Mercedes secured the front row of the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix but third place for Max Verstappen puts him in a strong position to attack in tomorrow’s race.
Lewis Hamilton edged team mate Valtteri Bottas for pole position by less than a tenth of a second. Further back, Sergio Perez claimed fourth on his return, while Sebastian Vettel again failed to reach Q3.
Q1
The track temperature had already risen to 47C as Q1 began. The Williams drivers were first to join the track, nursing their soft tyres as they prepared to put in their first flying efforts.Besides the high temperatures, drivers had tricky wind conditions to deal with. George Russell said he experienced a strong gust as his first qualifying effort him behind team mate Nicholas Latifi. He improved with his second effort, however, putting him on course to continue his run of Q2 appearances.
Russell’s team mate plus the four Ferrari-powered customer cars occupied the bottom five places in the drop zone as the final runs began. However he found himself in heavy traffic.
“This is a complete mess,” said Russell as he picked his way in between the Mercedes and Ferraris in the final sector before beginning his last effort. Further ahead Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a quieter stretch of track and delivered a superb lap to claim 15th – his first appearance in Q2 this year.
Russell joined his team mate in elimination. Antonio Giovinazzi, who scraped his car on a kerb earlier in the session, was slowest. The Haas drivers couldn’t match the impressive practice pace shown by Romain Grosjean yesterday, though the two VF-20s managed to out-pace the Williams pair.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.908 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.089 |
| 18 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.099 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.532 |
| 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’18.697 |
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Q2
The Mercedes drivers took up their usual places at the top of the times as Q2 began. All 15 remaining drivers used soft tyres for their first runs, and Hamilton’s 1’16.013 put him half a second ahead of anyone who wasn’t his team mate.
Sergio Perez threatened to get closer until he made a mistake at turn 12, slithering wide. He took fifth place initially, but lost that to Charles Leclerc.
The Ferrari driver wasn’t happy with that effort, which he called a “horrible lap”. Even so, he was four-tenths of a second quicker than Sebastian Vettel, whose first run left him out of the top 10 in 11th. Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen joined him in the drop zone ahead of the final runs.
Raikkonen unusually opted for a set of medium tyres for his last effort. He was the only driver to do so, and didn’t manage to progress any further, but was able to demote Ocon’s soft-tyred Renault to 15th.
Vettel briefly got into the top 10, but another excellent qualifying effort by Pierre Gasly put his AlphaTauri into Q3 and spoiled Vettel’s afternoon. The Ferrari driver was only knocked out by two-thousandths of a second, but more worryingly was four tenths slower than his team mate. He said nothing to his team as he drove back to the garage.
Both Renaults were eliminated before the pole position shoot-out, and Daniil Kvyat failed to accompany his team mate into Q3. “The out-lap didn’t help but that was everything I had,” he told his team.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.168 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’17.192 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’17.198 |
| 14 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’17.386 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’17.567 |
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Q3
After turning their engines up for potentially the last time, the Mercedes drivers edged further away from their rivals as Q3 began. It was close between them, however: Hamilton provisionally claimed the top spot by five-hundredths of a second from his team mate.
Verstappen was seven-tenths of a second back. Meanwhile Alexander Albon in the other Red Bull, who’d left the pits close enough to Hamilton to provoke the Mercedes driver into taking evasive action, was another second behind his team mate. The pair were separated by the two Racing Points – Perez ahead of Stroll – plus Norris and Leclerc.
Neither Mercedes driver was able to improve their time with their final run as track conditions seemed to deteriorate. That secured Hamilton’s 92nd pole position of his career.
“It seemed like maybe the track was slower, I don’t know,” remarked Verstappen as he was confirmed in third place having also failed to improve his lap time. Albon improved his time, but was still further away from his team mate than Verstappen was from the Mercedes. It moved him past Norris and Leclerc, the Racing Point drivers separating them.
But having won the last race from fourth on the grid, Verstappen consoled himself with the thought of what he might do from third.
