Formula 1’s reigning world champion Lando Norris has claimed his third pole position of the 2026 season at the Spanish Grand Prix, beating series leader Kimi Antonelli at the debutant Madring circuit.
With a last-ditch effort Norris took a mere 0.011s out of Antonelli’s benchmark to hand Mercedes its fourth consecutive qualifying defeat.
It was F1’s first-ever qualifying session on the brand-new Madring circuit on the outskirts of Spanish capital Madrid, a challenging 5.4km circuit featuring a mixture of street sections and a high-speed purpose-built loop with little runoff areas.
But despite worries qualifying would be derailed by accidents and traffic woes, the session took place without noteworthy hiccups.
In the deciding Q3 shootout, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton led the way after the first barrage of runs with a 1m32.079s lap, ahead of Mercedes duo Antonelli and George Russell, and his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull had also shown flashes of competitiveness throughout qualifying, with Max Verstappen another contender for pole, but the Dutchman slipped up at the end of his first flyer and settled for fifth ahead of the two McLarens.
Heading out first of the contenders for the final runs, Antonelli took over top spot from Hamilton with a 1m31.835s effort, which most of his rivals didn’t have an answer for.
But Norris did, drifting out of the final corner to set a 1m31.824s pole lap. Verstappen was third on a surprisingly competitive outing for Red Bull after the team had struggled earlier in the weekend, with Ferrari duo Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in fourth and fifth.
In the second Mercedes, Russell could only manage sixth followed by Oscar Piastri. Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10,
Q2
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
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The first set of Q2 runs saw Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad take a provisional Q3 spot in F1’s midfield, leaving their respective team-mates Gabriel Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda on the bubble.
Both Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto also came under pressure after not being able to complete their first flyer, with the latter surviving a huge scare as the back-end of his Alpine stepped out through the spectacularly fast La Monumental banking.
Colapinto gathered himself to execute a solid final lap that netted the Argentinian a Q3 berth in eighth, ahead of McLaren’s Piastri.
Verstappen topped the session from Antonelli, Lindblad was the other midfield car to make it through at the expense of the two Audis – Hulkenberg 11th and Bortoleto in 12th.
Esteban Ocon qualified 13th for Haas, while a frustrated Gasly could only manage 14th after lamenting a radically different car balance compared to FP3.
Tsunoda and Albon followed in 15th and 16th.
Q1
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
Russell led the way in Q1, pipping team-mate Antonelli at the end of the session by 0.056s as he survived a tap with the wall unscathed.
Red Bull looked particularly competitive, with Lawson a close third on softs and Verstappen fourth on the medium tyres, allowing the Dutchman to save a set of softs for later on. Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc followed the same strategy as they claimed a top seven spot.
It was business as usual at the bottom of the timesheets, with Williams once again on the cusp of a Q2 spot. Albon beat team-mate and crowd favourite Carlos Sainz by a mere 0.005s to grab the final Q2 ticket in 16th, the Anglo-Thai driver bouncing back from a tap with the wall in FP3 which forced him to sit out the majority of the session.
Sainz was still the highest-placed Spaniard, though, as there was little improvement for Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso qualifying in 18th. Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas finished at the bottom of the 20 cars setting a lap time, with Bottas unable to complete a clean lap after being impeded by Sainz.
Qualifying got underway without Haas driver Oliver Bearman. A “gutted” Bearman suffered a heavy crash at the end of Saturday’s delayed third practice session, as Haas faced an impossible battle to restore the Briton’s car in time for qualifying.
Lance Stroll was the other driver not to set a lap time on the Madring circuit due to what Aston Martin called a suspected water pressure issue. The Canadian is set for a back-of-the-grid penalty anyway for exceeding his Honda power unit allowance for the season.
F1 Spanish GP results – Qualifying
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– The Autosport.com Team
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