Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez were eliminated in the first qualifying round for the Gran Premio de Barcelona-Cataluña at Montmeló on Saturday, June 13, leaving both high-profile drivers stranded before Q2 while Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the same session.
Alonso posted the 22nd time in Q1 and Pérez was classified 19th, a result that immediately worsens their starting outlook for the seventh race of the Formula One world championship. Hamilton topped Q1 with a 1 minute, 15 seconds and 625 thousandths lap, using soft tires, while George Russell was 92 thousandths of a second slower and Charles Leclerc 339 thousandths adrift.
The Q1 eliminations matter now because qualifying defines weekend momentum and track position at Montmeló; being knocked out in the opening round guarantees both drivers a poor grid slot for the Barcelona GP and forces their teams to recalibrate race strategy before the second qualifying round that was scheduled to follow immediately after Q1.
Hamilton’s time on soft rubber underlined how quickly the order can swing in a single short session. The figures from Q1 — the gap of less than a tenth between Hamilton and Russell and the wider deficit to Leclerc — were the clearest measure of pace on the 4.657-meter layout of the Montmeló circuit in this part of the weekend.
The result leaves a clear tension on the grid: an established frontrunner topped the opening session while two of the sport’s best-known drivers failed to advance. The immediate consequence is practical and unavoidable — Alonso and Pérez must begin their Barcelona campaigns from positions established by their Q1 times, with their teams left to decide how aggressively to change setups, fuel loads or tyre plans ahead of the race.
What remains unresolved and central for the rest of the day is whether either driver can salvage the weekend: can Alonso or Pérez recover in practice runs, in-race strategy or through on-track incidents to move up from their compromised starting positions? The second qualifying round, scheduled to follow Q1, will proceed without them, and the focus now shifts to how their teams will respond in final practice and race preparation at Montmeló.
