, Checo achieved eighth today, but had a three-place penalty that was imposed in Canada, for continuing on the track with a broken car and losing parts. The ’14’ was terrified of the classification, but entering the ‘top ten’ partially alleviates the wait for Aston’s new technical team to make the new pack of parts work, for which we will have to wait for the end of the year. triplet.
