It came down to what was between the ears again, and at the end of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix Oscar Piastri’s pole was a gigantic two-tenths ahead of Lando Norris.
‘Little mistakes,’ said Norris of what condemned him to start from second on the grid.
The truth is that he overdrove his final flying lap, not for the first time this season. In doing so, he frittered away the invaluable momentum he had won so brilliantly for himself in Monaco a week ago.
On those twisty streets he was unerring over one lap and next day converted pole to claim his first victory in two months, a (revealing?) lock-up at the start notwithstanding.
He has never won back-to-back races in his career, and he desperately needs to rectify that omission on Sunday. First, he must avoid a clash with McLaren team-mate Piastri, who leads him by three points, in the long run-in to the first corner or around it. Their boss Zak Brown has said a collision is inevitable; he just can’t say where or when.
It was at Barcelona nine years ago that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg banged their Mercedes together. We are warned. That day, in 2016, Max Verstappen went through to claim his first win, and on Sunday the Red Bull man, the quadruple world champion, starts from third.
Oscar Piastri denied Lando Norris a second successive pole position with a dominant display
Norris wanted to build on his win in Monaco a week ago but found the Australian too brisk
Hamilton can celebrate a good day for him – his first qualifying win over team-mate Leclerc
It was a major blow to Lando Norris, who was leading the charts after the first runs in Q3
Piastri held his nerve at the crucial moment on Saturday, having started his final flying lap behind Norris, whose first tilt at pole was fastest, albeit with the help of a tow from the Australian. ‘Cheeky,’ was Piastri’s verdict on the slipstreaming.
It was ‘coincidental’, said Norris later, pointing to the vagary of where each found himself bringing them within range. Fair enough – and irrelevant anyway once Norris made a minor ricket of Turn One on his second and final attempt.
‘It was in the head at the end,’ said Rosberg, commentating on Sky. ‘Lando was overdriving from Turn One onwards. You could see him snapping the car and overcooking it, and on the exit always coming off line.
‘Piastri is so solid. He always delivers, no mistakes, whereas Lando is a bit the opposite.’
Pick that judgment out of the back of the net. Piastri’s margin of 0.209sec was the biggest of the season – just as damning a verdict as Rosberg’s.
The huge upside for McLaren is that the technical directive clamping down on front wings flexing, introduced here, has not reined in McLaren, not on this evidence at least. They remain the team up the road.
Mercedes’ George Russell, meanwhile, set the same time as Verstappen but will start fourth on the basis he crossed the line later. Lewis Hamilton was fifth best – a day to put up the bunting, given he had only once previously outqualified his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Now it is 7-2 to Leclerc.
Hamilton was withering about the front-wing changes. ‘A waste of money,’ he declared. ‘It’s changed nothing. I’d have given the money to charity.’