Leclerc takes his fourth pole of the year, Haas reach Q3 with both cars for the first time since 2019 and Alonso is out in Q1 at home for the first time. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix!
LECLERC ON POLE
Charles Leclerc took pole position for the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. He became the 17th different driver to take pole at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Leclerc secured Ferrari’s eighth pole position at the circuit. It was the team’s first pole at the track since 2008.
This was the 13th pole position of Leclerc’s career, seeing him join a group of six other drivers who took pole at 13 races during their career. Other drivers who did so are Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber.
Leclerc has now qualified on the front row at all of the first six races of the 2022 season. This was his first pole of the year. He had never previously qualified in the top four here.
Ferrari become the first team other than Mercedes to take pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix since Williams in 2012.
THE TOP 10
Max Verstappen qualified on the front row at the Spanish Grand Prix for the second year in a row. He maintained his 100% Q3 record at the circuit. Michael Schumacher is the only other driver to reach Q3 on every appearance here.
Qualifying in third place, Carlos Sainz qualified in the top four for the first time at his home event. Sainz makes this the third time from Ferrari’s last three poles at the track that their other driver qualified in third place.
George Russell recorded his best qualifying result of the year to date with fourth place.
Lewis Hamilton qualified in sixth place, recording his worst Spanish Grand Prix qualifying result since qualifying 14th in 2009. Hamilton set a new outright record for most Q3 appearances at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Qualifying in seventh place for Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas became the first driver for the former Sauber team to qualify in the top ten at the Spanish Grand Prix since both drivers reached Q3 in 2012.
With Lando Norris eliminated in Q2 for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified his McLaren team-mate for the first time in 2022.
Qualifying in tenth place, Mick Schumacher reached Q3 for the first time in his career.
Kevin Magnussen also qualified in the top ten, making this the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix that both Haas drivers have qualified inside the top ten.
OUT IN Q1
Fernando Alonso recorded his first Q1 exit since last year’s Mexico City Grand Prix. This was the first time that Alonso has been eliminated in Q1 at his home event, as well as his worst Spanish Grand Prix qualifying result since qualifying 18th in 2001.
For the first time since 2015, neither of the Silverstone-based team’s drivers reached Q3 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel recorded his first Q1 exit at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya since 2008.
For the fourth time in his six Spanish Grand Prix appearances, Lance Stroll was eliminated in Q1. He equalled Adrian Sutil as the driver with the second-most Q1 eliminations at the venue.
With Alex Albon 19th and Nicholas Latifi 20th, Williams set the slowest two times in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time since 2019.
Latifi qualified on the back row for the fifth time in this year’s six race weekends. This was the first time Latifi has qualified last at the Spanish Grand Prix.
