MONTMELO, Spain: World champion Max Verstappen claimed his maiden pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after leading qualifying Saturday on the Montmelo circuit outside Barcelona.
The championship leader took his fifth pole of a season already dominated by Red Bull to start ahead of Ferrari’s Spanish driver Carlos Sainz with Britain’s Lando Norris of McLaren in third.
“Not bad,” said Verstappen, with his customary understatement. “It’s very nice to come here and get my first pole. I like the circuit and I have a lot of good memories here.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took fifth place on the grid, ahead of Canadian Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
Local hero Fernando Alonso could only set the ninth fastest time after damaging his car when going off the track in the second qualifying period.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon of Alpine, who took third place in Monaco last weekend, will start in seventh, ahead of German Nico Huelkenberg of Haas, while Australian Oscar Piastri will complete the top 10 in a McLaren.
Qualifying was contested on a slippery track at the start of the session and it featured several big surprises.
First it was Monaco’s Charles Leclerc who was eliminated in Q1 and he will only start in 19th and penultimate place.
Then Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate, Mexican Sergio Pérez, who made a mistake and took a lap in the gravel, was taken out in Q2 and will start in 11th, ahead of Briton George Russell, who also disappointed with the other Mercedes.
Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix
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Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix
- The championship leader took his fifth pole of a season already dominated by Red Bull to start ahead of Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz
- "Not bad," said Verstappen, with his customary understatement
US driver Guthrie leads Dakar after Stage 3 sweep for Ford
- Five-time winner Al-Attiyah had led the standings after Monday’s stage but dropped to 11 minutes and 39 seconds off the pace
ALULA, Saudi Arabia: Ford Raptors filled the top five places in the Dakar Rally as American Mitch Guthrie Jr. won the third 421km stage in Saudi Arabia, his first victory in the top car category, and took the overall lead on Tuesday.
Guthrie ended the loop starting and finishing in AlUla with a 26 second overall lead over Czech driver Martin Prokop with Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom third.
“We started at the back and (co-driver) Kellon (Walch) killed it with the navigation,” said Guthrie.
“There were a lot of tricky spots, but we had no flat tires. The car was great so we just kept moving all day, really.”
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, a four-time Dakar winner still competing at 63, was in fourth place overall and compatriot Nani Roma fifth.
Brazilian Lucas Moraes was sixth with Dacia Sandrider teammates Cristina Gutierrez, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb seventh, 10th and 12th respectively.
Five-time winner Al-Attiyah had led the standings after Monday’s stage but dropped to 11 minutes and 39 seconds off the pace.
Al-Attiyah, who suffered two punctures, was the only driver of Monday’s leading six to remain in the top 10. Toyota had filled the top five places in Monday’s stage.
Nine-time world rally champion Loeb also lost time with two punctures in the first 100km and no further spare tire after that.
“We’re driving at about 20 percent of our capacity just to avoid punctures and we still get them,” said the Frenchman.
“You don’t see the punctures coming and with two flat tires and 300 km to go, I had no spare wheels left so we drove the rest of the stage at crawling pace.
“I’m just happy to be at the finish because at one point I really didn’t think we were going to make it.”
In the motorcycle category, Spain’s Tosha Schareina won the stage for Honda with Australia’s defending champion Daniel Sanders retaining the overall lead on a KTM, one minute and seven seconds ahead of Honda’s Ricky Brabec.
Wednesday’s fourth stage is 417km from AlUla with an overnight bivouac in the desert.
