Piastri beats out Norris to take pole for Spanish GP
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Formula 1 leader Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris on Saturday.
Piastri used one last flying lap to knock Norris off the top spot and get the edge on the starting grid.
Sunday’s race promises to be a scintillating fight between the papaya-colored cars which have won six of the first eight races of the season and put Max Verstappen’s grip on F1 in jeopardy. Piastri leads Norris by three points in the standings through the first third of the season.
It was the Australian’s fourth pole of the season. He leads the field with four race victories, although Verstappen and Norris have topped the last two grands prix.
Verstappen’s Red Bull will start on Sunday from third. Verstappen, who is 25 points off Piastri’s lead, has won at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the past three years.
Piastri won from pole position in China and Bahrain, while he also pipped a pole-sitting Verstappen to win in Saudi Arabia and Miami. His only blemish was losing to Verstappen after taking pole in Imola two rounds ago.
The sensation of the F1 season blazed to a pace-setting lap in Spain that was two-tenths faster than Norris. Now he must make good on that by protecting his advantage on the long run from the starting grid to the first right-hand corner.
“It has been a good weekend so far. The car has been mega, and glad to put in some good laps as well,” Piastri said. “It is going be interesting tomorrow. It is a long way to Turn 1 so I got to make sure I make a good start.”
Norris knows how difficult that can be. He took the pole last year, only for Verstappen to sweep past him at the start and hold on to win the race for a fourth time overall.
“It is normally interesting, and we have a lot of quick guys behind us,” Norris.
Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton start from fourth and fifth.
‘Squeezing everything out of the car’
When asked if he hoped to be closer to his McLaren rivals, Verstappen responded with a terse “No.”
“We were lacking all weekend compared to them,” Verstappen said. “I’m here, squeezing everything out of the car. We had a decent Friday, made some final changes to the car but it wasn’t enough to challenge for the pole.”
Verstappen had pointed to Barcelona as another race in which he hoped to challenge the McLarens following his win in Italy two rounds ago, and Red Bull boss Christian Horner said his team needed to stay close to the front-runners to have a chance to make gains later in the season.
But the four-time world champion now has to get by both McLarens and hold them off if he wants to cut into their leads.
“It is going to be tough tomorrow,” Verstappen said. “That doesn’t mean we are not going to try.”
Yuki Tsunoda bottomed out for Red Bull and had the slowest time in the opening segment of qualifying. The Japanese driver will start from last place in a big blow for Verstappen’s new teammate.
Carlos Sainz also got culled early and will start from 18th in his Williams. That was the Spaniard’s worst qualifying result of the season.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli clocked the sixth best time, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar.
Home favorite Fernando Alonso closed out the top 10 for Aston Martin.
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