McLaren is back on pole position after an absence of 1001 days. Lando Norris was quickest today, just as he was in Sochi on 25 September 2021 in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix. Norris’ time of 1’11”383 was just 20 thousandths quicker than Max Verstappen’s 1’11”403. Behind them, the next four drivers are all within 35 thousandths. The second row is an all-Mercedes affair (1’11”701 for Lewis Hamilton, 1’11”703 for George Russell), while the Ferrari duo occupy row 3 (1’11”731 for Charles Leclerc, 1’11”736 for Carlos Sainz). This was Norris’ second career pole, McLaren’s 157th, its tenth at this Grand Prix. The Woking squad’s last pole at the Barcelona-Catalunya track dates back to 2005 when Kimi Raikkonen was fastest.

THE DAY ON TRACK
The third free practice session saw several teams work exclusively on qualifying simulation runs, while others also replicated some parts of the race, running different fuel loads, trying to acquire further data on tyre behaviour and management.

Qualifying confirmed what had already emerged yesterday: on a track as hard on tyres as Barcelona, peak performance comes on the first flying lap and after that, it’s practically impossible to improve. For the race, having a set of new Softs available could be an advantage, especially if fitted for the start.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Lando Norris by Massimiliano “Max” Sirena, Team Director and skipper of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Sirena is a two-time winner of the America’s Cup, in 2010 and 2017, with two wins in the Challenger Series in 2000 and 2021, competitions in which he has taken part in various roles five times before: now he has his sights set on further wins with the new AC75 in Barcelona.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“Another extremely close qualifying, with very small gaps and several teams and drivers looking capable at some point or other of being quickest. With today’s pole for Norris, it means that four teams – Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and now McLaren – have managed to start from the number one slot on the grid. On a track that is very demanding for the entire car-engine-tyre package, today we saw that performance increases from one year to the next are really significant. Today’s pole time is almost a second quicker than last year’s and over half a second better than the average of the simulations we received from the teams.

As for tyre use in the race, one has to keep in mind the considerable drop in temperatures we saw today, particularly on the track surface, which was around ten degrees cooler than yesterday afternoon. While this drop did not have any significant effect over a flying lap, it could be an important factor tomorrow, even if in fact there is a real chance it might rain. In the dry, that means the Medium and Soft dry compounds offer the best performance. On paper, the quickest strategy does indeed involve the use of two sets of C3 and one of C2. We can rule out a one-stop strategy because it’s too slow, but the idea of a four stint, three-stop race is not so far-fetched, being only a handful of seconds slower than a two-stop. How the drivers manage tyre performance over each stint will also be very important, something which the teams worked on very carefully in the final free practice session."

FORMULA 2
Victor Martins took victory in the Barcelona Sprint Race, producing a measured drive to secure his first win of the season. The ART Grand Prix driver took the lead as the lights went out and never relinquished it all the way to the chequered flag. After a difficult opening lap, Kush Maini (Invicta Racing) recovered to take a great second place, with Juan Manuel Correa, driving for the DAMS Lucas Oil team, coming home third to stand on a Formula 2 podium for the first time since 2019.

As predicted, tyre degradation made itself felt significantly in the second part of the race. Those who did the best job of managing this were presented with opportunities to move up the order, while those who pushed too hard in the early stages paid the price, some also being penalised for exceeding track limits, especially at turn 13.

FORMULA 3
Local team Campos Racing had a perfect Saturday, with its drivers finishing first and third in a hectic race which saw two appearances from the Safety Car. The win went to Spain’s Mari Boya, his maiden victory in this category, after he fought off the advances of Ireland’s Alexander Dunne (MP Motorsport) at the second restart, with his team-mate Oliver Goethe third with a final sprint that saw the three podium finishers separated by less than a second.

As for the tyres, degradation was generally under control. The two neutralisations obviously helped those who had been particularly aggressive in the early stages, over a long run, but those who opted for better tyre management found overtaking easier.