“Good effort Max,” said team principal Christian Horner on the radio, “I think that was all that was in there today so good starting grid for tomorrow.”
“Exactly,” Verstappen replied.
Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’15.584 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’15.643 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’16.292 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.482 |
| 5 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’16.589 |
| 6 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.029 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.044 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.084 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’17.087 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’17.136 |
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2020 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton’s record podium, Raikkonen’s record mileage
- F1 teams welcome ban on testing at new tracks for 2020
- Perez felt fit enough to return earlier – Szafnauer
- Bottas describes his season as “pretty bad” since the first race
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th August 2020, 15:13
One of the most boring qualifiers that I have ever sat through and Qually is often more fun than the actual race.
Fingers crossed for some entertainment tomorrow ;)
budchekov (@budchekov)
15th August 2020, 16:19
Yep agreed, totally predictable, again, not worth getting up for, I was so bored I went for coffee after Q2.
Maybe a track with fans packed in the stands gives a false illusion of excitement ?
Krusty yelling about nothing for an hour is headache inducing..
I’ve done a complete 180 on Qing, would sooner see one car on the track at a time….
S
15th August 2020, 17:17
Plenty of tyre fun in the F2 feature race.
All my fingers and toes are crossed that something even 1/10th as good happens in the F1 GP tomorrow.
Kribana (@krichelle)
15th August 2020, 15:18
8 tenths off his teammate and just a tenth ahead of the Mclarens, Leclerc and Gasly. Get Albon a better simulator for improved pace. At least he is not too far back on the grid.
ColdFly (@)
15th August 2020, 15:20
It’s so good to have Mercedes in there at the top, as they still make it a fight between their drivers.
Otherwise it might have been a boring Verstappen season :)
bosyber (@bosyber)
15th August 2020, 15:33
With my ZiggoGo app I am sure I would hear a lot of jubilant talk of brilliance and F1 DNA at that @coldfly, but I too am glad to see the two Mercedes drivers really being so close on Saturdays and fighting for pole
Behind Verstappen it’s also quite hard fought and intense too.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th August 2020, 18:15
@coldfly I like this :)
Ben
15th August 2020, 15:51
Where do you see the lap times from P2 to
See if max was the quickest on the long runs?
James Bond (@jamesbond)
15th August 2020, 16:22
Does it matter? Mercedes were probably not full throttle.
Neel Jani (@neelv27)
15th August 2020, 16:16
I’ll be honest here, I’ve never missed a qualifying session since I started watching the sport since 2003 but I’ve skipped the last three qualifying sessions and only watch the highlights on YouTube and I don’t regret it.
budchekov (@budchekov)
15th August 2020, 16:23
Yep, I’m done, won’t bother to get up at 5.30a for the next race Q…
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th August 2020, 18:20
You will awake in the early hours.
You wont know why.
You will stare at the ceiling wondering why your right foot feels colder than the left.
You will think “Qually Day!”
You will roll over and go back to sleep.
Balue (@balue)
15th August 2020, 16:44
Alpha-Tauri one tenth behind Ferrari is not bad at all.
Shocking gap between the Red Bull drivers, but then maybe Verstappen is as good as Albon is average. (for example a good qualifier like Ricciardo would be 0.35 behind, and Albon would be 0.35 behind Ricciardo again, explaining the 0.7 gap now)
Archit (@architjain07)
15th August 2020, 19:19
@balue – Is that a dig at Ricciardo, since I don’t remember Ricciardo qualifying 0.35 seconds off Verstappen on a regular basis. They were always similarly matched! I can agree that Ver is faster than Ric but may be by 0.05-0.1 sec. Get your facts right please! Ricciardo is a top class driver with on par skills as Ver, Ham and Leclerc.
