The rain ahead of Q1 led to a lot of mistakes and red flags in the section – Fernando Alonso was injured in an accident which meant he was not a pole threat.

In another Red Bull car, Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q2 as he also went off the track in tricky situations throughout the race.

In a completely dry Q3, Verstappen was the only runner on the new soft tyres, and achieved a lightning-fast provisional pole time of 1m 12.272s.

It ended up being pole time as the Dutchman’s rival – leading on the road – couldn’t threaten even with the new tyres.

Home hero Carlos Sainz stormed to the front row on the final lap to set personal bests in all three areas, beating his former team-mate Lando Norris, who finished third for McLaren .

Then there’s Pierre Gasly, who faces two post-qualifying investigations after he appeared to hinder Sainz and Verstappen at different events in a busy Q1.

Lewis Hamilton, second after his first Q3 race on old tyres, looked to be Verstappen’s main threat to pole, but the Englishman paid the price for not improving enough in the final session , he could only finish fifth with his best lap in the final stretch.

Lance Stroll finished sixth as Aston Martin’s leader, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, who made just one run in Q3 – offset from the others and in the final The aircraft is set up a few minutes before.

Alonso leads in these areas as Aston spends the most time working on his damaged floor, but he never appears to have been in the race for the top spot, beating out only Oscar Piastri Finished 10th.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, leaving the garage

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

Verstappen, who was last in the final round, was ordered to forego his final pit stop flight after having already secured pole position for a lack of progress by others.

Q2 was dry throughout, but took its toll as Perez entered the gravel at Turn 5 and hit the slick painted curb on the outside line as his last flier entered the downhill left, and it cost him.

He had plenty of time to reset the clock when he was just inside the top 10, but progress from others meant he was at serious risk of being eliminated.

Perez set personal bests in all three areas but was unable to beat Hulkenberg’s time and was thus 11th at 0.051s.

The final lap was finished behind Russell – the Mercedes driver finished 12th but was also at war, passing team-mate Hamilton ahead of their final Q2 race.

Hamilton didn’t make it to the final moto, but his right front wing end plate was knocked off on contact, while Russell was knocked out as his last effort failed – an incident that also involved Russell Er passed Sainz on his inside in a cool way – on the next lap, Hamilton got a big traction to get close to the other Mercedes.

The incident will be investigated after the meeting, and Russell also complained throughout the second quarter that his tires were not working as expected – the Briton saved a big advantage in Turn 11, with Nick de Vries in the first The quarter rotates there twice.

Zhou Guanyu and AlphaTauri were eliminated after Russell – Zhou Guanyu and de Vries set a personal best on the last lap of Q2, with Kakuda Yuki in 15th.

At the start of Q1, many cars were at the end of the pit lane waiting for an early start as rain was affecting the progress of the race due to cloud cover on the south side of the track as qualifying began.

Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo C43, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, leaving the pits

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

It was raining in the pits at the start of the race, but the action only lasted a few minutes as the greasy conditions caused several drivers to veer off the track.

Alonso shot through the gravel and picked up his floor damage on the exit of the final corner, while Valtteri Bottas spun at Turn 12 and lost the rear of his Alfa in the ensuing Turn 11 right — De Vries did the same a few minutes later.

Q1 was marked red as Albon fell into the gravel at Turn 5, with stones strewn across the track.

When it resumed after a delay of nearly 10 minutes, there was a lot of attention for Ferrari, which had yet to field a car to join the first pit lane queue, and they were a huge crowd at the time of the stoppage with no time on the plate.

Leclerc and Sainz immediately clocked times on their first flyer, but the former was much slower, and he struggled for pace from there – complaining “something’s wrong with my ass”.

He escaped the drop zone with the flyer just before the checkered flag dropped at the end of Q1, but as the rain was no longer an issue and the rubber was being laid more and more, Leclerc was dragged back and finished 19th. Eliminated, only the sergeant major behind Logan.

Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Albon were also knocked out late on their personal bests – all ahead of Leclerc.

F1 Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying Results