FACTS AND STATS: Gasly bags his best qualifying of the year as Ocon makes Q3 for first time since Austin

Lando Norris grabbed pole position in Barcelona, in what was an incredibly close qualifying session. He got the beating of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, with the Mercedes pair having to settle for the second row and home hero Carlos Sainz P6. Here are all the best facts and stats from a thrilling qualifying from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya…

• Norris scored his second career pole position, following Sochi in 2021. It’s also McLaren’s first pole here since Kimi Raikkonen won the race from P1 back in 2005.

• Norris took pole by just 0.020s, while in Canada the pole margin was 0.000s.

• Verstappen was second, and he has won the last four times he has started second on the grid, including in Canada last time out.

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• Thirty of the last 33 races here have been won from the front row.

• Lewis Hamilton grabbed third, his first top-six start for a Grand Prix this season, and it is his best start in Spain since he won from pole here in 2021.

• George Russell was out-qualified by his team mate for a Grand Prix for just the second time this season.

• Charles Leclerc was fifth, as he out-qualified his team mate for the sixth consecutive race.

• In a day of tight margins, Carlos Sainz in sixth was only 0.035s away from third placed Hamilton.

• Pierre Gasly bagged his best start of the year for Alpine with seventh.

• Sergio Perez made Q3 for the first time since Miami, in his highest start for four races.

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• Esteban Ocon was ninth, his first top 10 start since Austin, 14 races ago.

• Oscar Piastri didn’t set a time in Q3 and so qualified P10, his lowest for McLaren this year.

• Fernando Alonso was P11, as he missed Q3 on home soil for just the third time in his career.

• Valtteri Bottas ended a four-race streak of Q1 eliminations today, qualifying 12th.

• Nico Hulkenberg was P13, with his average qualifying position of the year being 13.1.

• Lance Stroll qualified 14th, and he has been out-qualified six-four by his team mate this season.

• Zhou Guanyu managed his best qualifying of the year with P15, as he made it out of Q1 in qualifying for the first time in 2024.

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• Kevin Magnussen suffered his fifth Q1 elimination in the last seven races, and he was also knocked out in Q1 here last year.

• Yuki Tsunoda has still never reached Q3 here in four appearances.

• Daniel Ricciardo missed out in Q1, having never previously been knocked out in Q1 here in 12 appearances. He is now trailing his team mate eight-two this year in qualifying.