John N
Max Verstappen was denied the chance to see if he could beat his rival thanks to a malfunctioning DRS. At the same time, there was jubilation for Haas, who saw both drivers through to Q3 – albeit only just, with Lando Norris losing his lap time to promote Mick Schumacher to the top 10.
Here are some of the best facts and stats from a thrilling qualifying in Barcelona.
- Charles Leclerc takes pole in Barcelona, the first driver to take consecutive poles in 2022.
- His pole is also the first for Ferrari at this track since 2008 (Kimi Raikkonen).
- Consecutive poles for Leclerc as Ferrari starts P1 in Spain for the first time since 2008
- All of Leclerc’s career wins have come from pole position.
- Max Verstappen starts second; he also started on the front row here in 2021 and took the lead at Turn 1.
- Leclerc and Verstappen share the front row for the fourth time in six race weekends this season.
- Carlos Sainz qualified third – the third time he’s started P3 this year, and his highest ever begin in Spain.
- Mercedes’ run of nine consecutive pole positions at this track ends, and it is the first time there is no Mercedes car on the front row here since 2012.
- Sergio Perez starts fifth, the first time he starts outside the top four in 2022.
- Lewis Hamilton’s sixth is the first time he’s been out-qualified by George Russell this season when they’ve both made Q3.
- This is Hamilton’s lowest qualifying position here since 2009, when he was 14th – he did start lower in 2012, but that was after disqualification from pole.
- Valtteri Bottas is seventh, Alfa Romeo’s first top 10 start here since Perez was fifth for Sauber back in 2012.
- Kevin Magnussen was eighth, the third time in his last four visits to Spain that he has been in the top eight on the grid.
- Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified Lando Norris for the first time in 10 races, with only his third Q3 appearance of the year.
Frustration for McLaren as Lando Norris's lap time gets deleted at the end of Q2 😖#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/r4Z8Sevlwo
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022
- Mick Schumacher made Q3 for the first time in his career but matches his best grid slot after starting P10 in Imola after the Sprint.
- This was the first time Haas has had two cars in Q3 since Brazil 2019.
- Sebastian Vettel suffered his first-ever Q1 elimination at this track.
- It is the second time this season that both Aston Martins drop out in Q1.
- Fernando Alonso was his first Q1 elimination at this track since this qualifying format was adopted – he did start P18 for Minardi back in 2001 under the old format.
