Winners and losers from Spanish GP qualifying

Who had a Saturday in Spain full of pain? Who was beaming in Barcelona at the end of the day? Let’s take a look…

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Aston Martin will bring ‘half a new car’ to Barcelona

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Torquing Point: Ricciardo still underwhelming in 2022

Torquing Point: George Russell up there with the best in 2022 so far

Torquing Point: Aston Martin bringing 'half a new car' to Spain

Torquing Point: Valtteri Bottas looks a driver reborn

Red Bull to keep turning the screw on Ferrari?

Here are our Spanish GP qualifying winners and losers…

Charles Leclerc

The pressure was on and @Charles_Leclerc delivered #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FXPRHNE9J1

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 21, 2022

Leclerc really needs to halt Max Verstappen’s charge this weekend, and he got off to the best possible start with a vintage final lap in qualifying.

The Ferrari man was up against it in Q3 after spinning during his final run and thus not setting a time, but he rose to the occasion, delivering a stunning lap to go over three-tenths faster than any other driver.

With such a large gap and it notoriously difficult to overtake at this track, he’s undoubtedly the favourite to claim victory in Barcelona now.

Mercedes

It may seem odd to say Mercedes’ qualifying was a big success given they finished in P4 and P6, but all things considered, it undoubtedly was.

While they weren’t able to fight for pole, they were far, far closer to Ferrari and Red Bull than they have been at every other round this season and were even able to go faster than Sergio Perez courtesy of George