Even though he headed into qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix without having topped any of the three practice sessions so far, Max Verstappen was still favourite to take pole position for Sunday's race.
The Red Bull driver was only fifth fastest at the end of Friday and still only fourth in final practice earlier on Saturday, but no one doubted that the reigning world champion still had a lot left in reserve.
Verstappen was quickest in Q2 by almost two tenths of a second from Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and he took an immediate commanding lead with his first lap in the final top ten pole shoot-out round.
He found another three tenths with his second push lap, seemingly cementing his claim on the top spot on the grid - until Lando Norris squeezed something special out of his McLaren to pip him by two thousandths of a second.
It was a disappointment for Verstappen, who claimed a record seven consecutive poles in the opening rounds of 2024 but who hasn't started from the front since Imola in mid-May.
"The whole weekend we've been trying to find a bit of a connected balance, because in all the practice sessions it was very difficult," verstappen said when interviewed in parc ferme after the end of the session.
"I think in qualifying, it was all coming together a bit nicer," he suggested. "I was quite happy with qualifying, even in Q3. I got a nice little tow from Checo to turn one, to really extract everything we could.
"Unfortunately, it was just not enough," he admitted. "But that is how it goes. I think overall we can still be very happy with this performance and qualifying, and it's definitely all to play for tomorrow."
Having gone three weekends without managing to claim pole position, Verstappen was asked if he missed the good old days when he would regularly have several tenths in hand over his rivals.
"At the end of the day they're never really easy poles, because you're always in a battle with yourself," he said. "But of course now it's more teams, and I think that is good for Formula 1 in general.
"Of course, when it's always that close for pole position, I think that's great anyways," he said.
Verstappen is no stranger to having to take the lead from second place on the grid, and did so last time out on Montreal to get ahead of George Russell and go on to win the race.
There's no reason he can't do the same again on Sunday, although he will once again be without his Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez.
Although Perez managed to bounce back from recent qualifying problems and make it through to the final round, a three-place grid penalty held over from an incident in the last race means he will start from P11.
Perez had been hoping to finish further forward in qualifying but admitted that he "didn't put it together when it mattered in Q3".
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