Verstappen cheers – Leclerc with a horror day

Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen starts the Spanish Grand Prix from first place on the grid. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, experienced a nightmare qualification.

June 03, 2023

From: dpa/tu

The 25-year-old Dutchman secured pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday with a confident and highly superior time of 1:12,272 minutes. Behind the Red Bull star, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari came in second, 0,462 seconds behind. The Brit Lando Norris took third place in the McLaren. For Verstappen it was the fourth pole position this year and the 24th of his career.

One day after finishing third, Nico Hülkenberg showed himself well again in training and came eighth in the Haas racing car. Vice world champion Charles Leclerc had a very weak day in the Ferrari and only made it to 19th position. World championship runner-up Sergio Perez also disappointed in the second Red Bull and missed the top ten in eleventh place.

Leclerc starts the race from the last row of the grid. © APA/afp / JAVIER SORIANO

Before the seventh round of the season on Sunday (15.00 p.m.) in Catalonia, Verstappen leads the championship standings by 39 points over Perez. The two-time world champion had already triumphed in Barcelona last year and is once again the big favorite.