McLaren’s Oscar Piastri secured pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix, beating teammate Lando Norris by 0.209 seconds. The Australian driver made a stunning lap to edge out his British counterpart, who had been faster in the early stages of final qualifying but suffered an error on his last lap.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third place, 0.302 seconds behind Piastri, while Mercedes driver George Russell qualified fourth with the same time as Verstappen. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished fifth, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in sixth.
The pole position result suggests that the rule change aimed at restricting the flexing of front wings for aerodynamic gain has had limited impact on McLaren. Piastri praised his car, saying it had been “mega” throughout the weekend, while Norris attributed his error to small mistakes in corners. Verstappen’s performance was hampered by trying a different approach to preparing his tyres, which did not work.
The result sets up an intriguing battle between Mercedes and Ferrari for the top spots on Sunday’s podium. With McLaren’s pace seemingly unaffected by the rule change, the team will be confident of a strong race.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/ce80epy1e2lo