Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated FP3 and Qualifying to secure pole position for 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc dominated Friday Practice yesterday (20 May) and continued his pace as he finished fastest in FP3 before blitzing Qualifying to claim pole, albeit after recovering from a spin on his first Q3 flier.
Max Verstappen qualified second ahead of home favourite, Carlos Sainz who was third quickest in a Ferrari one-three finish.
Now here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying for 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
FP3
McLaren’s Lando Norris was first out on track following an overnight chassis change and proceeded to set the benchmark time of 1m 23.641 on medium tyres, which Valtteri Bottas swiftly bettered on soft tyres as he posted 1m 21.326 to go top.
Pierre Gasly and Mick Schumacher’s sessions both came to premature ends in the opening 15 minutes with respective technical and rear brake issues, with both drivers failing to register a soft-tyre lap time whilst Gasly didn’t even set a flying lap.
Up front, Leclerc headed Verstappen and Sainz at the half-hour mark with 1m 20.278 on soft tyres.
Sainz then went fastest briefly in the 37th minute with 1m 20.129 as the Qualifying simulations got underway, but Leclerc moments later set a session-topping 1m 19.772 which wasn’t bettered by anyone else in the remainder of FP3.
Verstappen found himself 0.072 seconds slower in second with Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sat third and fourth respectively, ahead of Sainz, Sergio Perez, Norris, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 19.772 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.072 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.148 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.230 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.357 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.488 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.631 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.874 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.009 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.110 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.138 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.172 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.209 |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.429 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.677 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.748 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.800 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.647 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 5.695 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | No Time Set |
Qualifying
Q1
Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou was first out on a hot track and set the benchmark of 1m 21.065 but was displaced by Perez, Verstappen, Sainz then eventually Leclerc who topped the session with 1m 19.861.
Down in the elimination zone, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Gasly, Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi occupied the bottom five spots once everyone posted at least one lap time.
Come the checkered flag, only Gasly and Schumacher escaped elimination as Stroll outqualified Albon in 18th and 19th positions ahead of Latifi, whilst home favourite – Fernando Alonso suffered a shock Q1 exit.
Sebastian Vettel in 16th meanwhile missed out on Q2 by just 0.074s to Ocon.
Q2
A quiet start to Q2 saw nobody head out in the opening three minutes until a flurry of cars ventured out all together, with Hamilton setting benchmark lap time of 1m 19.794 but Russell quickly bettered his time by 0.324s and led the way once everyone posted their opening lap times.
Down in the drop zone, the bottom five compromised of; Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly.
Once the checkered flag fell, only Ricciardo escaped elimination at the expense of his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris who qualified 11th after his final lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 12.
Ocon was 12th fastest ahead of Tsunoda and Gasly who leapfrogged Zhou on their final flying laps.
Verstappen meanwhile finished Q2 as the fastest driver with 1m 19.219 on his final flying lap.
Q3
Schumacher was first out on track ahead of his Haas teammate, Kevin Magnussen with everyone soon following the pair out onto the circuit shortly afterwards.
Hamilton soon set the first representative benchmark of 1m 19.664 but he was quickly displaced by Sainz who posted 1m 19.423 to go top, just moments before Leclerc spun out of the final chicane which impacted Russell who went 0.180s slower than Sainz.
Verstappen however avoided the yellow flags as he proceeded to go fastest with 1m 19.073 to go top by 0.350s from Sainz as Perez slotted into third ahead of Russell, Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Schumacher out of the nine drivers who set lap times in opening runs.
Once everyone had returned to the pitlane to regroup ahead of their final runs, Leclerc was first out on track with three minutes left.
At the checkered flag, Leclerc claimed pole position with 1m 18.750 as Verstappen lost power and pitted on his final lap, which left the Dutchman second on the grid ahead of Sainz, Russell, Perez, Hamilton, Bottas, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Schumacher.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 18.750 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.323 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.416 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.643 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.670 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.762 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.858 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.932 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.547 |
| 10 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.618 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 2 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.167 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.168 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.392 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.623 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1m 20.954 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.089 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.464 |
| 19 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.691 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 0.961 |
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