Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after overcoming a spin on his first run in Q3. After Leclerc topped Q1, Max Verstappen hit back with the fastest time of Q2—with Mercedes lurking just behind the Ferrari and Red Bull throughout the first two qualifying segments.

Leclerc then dramatically spun on his first run in Q3, leaving Verstappen top. But the championship leader re-emerged to go top with a time of 1m 18.750s, Verstappen storming towards his pole time—before his Red Bull appeared to suffer an issue. The reigning champion lost out by an eventual 0.323s—local hero Carlos Sainz another tenth off in third.

George Russell smashed his first sector to pip Sergio Perez to P4, the Mexican rounding out the top five ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes.

Valtteri Bottas showed a strong pace throughout and finished seventh. At the same time, Kevin Magnussen took eighth – his 10th-placed teammate, Mick Schumacher, making it to Q3 for the first time – with Daniel Ricciardo in P9 for McLaren between the Haas pair.

Lando Norris was penalized for a track limit violation in Q2 and ended up 11th, followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and then the AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and a despondent Pierre Gasly in 13th and 14th, respectively.

The pressure was on and @Charles_Leclerc delivered 💪#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FXPRHNE9J1

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022

Zhou Guanyu was off the pace in Q2 and could only qualify for 15th place for Alfa Romeo. In their heavily upgraded Aston Martins, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll qualified 16th and 18th, respectively – Vettel having missed out on Q2 by under a tenth of a second. Formula 1 home hero Fernando Alonso was between them, who surprisingly failed to qualify from Q3 in P17.

Williams rounded out the provisional qualifying standings: Alex Albon 19th and Nicholas Latifi 20th.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Ferrari charges into the lead while Alonso endures shock elimination.

Conditions were stiflingly hot for qualifying, the sun unrelenting in Spain. Red Bull set their flying efforts first, but Charles Leclerc set the early benchmark with a time of 1m 19.861s – teammate Carlos Sainz just 0.031s back – to drop Max Verstappen to third. Behind Red Bull’s Verstappen, by a tenth, was Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton P5 after their opening laps.

After the first runs, the Williams drivers, Haas’s Mick Schumacher, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were in the drop zone – Daniel Ricciardo sitting on the cusp of elimination in P15 for McLaren.

Improvements across the board dropped Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel down to P16 – losing out on 15th-place Esteban Ocon by 0.074s. At the same time, Fernando Alonso was a surprising P17 at home, 0.163s off safety in his Alpine, having struggled with traffic as he went to open his final lap. Lance Stroll was half a second off his teammate in P18 – leaving Williams’ Alex Albon 19th and his teammate Nicholas Latifi two-tenths back in P20.

Kevin Magnussen was among those who improved, splitting the Mercedes in his un-upgraded Haas for P5. At the same time, Valtteri Bottas dropped to seventh for Alfa Romeo, and Sergio Perez could only manage P8 having had a trip through the Turn 7 gravel. Bottas’s teammate Zhou Guanyu took a solid P9, leaving Daniel Ricciardo 10th.

Schumacher also fought his way out of the drop zone to P11 for Haas – a new gearbox fitted after his fiery FP3 stoppage – while Yuki Tsunoda took 12th and Gasly jumped to P13 for AlphaTauri. Lando Norris managed to stay afloat in P14 after a narrow miss with Stroll in the pits, while Ocon rounded out the top 15 for Alpine.

Knocked out: Vettel, Alonso, Stroll, Albon, Latifi

Q2 – Verstappen turns up the wick while Norris loses out

Mercedes set the first laps in Q2, Hamilton squirreling through Sector 3 with Russell beating him by three-tenths. Yet, the Silver Arrows led the field ahead of Perez – the Mexican having been equipped with new softs to go third while Leclerc, Sainz, and Verstappen used old tires to go fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

With Norris rounding out the top 10, teammate Ricciardo was in danger of dropping out, followed by Ocon, Zhou, and the AlphaTauris. The pack would indeed shuffle again…

Mercedes saved a set of tires with both drivers staying in the garage, Verstappen emerging again to set the fastest time of 1m 19.219s and Sainz going second by 0.234s to leave the Mercedes in third and fourth.

Magnussen rounded out the top five for Haas, Perez dropping to sixth ahead of Leclerc (both also saving a set of softs), while Ricciardo improved to ninth. And it was Schumacher who rounded out the top 10 for a first career Q3 appearance.

Norris had his lap time deleted for going wide at Turn 12 and ended up 11th – 0.035s off safety – while Ocon could only manage P12. Tsunoda and Gasly were eliminated in P13 and P14, respectively, the Frenchman getting an apology from his engineer, with Zhou rounding out the Q2 standings with a 0.658s deficit to P10.

Knocked out: Norris, Ocon, Tsunoda, Gasly, Zhou

Q3 – Leclerc shrugs off-spin before DRS glitch foils Verstappen

Opening laps saw Verstappen go fastest with a 1m 19.073s, Sainz almost 0.4s back in second, while Perez was just behind in third. As for Leclerc spun exiting Turn 14 and aborted his opening lap, leaving Mercedes’ Russell fourth and Hamilton fifth (having run just wide at Turns 10-11) with the time ticking away.

The pressure was on the championship leader, Leclerc going out earliest to set a time of 1m 18.750s for the provisional pole. Verstappen was rounding the track, bearing down on his rival, but then came a message of despair: the Dutchman complained of a loss of power. Pole was Leclerc’s by 0.323s.

Horner later said that a DRS issue cost his world champion on Saturday in Spain.

With Verstappen settling for P2, Sainz rounded out the provisional top three. Russell’s rapid first sector earned him P4 – just 0.027s ahead of fifth-place Perez – while Hamilton took P6 on the grid.

Bottas was under a tenth away from his former teammate in P7 for Alfa Romeo, Magnussen just behind the Finnish driver as he clinched P8 for Haas despite a DRS issue. With Schumacher rounding out the top 10 in his Haas, Ricciardo qualified ninth for McLaren.