Championship leader Oscar Piastri stood tall in the Catalunya circuit and secured himself the best slot in the grid as he aims to strengthen his lead over his partner Lando Norris, lagging in second position.

The reigning champion's Red Bull has not been in top form lately and leaves Max Verstappen in third position, having to resort again to his super wheelmanship and race strategy if he wants any chance of winning tomorrow.

The middle grid is a Mercedes-Silver and Ferrari-Red stack, with George Russell in fourth, Lewis Hamilton in fifth, Kimi Antonelli in sixth, and Charles Leclerc in seventh. The last three spots in the top 10 were claimed by Pierre Gasly in eighth with an incredible performance in a struggling Alpine, rookie star Isaack Hadjar in ninth, and the local star Fernando Alonso in 10th.

It was Barcelona's last dance in qualifying, and everyone was out in new rubber to push for the best starting position they could get for Sunday. In the last minutes, the two-time local hero Alonso certainly put on a show and gave the crowd what they came for, giving it absolutely everything in the last minutes and getting the fifth-best time, just behind the top leaders and confident that that would be as much as he could do.

With Alonso out of the way, the championship contenders went out for a flying lap in the last minute as more clouds loomed over the circuit. Yet before everyone had finished their last fast lap, we already knew the poleman, a super drive for Piastri, who nailed all three sectors in purple ink.

With a significant gap behind, Norris lagged behind his partner and had to resign himself to second position, and our reigning champion, Verstappen, claimed third position. Ferrari and Mercedes split each other, with the silver arrows from Russell and Antonelli in fourth and sixth respectively, while Hamilton snatched fifth position and Leclerc could only secure 7th position.

In the last train of the top 10, Gasly had another brilliant qualifying in his A525, which is certainly being carried higher in the grid than his mechanical performance allows, and getting eighth position, beating Racing Bull's rookie star Hadjar, who took a solid ninth position. Alonso did great overall, but this Saturday was very competitive and no inch was given by the top contenders, having to settle for 10th position.

The crowd went wild for the local hero Alonso. We set our eyes on his Q3 and made it through, pushing that Aston Martin with all he had. A fate not shared by his partner, Lance Stroll, who found his usual spot in Q2 and was eliminated in P14, only beating the rookie Oliver Bearman, who races with his Haas in slower machinery.

The remaining three drivers to get knocked out were Liam Lawson in P12, beaten by the super rookie Gabriel Bortoletto with his struggling Sauber and falling behind Alex Albon, who claimed "that was a dirty dirty Haas" after allegedly being slowed down by them in the last sector.

Over the horizon, everyone raised the alarm in the pit lane as dark clouds approached the Circuit of Barcelona, unsure if we would have rain in the last session.

We began the first session of perhaps our last qualifying Saturday at Barcelona with everyone behaving on the track, with most drivers waiting for the last minutes as they waited for the tarmac to grab on rubber and go for the best time they could.

Franco Colapinto and his A525 will make the headlines again as Renault kept on struggling with their power unit, as the Argentine's Alpine was seen stalled in the front of the pit lane. Colapinto was eliminated in P19, unable to get his car going during a mechanical nightmare of a weekend after his engine caught fire during FP1 and had to be replaced.

Yuki Tsunoda was another one who left the garage with a bitter taste, unable to set a time due to an unknown mechanical issue, and starting in last position. These two mechanical issues are maybe the only reason for the local star Carlos Sainz Jr. not to be starting last, as he struggled to find any pace whatsoever in his home track and was knocked out in P18.

The last two to get eliminated were Esteban Ocon in 17th position and Nico Hulkenberg in 16th, with Haas and Kick Sauber losing one driver each in the first session.

The F1 Barcelona Grand Prix begins on Sunday, May 31, at 9 a.m. ET, on ESPN.