Almost impossible to overtake

Max Verstappen says passing on the new hybrid Madring circuit will be close to impossible in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. He starts third and expects to stay stuck there.

“There are no corners where you can pass”

He likes it anyway

Verstappen openly dislikes street tracks, but praised the venue built near Madrid's main airport. The event and the build quality impressed him, the racing layout did not.

“Overall, the event itself is very cool. They've done a great job.”

Norris takes pole

World champion Lando Norris put the McLaren on pole ahead of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen qualified third for Red Bull on Saturday.

Antonelli leads by 66

Antonelli is the championship leader, 66 points clear of his own Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Front row in Madrid is a useful place to extend that.

Change a few corners

Verstappen's fix is structural, not tactical. He thinks a handful of corners need reworking before this circuit produces real racing.

“if you want to have better racing, overtaking, I think there can be a few corners that can be changed”

Tyre wear is the only lever

With no passing spots, Verstappen says he has to hope rivals burn through their tyres. Long runs in practice were brutal on deg for everyone.

“you need to rely on people 'degging' very aggressively”

Two stops or three

Antonelli agreed, and added a bigger unknown: nobody has a read on how the hard tyre holds up. Verstappen also flagged asphalt that is already bumpy for a new track.

“We don't really know how the hard tyre is, how resilient it is”