Q1

On a warm Saturday afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu logged the first time of qualifying on a 1:21.065. After missing all of FP3, Gasly was 0.957s on his first flier.

Red Bull went out early and Perez put the new fastest time in by just over 0.6s. His Dutch teammate soon beat that as he logged a 1:20.091.

As has been the case throughout the weekend, Leclerc and Sainz outpaced the Red Bull in sectors 2 and 3 to go first and second. A 1:19.861 put the Monegasque driver 0.031s in front of his stablemate.

Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton completed the top 5 with seven minutes left. Bottas, Perez, Guanyu, Norris and Ocon rounded out the top 10.

Albon, Stroll, Gasly, Schumacher and Latifi found themselves in the bottom five ahead of the final runs.

Despite missing out on proper running in FP3, Schumacher and Gasly delivered when it mattered most to climb out of the relegation zone.

Two World Champions got knocked out in Q1 as Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso finished P16 and P17 respectively. The home hero couldn’t get a final lap in as he was too close to Lando Norris as they fought for position on the outlap in the final chicane.

Stroll, Albon and Latifi also dropped out as Aston's upgrade package failed to produce better results.

Q2

For the first runs of Q2, Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen went for used softs after they were the top three in Q1.

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton did a 1:19.794, before teammate George Russell logged a 1:19.470 to go quickest. Perez slotted into P3, 0.036s adrift of Hamilton.

Leclerc, Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, Magnussen, Schumacher and Norris completed the top 10 ahead of the final runs, with Ricciardo, Ocon, Guanyu, Tsunoda and Gasly in the relegation zone.

While the two Mercedes cars and Leclerc sat in the pits, Verstappen and Sainz bolted on new tyres and beat the time of Russell to go P1 and P2. Verstappen put a couple of tenths on the Ferrari and Mercedes.

In the midfield, the two Haas drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas made it through. It was Mick Schumacher’s first appearance in Q3 in F1.

Lando Norris had got himself into the top 10 but his time was deleted at turn 12 for having his car millimetres over the white line.

The drivers that got knocked out were Norris, Ocon, Tsunoda, Gasly and Zhou.

Q3

There was drama on the first runs in Q3 as World Championship leader Charles Leclerc spun at the final chicane while on a fast lap.

Leclerc spins off at the end of his first flying lap

He's back in the pits and will get one more chance to nail a quick one #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1rrEWQLo4W

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022

It was a mighty first lap from Max Verstappen as he posted a 1:19.073, 0.350s clear of home hero Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez completed the top 3, 0.063s adrift of the Spaniard.

Russell and Hamilton rounded out the top 5 as they were 0.530s and 0.591s off the Dutchman respectively.

Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Schumacher were the other drivers to do a time.

After his mistake on run one, Charles Leclerc put in a stonking lap with a 1:18.750 to take a fourth pole position in 2022.

Max Verstappen couldn’t go for a second run as his DRS wasn't working, according to Christian Horner. Despite that, he held on to second.

Carlos Sainz bagged P3 ahead of his home Grand Prix tomorrow, followed by George Russell. The Brit in the Mercedes beat Perez to P4 by 0.027s. Lewis Hamilton was just over a tenth behind his teammate as he ended P6.

Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher rounded out the top 10.