2024 Spanish Grand Prix – Qualifying Report “We’re in a great position to convert pole into a victory"

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Saturday, 22 June

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Image
FP3 1m13.043s (+0.030s) 14 laps 2nd
Q1 1m12.386s (Softs)   4th
Q2 1m11.872s (Softs)   4th
Q3 1m11.383s (Softs)   1st

“I’m super, super happy. We’ve been close to the front all weekend, but needed to have a perfect lap, and I think we delivered that. We’ve been quick for the last two months, and we’ve probably missed a pole by not having that perfect lap. Today, for the final run, we made a few changes, found some places to make tiny improvements and it all worked out.

“We’re in a great position to convert pole into a victory but it’s going to be incredibly tough against Max, against Lewis and everyone behind them – but we’ve been strong since Miami, we’re here to win, and that’s definitely the target.” 

Image
FP3 1m13.907s (+0.894s) 14 laps 10th
Q1 1m12.460s (Softs)   7th
Q2 1m12.011s (Softs)   6th
Q3 No time set   10th

“Not the best Qualifying, we just struggled with the balance of the car the whole way through. Obviously the car has pace so we’ll dig into what went wrong and work out how we can fight back tomorrow. Today was just one of those days, unfortunately.” 

background image

The Lando Silverstone Collection

Andrea Stella

“A pole position at a circuit like Barcelona, which is very demanding for the drivers and for the cars, is obviously a great result for the entire team. We have achieved important milestones recently, but the pole position was still one of those achievements that had eluded us. It’s good that we could confirm the progress of the team, and of the car, with this pole position. A great drive by Lando, he drove Qualifying faultlessly and, when it counted, put together one of the best laps of his career.

“Again, the field proved to be very, very tight, so everything can happen tomorrow. We’ll have to stay focused and try to maximise a good start from pole for Lando.

“On Oscar’s side, the Qualifying session was a little untidy. Oscar struggled a bit more to get into a rhythm and, in Q3, couldn’t effectively put together a lap without exceeding track limits – but we know the pace is there and tomorrow is a completely different situation. We will reset, look at what we need to improve, and we look ahead to finishing in a better position to where we start and scoring important points for the team.”