Norris secures the second pole position of his career, four teams take pole at four races in a row for the first time in 12 years and the Red Bull junior team record their first ever double Q1 exit at Catalunya. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
NORRIS ON POLE FOR 2024 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
1,000 days since he last started a Grand Prix from pole position, Lando Norris secured the second pole of his career at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. Norris’ first pole position came at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix – though he has taken pole for two Sprint events since then.
Norris secured pole position by 0.020 seconds – the second smallest pole margin in Catalunya’s history on the Formula 1 calendar.
Norris secured McLaren’s first Spanish Grand Prix pole since 2005, when Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap time.
This was the tenth pole position for a British driver at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
McLaren are the fourth different team to take pole position in the last four races. It is the first time four different teams have started from pole position at four consecutive races in 12 years, since the 2012 Malaysian, Chinese, Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix.
Excluding post-qualifying penalties, this is the first time a different team has been fastest in four consecutive Q3 sessions since 2009, when Red Bull, Renault, McLaren and Force India were fastest in Q3 at the German, Hungarian, European and Belgian Grands Prix.
It’s also the first time in Catalunya’s history that four teams have taken pole at the track in four consecutive years.
IN THE TOP 10
Setting the second fastest time in Q3 for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen will start on the front row at Catalunya for a fourth consecutive season.
Lewis Hamilton recorded his best qualifying result of the season to date, setting the third fastest time in qualifying for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. This was the first time Hamilton has qualified in the top five since last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the first time he has qualified in the top three since last year’s United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton out-qualified team-mate George Russell for only the second time this year. He last out-qualified his team-mate at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.
With Charles Leclerc qualifying fifth and Carlos Sainz sixth, this was the first time since 2020 that neither Ferrari driver qualified in the top four for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez qualified eighth for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, reaching Q3 for the first time since the Miami Grand Prix.
As a result of his grid penalty, Perez – the driver of car number 11 – will start 11th for the 1,111th round in World Championship history.
For the first time since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, both Alpine drivers appeared in Q3. Both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon recorded their best qualifying results of the year to date, with seventh and ninth place respectively.
This was Ocon’s first Q3 appearance since last year’s COTA race and Gasly’s second Q3 appearance of the year, after the Monaco Grand Prix.
After his first lap time was deleted and he made mistake on his second run, Oscar Piastri failed to set a lap time in Q3 and qualified tenth – his worst qualifying result of the season to date. Piastri also qualified tenth here last year.
McLaren and Alpine are the only teams to reach Q3 with both cars at the Spanish Grand Prix in both 2023 and 2024.
Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri maintained their 100% Q3 appearances rates at the Spanish Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher is the only other driver in that club.
OUT IN Q2
Fernando Alonso was eliminated in Q2, qualifying in 11th place. It was the fourth time this year that Alonso has not progressed to Q3 – the fourth time it has happened in the last five races.
Both Alonso and Lance Stroll were out in Q2, marking the fourth time in the last five races that neither Aston Martin driver has qualified in the top ten.
Both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu reached Q2 at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. It was the first time neither Sauber driver exited in Q1 since the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix, when both cars reached Q3.
This was Zhou’s first non-Q1 exit of the 2024 season.
Recording his seventh Q2 exit at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Nico Hulkenberg overtook Jenson Button as the driver with the most Q2 eliminations at the track.
OUT IN Q1
With his 72nd Q1 exit at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen overtook Marcus Ericsson as the driver who has recorded the most Q1 eliminations since the knockout system was introduced at the start of 2006.
Williams recorded their first double Q1 elimination of the 2024 season, with both Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant exiting in the first stage of qualifying. It was the team’s first double Q1 exit since the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
Alex Albon qualified 19th, exiting in Q1 for the first time this year. This was his first back row qualification since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Logan Sargeant qualified 20th for the third time this year, having also qualified last at the Chinese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix.
This was the third time in the last six seasons that the two Williams drivers have set the two slowest lap times in Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix – as well as the sixth time in the last seven seasons that both Williams drivers have exited in Q1 at Catalunya.
Along with Williams, RB also recorded their first double Q1 exit of the year. This was the team’s first double Q1 elimination since the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. It marked the first time that the Red Bull junior team has ever recorded a double Q1 elimination at the Spanish Grand Prix.
This marked the first time in Daniel Ricciardo’s career that he has been out in Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix. Ricciardo’s previous worst qualifying result at the track was 15th, recorded in 2012.
Yuki Tsunoda exited in Q1 for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix. It ended a streak of four consecutive Q3 appearances.