Balue (@balue)
15th August 2020, 21:01
@architjain07 Why do you say that when there were races with bigger gaps than that and he was regularly behind? Seems it is you who should get the facts straight. 0.35s is not unusual between team mates at all, but I am obviously extrapolating to the possible situation today where Verstappen would have further improved and become truly excellent, and that Albon is just average – referenced by a good qualifyer like Ricciardo who would be in the middle, thus making sense of the big gap.
Your explanation for the current gap?
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
15th August 2020, 21:31
@architjain07
Ricciardo and Verstappen were closer than Verstappen and albon, but I don’t think I would say they were always “similarly matched” in qualifying.
If I just judge the sessions that they both got though to Q3 in 2017 and 2018, Verstappen beat Ricciardo 19 out of 28 times. So nearly 70% of the time. Then looking at the gaps, there are some very interesting points. All the gaps are just missing out races that they both didn’t set a realistic lap time or had bad luck. Also not including the times one messed up in Q3 meaning they didn’t set a time, or just a poor first run. They both did this at times.
2017:
Bahrain: Ricciardo by 0.142
Russia: Ricciardo by 0.256
Spain: Verstappen by 0.469
Monaco: Verstappen by 0.502
Canada: Verstappen by 0.154
Austria: Ricciardo by 0.087
Hungary: Verstappen by 0.021
Belgium: Verstappen by 0.483
Italy: Verstappen by 0.139
Singapore: Verstappen by 0.026
Malaysia: Verstappen by 0.054
Japan: Ricciardo by 0.026
United States: Ricciardo by 0.081
Mexico: Verstappen by 0.873
Brazil: Verstappen by 0.405
Abu Dhabi: Ricciardo by 0.369
2018:
Australia: Verstappen by 0.272
China: Verstappen by 0.152
Azerbaijan: Ricciardo by 0.083
Spain: Verstappen by 0.002
Canada: Verstappen by 0.179
France: Verstappen by 0.190
Austria: Verstappen by 0.156
Great Britain: Verstappen by 0.497
Belgium: Verstappen by 0.170
Singapore Verstappen by 0.662
Mexico: Ricciardo by 0.026
Abu Dhabi Ricciardo by 0.188
Out of the 9 times Ricciardo beat Verstappen, 5 of them were by under a tenth of a second, so very little. There were only a couple of occasions in these two years that Ricciardo looked comfortably faster and that was in Russia and Abu Dhabi 2017. In 2018, when they both made it to the end of Q3, Ricciardo only out qualified Verstappen 3 times. Over this time, there have been 7 occasions where Verstappen has managed to be very close to – or over half a second faster than Ricciardo. There were also quite a few occasions where they were very close (singapore to USA in 2017), but over all in this time with Verstappen winning 19/28 of the ones I’m including, (usually by larger margins) I don’t think I could say they are even close to evenly matched overall in qualifying pace.
And since Ricciardo has moved to Renault, I would say his mistakes have increased. We can have a different opinion, but I would say Hamilton and Verstappen are both significantly better than Ricciardo now.
Balue (@balue)
16th August 2020, 5:56
@thegianthogweed quality comment and agree Ricciardo’s recent qually form has not been stellar. One could also argue that a big part of why he left Red Bull was to not see the gaps widen further between himself and Verstappen.
David BR (@david-br)
15th August 2020, 16:51
Judging by the above feedback, reining in Mercedes’ qualifying won’t be such a bad thing. Still can’t see them actually losing the front of the grid, but it is quite something that the nearest other car is 0.7 off – and an exceptionally talented driver in prime form at that (compare with Albon…). Obviously Mercedes are being penalized for being too good at their job. But Wolff’s comments suggest they know it’s damaging to be too much ahead. A bit like this.
anon
15th August 2020, 17:05
@david-br mind you, there does seem to be a considerable irony in seeing the sorts of fans who normally shout abuse at the FIA for knee-jerk reactions now wanting to impose the very sort of knee-jerk reaction they’d normally decry.
