Lewis Hamilton landed his 100th career pole position today for the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya!
After an intense qualifying session, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will take off from P2 tomorrow, ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in P3.
The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc will be in fourth, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in fifth, and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in sixth.
Closing out tomorrow’s top ten starting grid will be the Mclaren of Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, McLaren’s of Lando Norris, and Alpine’s Alonso in P7-P10 respectively.
Let’s see what some of the driver’s had to say after quali today:
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
“I was behind the whole way through qualifying and making small tweaks to find pace.
“I just can’t believe we’re at 100 – it’s down to the women and men back at the factory who are continuously raising the bar and never giving up. It’s a dream to work with them, what a journey!
“Who would have thought when we started out together at the end of 2012 that we’d be celebrating 100 poles!?
“I feel so humbled and very grateful for all their work. It feels just like my first! I’ll always remember that one.”
Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes
“That was close! It felt like I was there in the battle for the pole but I lost a tenth or so with a snap at Turn 10, and those are the fine margins this year.
“We’ve got a strong package and we’ll be in the fight tomorrow no doubt – it will be another close one between us and Red Bull. If you can keep the tyres in good condition, you’re going to be more competitive around the pit stops.
“There’s the possibility to mix the strategy and try a one or a two-stop. We’ll do lots of work tonight and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to know our strategy.”
Max Verstappen – Red Bull
“We know that the start is very important here and it can impact the race result, so of course we are focused on it, but we want to keep it clean as well as it’s a long race.
“We will of course give it our best tomorrow and I think we have decent race pace, if it’s enough to beat them I don’t know but we will push them all the way.”
Sergio Perez- Red Bull
“It was a tough qualifying out there and just a bad day in general. I didn’t get a good lap throughout today and I was not feeling 100% in qualifying with some shoulder pain so we did well to progress to Q3 which shows what a good car we have.
“In terms of pace, we have a very good race car so it’s a shame we are starting out of position as it’s a difficult place to overtake but I’m confident we will be able to fight for a very strong result.”
Kimi Raikkonen – Alfa Romeo
“It was disappointing to go out in Q1, especially after looking good in the morning. The car still felt good and the lap was not bad, but I lost it in the final sector.
“I got a bit too close to the car in front at the end of the lap and that was it – it’s so close out there, if you don’t get it right you pay the price.
“We’ll see what we can do to get back in the fight tomorrow. It’s not an easy place to overtake but we will give everything.”
Antonio Giovinazzi – Alfa Romeo
“It was a good session and I think we got the maximum we could out of the car. My Q2 lap was good, maybe I could have improved a little more but Q3 was still a bit too far. However, we keep improving, and to be in Q2 again is good for the team.
“I am happy with my performance, we’re still not where we would like to be – in the top ten – but we are making progress.
“Let’s see how our race pace is tomorrow: the first lap will be important, as overtaking can be difficult here, but we’re ready to make the most of every opportunity.”
Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
“It was a good session and I think we got the maximum we could out of the car. My Q2 lap was good, maybe I could have improved a little more but Q3 was still a bit too far. However, we keep improving, and to be in Q2 again is good for the team.
“I am happy with my performance, we’re still not where we would like to be – in the top ten – but we are making progress. Let’s see how our race pace is tomorrow: the first lap will be important, as overtaking can be difficult here, but we’re ready to make the most of every opportunity.”
Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
“It’s frustrating for me, the performance in the car is definitely there and I think we should easily be making it through to Q2, but I just couldn’t find the grip today.
“Pierre and I have very different feedback about the car, even when we have the same set-up, so I need to understand whether this is due to the characteristics of it or our different driving styles and then I can look closer at the data with my engineers.
“I think if I find this reason then I can really start to harness the full potential of the car.”
Lando Norris – McLaren
“Not a perfect qualifying today. We were quite unlucky with some traffic in Q1 run one, so that put us on the back foot as we needed to use a second set of tyres when we should’ve been safe.
“I picked up some damage after my first run in Q3, and the final run wasn’t clean either, which was quite important in the end with how much the track was evolving and the wind was changing.
“I’m not too disappointed, but it is a bit frustrating to start from the position we’re in as it’s a very difficult race to come through and overtake. We know we have a strong car on a Sunday, so we’ll do our best to get some good points.”
“Overall, a positive day. We did really well to get through Q1 with one set of tyres, which gave us two sets for Q3, but obviously we missed it with the timing and, unfortunately, we couldn’t use them.
“I do think there’s always a tenth on the table and that could’ve been a P4 if we’d got a really good lap together. But, I don’t want to focus on that.
“Ultimately, I’m still looking at myself and how I can improve, I’m not driving the car perfectly yet. Today was certainly better, but I’ll focus on myself and I know the team will address their part for the Q3 timing.
“Today was a much better day and we made a really good step from yesterday. So, I’m very happy and thankful that we found some answers and that the updates seem to be working.”
