Max Verstappen finished third in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday. The Dutch driver was not close to pole position, which was taken by Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris clocked the second fastest time in Barcelona.
The 27-year-old Verstappen limited the damage considerably with his third place. The Red Bull driver was the last driver to cross the start-finish line in Q3 and jumped from tenth to third place. He was three tenths slower than Piastri, who in turn was two tenths faster than Norris.
However, Red Bull and Verstappen had hoped for more ahead of the weekend in Catalonia. The Spanish Grand Prix is marked by new regulations regarding the front wings. These are allowed to move much less while driving than in previous races, which means all teams have had to develop new front wings.
At Red Bull, it was assumed that this rule change would mainly disadvantage McLaren, but this weekend it appears that the Woking team is still the team to beat. McLaren is comfortably leading the constructors’ championship.
Behind the top three, Mercedes driver George Russell finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton was surprisingly faster than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc (seventh) and completed the top five.
Tsunoda Ends Last
Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda experienced a disastrous qualification. The Japanese driver, who may have damaged his floor during a small excursion, finished twentieth and last.
Franco Colapinto dropped out in the final phase of Q1 with technical problems, but nevertheless finished ahead of Tsunoda in nineteenth place. Home driver Carlos Sainz also did not get through Q1 and starts the race in eighteenth.
The qualification proceeded without further incidents. Verstappen, who won his first Grand Prix here nine years ago, hopes to win the race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the fourth year in a row this weekend. The Spanish Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 3:00 PM.