David BR (@david-br)
15th August 2020, 17:57
Mercedes could contest this, I’m sure, if they really felt the need. As @coldfly suggests, and Ian below, maybe more a case of a move to allow Ferrari as an engine supplier to look a little less bad.
anon
15th August 2020, 21:01
@david-br there are, however, some rumours going round in the Italian press that Mercedes weren’t even using their most powerful engine modes during that qualifying session (only using the second most powerful mode they have available to them).
If that is the case, then maybe it might be the case that they don’t need to contest it if Mercedes are that far ahead when they’re not turning their engines up to their maximum power setting whilst everybody else are – and it would perhaps suggest those going on about Mercedes’s engines have ended up fixating on the wrong thing.
In pressuring the FIA to rush through a change in the desperate hope of hobbling Mercedes, it might also be the case that those other teams are about to accidentally cripple themselves even more than they hurt Mercedes, only exaggerating their performance gap – which would be a rather ironic twist if that were to happen.
ColdFly (@)
15th August 2020, 17:06
Even if Mercedes’ ‘party mode’ is that much better, it will not change the top 3 I think.
It might though demote RP from being RBR fighters, and throw Williams firmly back behind Haas and Alfa Romeo.
@david-br
David BR (@david-br)
15th August 2020, 17:56
@coldfly We’ll see come Spa, but I think you’re right. Seems more a case of putting everyone else back in their ‘right’ places and making Ferrari (and their engines) look a little better.
Ads
15th August 2020, 17:09
In q1 & q2 when Mercedes don’t use their qualifying power modes they qere still half a second faster than verstappan. If you think this ban is gonna mean verstappan cor any other driver can beat Mercedes you are gonna be disappointed. Mercedes aren’t qualifying 1st & 2nd because of a magic button. The Mercedes car is still going to be miles faster.
Wooolfy1
15th August 2020, 20:58
From what I saw on Twitter, some are reporting that Merc did not use their Party Mode or change the engine modes through qualifying today. It doesn’t bode well for the ones who are after the ban. In fact, it will give Merc the advantage in race action when overtaking or defending against an engine with lower power, since the power levels are soon fixed and that gives Merc the edge.
ian dearing
15th August 2020, 17:15
Bad thing? Definitely not for RB. Those RPs behind Max are getting quite close, so at least they will drop back from Max. He will be relieved. And next year he won’t have to worry about the McLarens taking the odd podium either.
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th August 2020, 21:44
Max doesn’t care anyways they will not pass him.
LEMAYIAN (@lems)
15th August 2020, 17:01
I genuinely feel for Vettel.
lucifer (@lucifer)
15th August 2020, 21:36
+ 1
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
15th August 2020, 17:03
Why did Kimi run the second stint on medium? Was he saving soft for the race or he actually faster on medium in previous sessions?
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
15th August 2020, 17:28
Strategic Advantage in the battle for the Win if he was to go through to Q3 :^)
Rodber
15th August 2020, 17:43
I’m also puzzled, though I have suspect the medium delivered a better sector three than the soft, but I could be wrong there….
Wil-Liam (@wil-liam)
15th August 2020, 17:03
So Racing won’t be much fun if Mercedes wasn’t there. Compared to Lewis’s 30 points lead Max would have been 50 points ahead of Charles. Yeah blame Lewis and Mercedes for everything.
ian dearing
15th August 2020, 17:22
If Max hadn’t had a DNF and RB didn’t pit for the fastest lap Max would be leading the championship. But its those pesky Mercs that need pegging back
Telvee32 (@telvee32)
15th August 2020, 17:59
Revisionist history. Max was pitted at Silverstone for two reasons – a shot at fastest lap, but mainly because Bottas’ front left blew up and his own front left was also on the verge of exploding. Red Bull took the safe option. They would have looked extremely silly if they didn’t pit and the tyre had exploded – remember Bottas went out of the points because of it, not to mention Ferrari throwing it all on the line in 2017 at the same circuit and having it blow up in their faces.
