A decent return for Williams
Catch up on the Formula 1 action as Oscar Piastri got the better of Lando Norris in Barcelona qualifying Getty Images
McLaren's Oscar Piastri has qualified on pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Australian, who leads the F1 World Driver's Championship standings, beat his team-mate Lando Norris as McLaren secured a one-two for tomorrow's race.
Max Verstappen qualified third, ahead of British duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Email: live@theathletic.com
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F1 Spanish GP qualifying: Oscar Piastri secures pole as McLaren dominates Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Getty Images
I think Alex Albon and Williams will be pretty happy with 11th there. Albon gave his car up for Williams young driver Victor Martins in FP1, and then was sidelined by a suspected brake issue through much of Q3, meaning he had just one flying lap completed on Saturday heading into qualifying. At a track that really does not suit Williams, to be so close to reaching Q3 is a decent return. 11. Alex Albon , Williams
, Williams 12. Gabriel Bortoleto , Sauber
, Sauber 13. Liam Lawson , Racing Bulls
, Racing Bulls 14. Lance Stroll , Aston Martin
, Aston Martin 15. Ollie Bearman , Haas
, Haas 16. Nico Hulkenberg , Sauber
, Sauber 17. Esteban Ocon , Haas
, Haas 18. Carlos Sainz , Williams
, Williams 19. Franco Colapinto , Alpine
, Alpine 20. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
And as Yuki Tsunoda slumps to last, Isack Hadjar puts in another great qualifying display for Racing Bulls to reach Q3, off the heels of finishing sixth in Monaco last weekend. He's putting in a good case for future consideration for that second Red Bull seat, surely... Getty Images
The young Racing Bulls driver looked to be in trouble but produced a fine lap to go sixth.
Ollie Bearman is the last man out on the track … but fails to significantly improve his time and stays in P15.
Alex Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll join him in exiting Q2.
His last flying lap is only good enough for 8th.
Lance Stroll is out. He's currently sat in 13th.
The top five are all in the pits. Just about everybody else is on an out lap. Getty Images
The drivers in the danger zone are: Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman.
Oscar Piastri still on top at this stage, but Lando Norris again had to pass a slower car at Turn 12, which will have contributed to the 0.058 second gap to the other McLaren.
They are so close right now, with Piastri edging it in the first sector, Norris mighty in sector two. Max Verstappen actually has the quickest time in sector three, with a big 0.36 second gap to the leaders. Getty Images
Lando Norris goes quickest with a 1:12.056. But Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri are both on flying laps and both go quicker through the first sector…
Hamilton, however, loses time in the third and final sector and goes third, behind Norris and Max Verstappen.
Piastri then nudges them all down a spot with a blistering 1:11.998.
Max Verstappen has set the quickest lap so far in Q2: a 1:12.358.
He's followed by Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson and Alex Albon. Getty Images
Looks like a big 0.2 second gap between the McLaren drivers in Q1, but Lando Norris had a big moment three corners from home when he passed a slower car and had to step off the gas to save a big snap. There's surely more time to come from him heading into Q2.
Fernando Alonso is the first out onto the track. Getty Images
Oscar Piastri, once again, was the fastest man of the session.
He was followed by Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. Getty Images 16. Nico Hulkenberg , Sauber
, Sauber 17. Esteban Ocon , Haas
, Haas 18. Carlos Sainz , Williams
, Williams 19. Franco Colapinto , Alpine
, Alpine 20. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
Oh dear, that's not a good result for Yuki Tsunoda. The second Red Bull 'curse' shows zero sign of abating right now. He's plum last in qualifying, even if he is 'only' six-tenths of a second off Verstappen's lap time up in P2. Getty Images
Yuki Tsunoda has qualified last! 0.834 seconds behind the leader, Oscar Piastri.
There's also disappointment for home favourite Carlos Sainz, who qualifies 18th, one place ahead of the unlucky Franco Colapinto.
Nico Hulkenberg is 16th, Esteban Ocon 17th.
Franco Colapinto has stopped by the pit exit. He's now down in 16th and is out of this qualifying session.
That's the worst possible time for Franco Colapinto to have an issue, while coming out of the pit lane, backing up the train of cars behind him. Given how precise teams are with their timings for going out in qualifying, it could leave some cars rushing to try and get around for a final lap in this session. Colapinto is P12 currently for Alpine. Getty Images
Franco Colapinto is at the front of the queue in the pits … but he has a problem! Everybody is sat twiddling their thumbs behind him until the young Argentine confirms on the team radio that he has an issue. Cue everybody undertaking him in the pit lane to get going.
Colapinto is currently in 11th but this could spell disaster for the 22-year-old.
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That's not to say that men never cried at football in years gone by. When this topic of conversation came up in the office, my colleague Amy Lawrence told a story about being in the away end at Anfield in 1989, when Michael Thomas scored a dramatic late goal to clinch the league title for Arsenal against Liverpool on the final day, and how she was nowhere near her friends when she eventually came up for air amid the chaotic celebrations that followed. 'I found myself next to a guy who looked like your absolute classic 1980s football hooligan,' she said. 'He was massive. He was a skinhead. He was covered in tattoos. He looked terrifying. But he had tears rolling down his cheeks and he was blubbing like a baby. I can still see his face today. It was beautiful because he was the last type of person that you would ever expect to break down emotionally at a match.' The same can't be said for young Ricky Allman, who was only 11 years old when Leeds United were on their way to being relegated from the Premier League in 2004. With his shirt off and 'Leeds Til I Die' written across his chest, Allman was heartbroken as the television cameras homed in on him in the away end at Bolton Wanderers. Leeds were losing 4-1 and it was all too much for him. 'My bottom lip came out. A full-on, uncontrollable lip,' Allman told The Athletic in 2020. His mother, Beverley, was watching at home. 'She rang me in tears, 'Are you alright?' she said. You've been on telly. They panned on the crowd and you were crying — I haven't stopped crying since.'' Plenty of Palace fans were saying the same thing for a week or more after beating Manchester City. In Kevin Day's case, the initial sense of shock eventually gave way to tears in, of all places, his local supermarket. Advertisement 'For the first minute (after the final whistle) I couldn't speak,' the writer, comedian and lifelong Palace fan says. 'Then I looked around me and I was the only one not in tears. It was incredible. Mates of mine who I've known for so long, stoic people, who normally wouldn't cry… they were just broken. 'I've never felt elation like it. My son came round at 9am the next morning. He's 29. He threw himself into my arms like he hasn't done since he was a five-year-old. He was sobbing. 'And then, Monday morning, I was in the Co-op buying a pint of milk and I just suddenly burst into tears. I just thought to myself, 'The last time I was in here we hadn't won the FA Cup'.' Thinking about those who are no longer with us and unable to share a landmark moment can often trigger our emotions at football, as was almost certainly the case with the PSG coach Rafel Pol Cabanellas in Munich. It could be the memories of a grandparent who introduced someone to a club in the first place or, for Day, of his late father, who was always at the end of the phone to discuss the Palace match afterwards. 'Everyone I spoke to on that Saturday evening had someone they wished they could have called,' he says. 'There must have been about three million Palace fans looking down from heaven. 'On a serious note, though, I do wonder whether all the posters put up in pubs in south London over the last five years, about how it's alright to talk, have actually had a positive impact and that this generation of men do think it's alright to show their emotions. Maybe that message is finally getting through. 'Or maybe it's just any group of men where something happens that they've waited 120 years for, finally happens. I don't know. 'But I'm starting to get goosebumps thinking about it all again now.' (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Manan Vatsyayana/AFP, Odd Andersen, Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
