Piastri beats teammate for pole position at Spanish GP

MOTORSPORTS

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri celebrates his pole position ahead of the Spanish GP Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, Spain, on Saturday. JOAN MONFORT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Joseph Wilson

The Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain >> Max Verstappen has his work cut out to keep his Spanish Grand Prix streak going after Oscar Piastri claimed pole position ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris on Saturday.

The McLaren lockout of the front row gives the papaya-colored cars a big advantage over Verstappen, whose Red Bull will start Sunday’s race from third on the grid.

New rules for stiffer front wings in the race appeared to have zero impact on McLaren’s speed over a single lap. Verstappen was never at the top of the time charts in the final session of qualifying, which turned into another duel between the McLarens.

Points leader Piastri was behind Norris until he peeled off a blistering final effort and grabbed the edge on the starting grid.

The race promises to be an equally scintillating fight between the teammates who have won six of the first eight races of the season and put Verstappen’s grip on F1 in jeopardy. Piastri leads Norris by three points in the standings through the first third of the season.

“It is going to be tough tomorrow,” Verstappen said. “That doesn’t mean we are not going to try.”

It was the Australian’s fourth pole of the season. Piastri leads the field with four race victories, although Verstappen and Norris have topped the last two grands prix.

Piastri won from pole position in China and Bahrain, while he also pipped a pole-sitting Verstappen to win in Saudi Arabia and Miami. His only blemish was losing to Verstappen after taking pole in Imola two rounds ago.

The sensation of the F1 season blazed to a pace-setting lap in Spain that was two-tenths faster than Norris. Now he must make good on that by protecting his advantage on the long run from the starting grid to the first right-hand corner.

“It has been a good weekend so far. The car has been mega, and glad to put in some good laps as well,” Piastri said. “It is a long way to Turn 1 so I got to make sure I make a good start.”

Norris knows how difficult that can be. He took the pole last year, only for Verstappen to sweep past him at the start and hold on to win the race for a fourth time overall.

“It is normally interesting, and we have a lot of quick guys behind us,” Norris..

‘Squeezing everything out of the car’

Verstappen, who is 25 points off Piastri’s lead, has won at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the past three years.

But when asked if he hoped to be closer to his McLaren rivals during qualifying, Verstappen responded with a terse “No.”

“We were lacking all weekend compared to them,” Verstappen said. “I’m here, squeezing everything out of the car. We had a decent Friday, made some final changes to the car but it wasn’t enough to challenge for the pole.”