And whether or not you agree with this odd choice by the FIA, you cannot seriously argue, when you look at the pace difference between the two teams, that Red Bull are even remotely close to Mercedes.
ian dearing
15th August 2020, 18:51
Talk about revisionist history. Go and watch the race again. Max pitted because he was 30s up the road from his nearest competitor. And remind us of the gap to the Mercs just before he pitted? A lot less. And he pitted to get the fastest lap. If you are going to talk about the gap between the Mercs and the RBs, dont ignore the gap between Max and those behind him.
ian dearing
15th August 2020, 18:54
And I’m not ignoring the gap between the RB and Mercs. I realise they have been so poor for years that they need as much outside as help as possible. Including taking a bit of RP’s qualifying pace away.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
16th August 2020, 9:40
You say “go watch the race again” as if you know everything. Horner after the race said Verstappen reported serious vibration. They elected to make the pit stop and then found a whole load of cuts to the tyre. He then said there was no guarantee he would have got to the end of the race. The reason for Verstappen pitting was as much or more related to tyre concerns rather than fastest lap.
Rodber
15th August 2020, 17:49
I’m putting half-a dollar on Kimi trying a one-stopper and getting a point or two for Alfa.
Fingers crossed Ocon doesn’t play dirty…..
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
15th August 2020, 17:51
I think it was Brundle who said during the session that with the hard tires been so useless this weekend he was told that everyone would qualify on the softs (Which they did) & that they would do a soft>Medium heavy tire management 1-stop tomorrow as that is the fastest strategy given how difficult it is to pass on this track. The risk of making a 2nd stop & coming out behind somebody only to get stuck is too risky.
If the hard was a more useful tire maybe they would have some more options but with only 1 new set of mediums which is the best race tire we getting a tire management race which i guess isn’t surprising for formula tire (something Brundle said he’s getting fed up with also).
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
15th August 2020, 18:14
How boringly predictable. I have could almost chosen this order before anyone set wheel on the circuit. I don’t bother watching qualifying anymore.
The dominance of Mercedes is doing this sport untold damage as the FIA realise. Roll on 2022 and please let it be better.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th August 2020, 18:23
Nine times out of ten Qually is better than the race @phil-f1-21
Hang in there ;)
The above statement doe’s not bode well for the race does it ….. sorry :(
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
15th August 2020, 20:15
Sounded quite negative I admit. You never know, we may be in for a classic ;-)
wilkof1 (@wilkof1)
15th August 2020, 19:41
bit harsh to say mercedes are doing untold damage to the sport. i get that its a bit boring at times but for me f1 has always been about teams pushing the limits of what is possible, and watching the mercs sheer speed is incredible to watch. ferrari and redbull simply dont seem to have any answer but thats on them, they are the ones that need to improve, not just rely on the fia to peg the mercs
DaveW (@dmw)
15th August 2020, 19:50
Less than a tenth covering 6th through 10th though. There’s going to be a tight race in the midfield.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
15th August 2020, 19:18
To me the races come down to can Verstappen beat Bottas…
OOliver
15th August 2020, 19:32
How many get excited watching division 3 football, a few perhaps. The real excitement is in the professional series. F1 is the professional series of motor racing. Mercedes are doing a professional job, it is thus left for the others to step up their game. They are not running with a 12 liter engine or six wheels. They have done their homework well. They have shown what true team effort can accomplish.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
15th August 2020, 21:18
I enjoy watching Lewis and Mercedes make history, and I enjoy watching their rivals watch Lewis and Mercedes make history.
budchekov (@budchekov)
15th August 2020, 19:46
I get excited about RACING, anything on four wheels, earlier watching Sheena Monk, (coming back from a horrendous crash at Laguna Seca in 2018) and Corey Lewis win in the McLaren 570S GT4 at Road America was no third division football…
David (@davidjwest)
15th August 2020, 22:31
Mercedes reckon Verstappen is favourite:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53793811
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
15th August 2020, 22:32
RedBull has a second driver problem, to the tune of 7 tenths.
The rest fairly predictable.