LANDO ON POLE FOR SPANISH GRAND PRIX

Lando Norris beat F1 championship leader Max Verstappen by the tiny margin of two hundredths of a second to take the second pole position of his career in qualifying for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.

Behind the top two, Lewis Hamilton scored his best qualifying position since last year’s US Grand Prix with third place.

At the start of Q1 Sergio Pérez set the early pace thanks to a lap of 1:13.090, almost seven tenths of a second clear of Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen then lowered the benchmark by another seven tenths as he claimed top spot.

The Red Bull drivers were then split by Oscar Piastri who took P2 five hundredths of a second ahead of Pérez. And then, as the opening sequence of runs came to an end, Verstappen was bumped out of P1 by Charles Leclerc who took top spot just under five hundredths of a second ahead of the Dutchman.

In the final runs Of Q1 Leclerc, Verstappen, third-placed Norris and P4 driver Carlos Sainz Jr. stayed in their garages for the final flyers, but further back Pérez, who had dropped to P10 as better times came in was forced to make another attempt.

His second lap boosted him to P8 and into to Q2. Hamilton meanwhile, used his final flyer to good effect, claiming P1 with a new set od red tyres.

There was no place in Q2, however, for Kevin Magnussen who was knocked out in P16 ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams cars of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.

At the start of Q2, Pérez was the first of the frontrunners across the line and once again he set the early benchmark, this time at 1:12.270. That was swiftly beaten by Pierre Gasly and by the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but it was Verstappen who put in the best opening time, with the title leader taking P1, two tenths clear of Norris and third-placed Sainz Jr..

Piastri dropped to fourth ahead of Leclerc and George Russell, while Pierre Gasly took seventh ahead of Pérez.

As the second runs got underway, Hamilton who had been languishing in P15 jumped to second place and when Valtteri Bottas also jumped into the top 10, Pérez fell to P10 and was on the brink of exit.

Once again, though, the Red Bull driver clawed his way forward and his final lap put him eighth ahead of the Alpines of Gasly and Esteban Ocon.

At the top of the order, Verstappen again sat out the final runs and this time the champion’s opening run time was good enough to hold onto top spot ahead of the Mercedes AMG pair of Hamilton and George Russell.