MONTMELO,
Verstappen didn’t even need to use all of his time in qualifying after he set an untouchable flying lap.
“I knew there was quite a bit of potential in the car and that I could push it to the limit, and it was pretty quick,” Formula One’s points leader said. “Then I went out again for the second one, and it would have been even better, but I think the (team) got a bit excited and told me to abort.”
Verstappen and Pérez have swept all six races this season. Verstappen leads Pérez by 39 points.
Verstappen's fourth pole position on the season gives him 24 in his career.
“I have a lot of great memories here and hopefully we can have another one tomorrow,” he said.
Verstappen showed in 2016 that he would one day become a force in F1 when he became the youngest race winner ever at age 18 in his debut for
He is poised for another race win given his car’s performance and the precedent of pole-sitters winning 23 of 32 races at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“It was just a misunderstanding, a lack of communication in the garage during an intense moment so no one is to blame,"
Pierre Gasly had posted the fourth-best time, but he was given two three-place grid penalties for two incidents of reckless driving, knocking the Alpine driver back to 10th.
Rain during the third practice earlier Saturday left some wet patches that caused several cars to spin into the gravel early in qualifying.
Alonso and Pérez both veered off course.
Alonso took the blame for banging up the floor of his Aston Martin by grinding it through the gravel.
“This cost us some crucial lap time,” he said. “It’s a shame as I think we had the pace to be fighting at the front. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. … The fans have been amazing, so we’ll be trying to put on a show for them in the race.”
Tens of thousands of Spanish supporters have turned out to cheer for Alonso, a two-time champion who after many years of mediocre cars and a stint away from F1 is enjoying a resurgence at age 41 with his new Aston Martin team.
After several street circuits this season, the Spanish GP’s traditional racing track is considered by many teams as a great opportunity to introduce new upgrades and see the real pecking order of the grid.
The 4.6-kilometer (2.8-mile) Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is well known to drivers thanks it staging Spanish GPs for three decades and, until this year, preseason testing in winter.
But the track layout has undergone a modification to its last sector after the removal of a chicane – back-to-back sharp turns that forced drivers to slow down. That leaves two high-speed turns before the final straight in a return to a layout used until 2006.
“It is a lot more enjoyable to drive,” Verstappen said. “Coming into the last corner brings a smile to me face. It really brings the car alive.”
___
More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
© 2023 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source