McLaren’s Lando Norris stormed to pole position by 0.011s on his final lap during Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP, full report below.
Friday at the Madring proved a strong day for Mercedes, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli topping FP1 and FP2, respectively.
While drivers enjoyed a relatively clean start to the weekend, the circuit’s small margin for error soon caught out Arvid Lindblad, who became the first driver to hit the barriers. Lewis Hamilton and Ollie Bearman followed suit in FP3, both finding the barriers around the punishing circuit.
With Antonelli leading the way in the final practice session of the weekend, the stage was set for the first-ever qualifying session at the Madring.
Q1
Following his crash in FP3, Ollie Bearman was ruled out of qualifying as Haas continued to work on repairing his car. As seventeen minutes began to tick down, several teams opted to send their drivers out on a set of medium tyres, including Max Verstappen and both Ferrari drivers.
Laying down the first benchmark of the session, Antonelli crossed the line with a 1:33.566. Meanwhile, a 1:34.376 was enough for Russell to slot in behind his teammate. Verstappen soon split the Mercedes duo as the four-time World Champion slotted into second with a 1:33.744.
On their first representative laps, Leclerc and Hamilton sat in second and third with a 1:34.045 and 1:34.110, respectively. With an impressive first lap, Gabriel Bortoleto catapulted his Audi into the top three with a 1:33.986.
Liam Lawson was the next driver to head to the top of the timesheets with a 1:33.316, putting two and a half tenths between himself and Antonelli. Looking to improve on his next lap, Antonelli locked up heading into Turn 17, forcing him to back out of the attempt.
As it stood, Lawson, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc rounded out the top five. On the final runs of the session, Fernando Alonso improved to go P15 with a 1:35.312. But unfortunately for the Spanish crowd, both Alonso and Carlos Sainz found themselves out of qualifying.
However, as the chequered flag fell, Russell pipped Antonelli to the top with a 1:33.211.
Out in Q1: Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Bottas, Bearman, Stroll
Q2
For the first runs of Q2, most of the field headed out on a set of new soft tyres. Laying down the benchmark once again, Antonelli crossed the line with a 1:32.603, as Russell slotted in behind with a 1:32.850. Leclerc and Hamilton’s first efforts were enough for third and fourth, respectively.
Audi continued to impress as Nico Hülkenberg’s first lap of the session saw him leap into fifth with a 1:33.352. Lighting up the timings, however, Verstappen catapulted to the top with a 1:32.557. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits.
On their next run, Leclerc improved to go third with a 1:32.755 but was soon replaced by Hamilton by 0.045s. For the final runs of Q2, Pierre Gasly headed back out on track on a new set of soft tyres. Piastri, who sat in eighth, also fitted a new set of soft tyres.
Improvements on the final laps were marginal. However, Franco Colpainto leaped into eighth, putting his Alpine into Q3 for the second consecutive weekend. Lindblad improved on his final run to knock both Audis out of qualifying.
Out in Q2: Hülkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, Albon
Q3
The final shootout for pole was on as Antonelli crossed the line with a 1:32.140, with Russell slotting in behind once again with a 1:32.265. Meanwhile, Norris was shown the black-and-white flags for not following the race director’s instructions.
With an impressive lap, Hamilton headed to the top with a 1:32.079 and held on to provisional pole with seven minutes left on the clock. However, despite a purple middle sector, Verstappen’s first lap was only enough for fifth with a 1:32.333.
Heading out for their final runs of the session, Antonelli led the pack back onto the track. The championship leader set a purple first sector but was down in the middle sector. However, the Mercedes driver shot to the top with a 1:31.835 by two and a half tenths.
Although Russell did not improve, Leclerc slotted into second momentarily before Hamilton displaced him with a 1:32.013. However, a blistering final lap from Norris saw the reigning World Champion storm to pole position with a 1:31.824. Antonelli and Verstappen rounded out the top three.
