When the 50th Spanish Grand Prix gets underway at 15.10 CET tomorrow at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel will start from the fifth and sixth rows of the grid respectively.
Out by 2 thousandths. Both Scuderia Ferrari drivers got through to Q2 without too much difficulty. They then took the track for the second phase immediately running the Soft tyres, the only possible choice as the times through the field were so close, that qualifying on the Mediums would have been impossible for everyone. Charles first run produced a good 1’16”953, while Sebastian stopped the clocks in 1’17”395. They then pitted for another set of new softs to try and improve. However, with the track temperature rising steadily, it was not a given and Leclerc was unable to improve, but he had done enough to get to Q3. Sebastian moved up to tenth with a 1’17”168, just 5 thousandths off Alex Albon in the Red Bull. The last car across the line was Lando Norris in the McLaren whose time was just two thousandths faster than Vettel’s thus relegating the Ferrari man to eleventh place.
Q3. Charles had a single set of new Softs for the final part of qualifying, but he went out for a first run on used tyres to do a 1’17”297. Then with the new set he improved to 1’17”087, just three thousandths slower than Norris to ensure he starts from ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.