F1: Verstappen seals pole in Barcelona; Sainz second

Verstappen sealed his fourth pole of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix with Leclerc out in Q1 and Perez crashing out in Q2.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen celebrates after qualifying in pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix. | Photo Credit: NACHO DOCE/ REUTERS

Max Verstappen sealed his fourth pole position of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Saturday. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished second with Mclaren’s Lando Norris rounding out the top-three.

“The car was on rails,” said the happy Dutch driver, who took his first Formula One win at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya in 2016 and also triumphed last year.

“It was really enjoyable to drive today.”

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez couldn’t get past Q2 after he found the gravel while pushing during a fast lap ending up in eleventh place.

Pierre Gasly of Alpine finished fourth with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth for Mercedes. His Mercedes team-mate George Russell was eliminated after Q2, with the two drivers making contact during the session.

“George just backed off,” said Hamilton over the radio. “That’s really dangerous.” Mercedes attributed the collision to miscommunication, ending Russell’s session and forcing a wing change for Hamilton.

Lance Stroll finished sixth as the lead Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso ninth. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished seventh and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg eighth.

Oscar Piastri rounded out the top ten in the second Mclaren.

Earlier, Charles Leclerc struggled through Q1 managing to finish a lowly 19th, complaining of issues in all left-hand corners.

Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou finished in 13th and rookie Nyck De Vries finsihed 14th for Alpha Tauri with his teammate Yuki Tsunoda following him in 15th.

Bottas finished 16th in the other Alfa with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen finishing 17th. The two Williams drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant finished 18th and 20th respectively.

With inputs from Reuters.