F1 | Qualifying | Spanish GP | Piastri pulls out stunning last lap to beat Norris and Verstappen to pole

Qualifying for round 9 of the 2025 F1 season is in the books as the Spanish GP grid has been decided, full report and results below.

McLaren went into qualifying as the hottest of favourites after pummeling the field in final practice.

Q1

Franco Colapinto set the first time of qualifying as he logged a 1:13.897 in the Alpine. After Stroll beat that by 0.198s, Alex Albon split them.

McLaren driver Lando Norris logged a 1:12.799 to be the first driver below the 73s mark. George Russell pulled out a solid lap to move within 0.007s of his fellow Brit. However, a purple middle sector from Oscar Piastri saw the Australian put 0.248s into his teammate as he did a 1:12.551.

Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Albon, Alonso, Hamilton, Hadjar and Bearman was the top 10 before the last runs started.

Hülkenberg, Ocon, Sainz, Tsunoda and Bortoleto found themselves in the bottom five and needing to improve.

The times tumbled at the end of the season as everyone outside the initial top 7 before the final runs absolutely flew at the end of Q1. Gabriel Bortoleto starred as he put in a mighty lap to go 7th right at the end of it.

Three sets of softs paid off for Lance Stroll as he went P7 at the very end. Lawson (P8), Bearman (P12) and Gasly (P13) were also standouts.

Argentina’s Franco Colapinto was incredibly unlucky as unreliability saw him stop in the pit lane on his final run. He had been faster than his teammate on run 1.

Yuki Tsunoda ended up slowest of the 20 cars, 0.834s off the fastest time. Home hero Carlos Sainz was also a shock Q1 casualty.

Hülkenberg, Ocon, Sainz, Colapinto and Tsunoda were knocked out.

Q1 results in F1 Spanish GP qualifying

1. Piastri
2. Verstappen
3. Norris
4. Russell
5. Antonelli
6. Leclerc
7. Stroll
8. Lawson
9. Albon
10. Bortoleto
11. Hamilton
12. Bearman
13. Gasly
14. Alonso
15. Hadjar
16. Hülkenberg
17. Ocon
18. Sainz
19. Colapinto
20. Tsunoda

Q2

Alex Albon kicked things off in Q2 as he logged a 1:13.113, going half a second clear of Ollie Bearman.

The first big gun to go was Max Verstappen as the Dutch driver pumped in a 1:12.358 go fastest by over 0.7s.

Once again McLaren quickly responded as a 1:12.056 from Lando Norris saw the Brit go fastest by 0.302s. However Oscar Piastri pipped his teammate as a 1:11.998 was 0.058s quicker, and the first lap in the 71s bracket.

Russell, Hamilton and Leclerc were covered by 0.088s as they slotted in behind Verstappen. Alonso, Gasly, Antonelli and Hadjar completed the top 10 after run 1.

Bortoleto, Lawson, Albon, Stroll and Bearman found themselves in the relegation zone.

On new tyres, Alex Albon vaulted up to P10 in the Williams. However, rookie sensation Isack Hadjar did another stonking lap to go P6 and book his place in Q3 once again, putting 0.3s into teammate Liam Lawson.

2024 F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto was incredibly impressive as he put his Sauber 12th on the grid for Sunday’s race, missing out on Q3 by 0.145s.

Albon, Bortoleto, Lawson, Stroll and Bearman got knocked out.

Q2 results in F1 Spanish GP qualifying

1. Piastri
2. Norris
3. Verstappen
4. Russell
5. Hamilton
6. Hadjar
7. Leclerc
8. Alonso
9. Antonelli
10. Gasly
11. Albon
12. Bortoleto
13. Lawson
14. Stroll
15. Bearman

Q3

It was an immediate improvement from Oscar Piastri on his Q2 time as the Australian logged a 1:11.836 to go quickest. However, Lando Norris managed to respond, going 0.017s quicker as he went purple in sector 1. Russell (0.256s), Leclerc (0.312s), Verstappen (0.502s), Hamilton (0.614s) was the top 6 after the big guns completed a lap. Antonelli and Gasly went P7 and P8, with Alonso and Hadjar only doing a single run.

Home hero Fernando Alonso did a great lap as he ran in the gap, slotting into 5th place ahead of Max Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc did not go again after using his one new set of softs early in the session.

After going over a tenth quicker in sector 1, Lando Norris went yellow-yellow in 2 and 3 and improved my less than a tenth. It opened the door for Oscar Piastri as the Aussie posted three purple sectors to take pole by 0.209s. Out of nowhere, Max Verstappen pumped in a purple final sector at the end to take P3, beating George Russell who set the exact same time seconds later. Hamilton and Antonelli also made big improvements on their last attempts to line up on the third row together.

Leclerc, Gasly, Hadjar and Alonso rounded out the top 10 as the Alpine driver did a stunning lap to win the best of the rest fight.

Q3 results in F1 Spanish GP qualifying

1. Piastri 1:11.546
2. Norris +0.209
3. Verstappen +0.302
4. Russell +0.302
5. Hamilton +0.499
6. Antonelli +0.565
7. Leclerc +0.585
8. Gasly +0.653
9. Hadjar +0.706
10. Alonso +0.738