Hopeful 10th for Fernando Alonso on the day of Lewis Hamilton’s 100th pole in Formula 1

Lewis hamilton will start for the sixth time from the first position of the Spanish GP, after completing his 100th pole in Formula 1. The seven-time champion did not have it easy at all, since Max verstappen it was only 36 thousandths. Third, the predictable Valtteri Bottas.

With Carlos Sainz in an optimal 6th position, just behind Esteban Ocon with the Alpine, Fernando Alonso he went to Q3 ‘in extremis’, for only 8 thousandths, and will start 10th.

Q1: Alonso and Sainz, without suffering

The progressive improvement of the track could have caused some fright among the Q2 candidates, especially those who tend to have less competitiveness. In this sense, neither Carlos Sainz nor Fernando Alonso had a bad time to meet the first cut, but Yuki Tsunoda did: his teammate Pierre Gasly achieved the 5th time and he was eliminated.

The advantage of the Mercedes was such that they did not even need to mount soft tires and used the means to make their turns. Lewis Hamilton was 2nd, second only to Lando Norris in this cut.

Those eliminated: Tsunoda, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Latifi and Mazepin.

Q2: Alonso goes to Q3 by only 8 thousandths

Fernando Alonso saved Q3, not without suffering, after passing the cut of Q2 ‘in extremis’. The Spaniard finished in 10th position in this intermediate session, in which Verstappen hit the table: he improved his time in Q1 by more than a second and got 4 initial tenths to Bottas and 7 to Hamilton.

The Dutchman, in fact, did not even need to make any more laps, as his 1: 16.9 was more than enough to beat them. Those of Mercedes, superior theorists, settled for staying at 2 tenths. Carlos Sainz’s hopeful fourth half showed that the Ferraris, in these conditions, are doing very well.

Eliminated: Stroll, Gasly, Vettel, Giovinazzi and Russell.