Ferrari remained highly competitive through the faster corners in Madrid qualifying, but the SF-26 again paid for its deficit to the Mercedes power unit on the straights. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished just 0.006 seconds apart despite Hamilton gaining roughly 0.15 seconds in the straight-line sections with Ferrari’s newer ADUO-2 specification, highlighting both the progress made at Maranello and the performance still missing in the fight for pole position.
Lando Norris chose the most important moment of the weekend to show McLaren’s true potential. After losing almost all of FP2 because of a transmission problem, the British driver secured Spanish Grand Prix pole position with a 1:31.824, beating Andrea Kimi Antonelli by only 0.011 seconds. Max Verstappen finished third, 0.140 seconds behind, followed by Lewis Hamilton at 0.189 and Charles Leclerc at 0.195.
Ferrari close in Madrid as Lando Norris delivers pole lap
Five drivers separated by less than two tenths illustrated just how tight qualifying had become, but Lando Norris’s pole was not accidental. The McLaren driver put together sector times of 28.226, 32.797 and 30.701. Adding his best individual sectors produces an even quicker theoretical lap of 1:31.724, suggesting there was still around a tenth of a second available in the MCL40.
On a high-downforce circuit, McLaren returned to one of the environments that best suits its car. The MCL40 was effective through changes of direction, fast corners and the preparation phases before acceleration, allowing Lando Norris to take full advantage of the competitiveness of the Mercedes power unit.
Oscar Piastri’s seventh place, however, made clear that pole position was not simply an automatic consequence of the car’s potential. Lando Norris made the difference in executing the lap when it mattered.
Mercedes power unit locks out Madrid front row
Q3 also confirmed the overall strength of the Mercedes power unit, which placed two different cars on the front row. Lando Norris took pole for McLaren, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished just 0.011 seconds behind in the Mercedes W17.
Telemetry suggests that during the final phase of qualifying the Mercedes-powered cars were able to deploy greater power through a significantly more aggressive engine mapping.
The engine alone, of course, does not explain the qualifying result. Lando Norris extracted the maximum from McLaren, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed an almost perfect lap: his 1:31.835 matched the sum of his best sectors exactly. By contrast, Oscar Piastri finished seventh and George Russell sixth, more than three tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate.
Chassis performance, set-up, tyre preparation and driver execution therefore continued to determine the final order. Even so, the Mercedes-powered front row provided another clear reference point for Ferrari, which has been working to reduce its power-unit deficit through the ADUO development programme.
Ferrari ADUO-2 improves straight-line performance but Mercedes retains advantage
For Ferrari, the comparison remains difficult, although it is hardly a new problem. The ADUO-2 used by Lewis Hamilton represents a step forward compared with the specification fitted to Charles Leclerc’s car, but the front row occupied by Lando Norris and Andrea Kimi Antonelli indicates that the Mercedes power unit still retains an advantage.
The SF-26 can compensate for part of that deficit through the corners. Across the complete lap, however, the power difference remains too large for Ferrari to contest pole position on completely equal terms. That balance between chassis strength and straight-line weakness has been central to the question of why the SF-26 can perform better at Madring than at Monza.
Charles Leclerc recovers in the corners what he loses on the straights
Lewis Hamilton will start from the second row, with Charles Leclerc on the third. The seven-time world champion beat his Ferrari team-mate by only 0.006 seconds despite holding an average advantage of close to 0.15 seconds in the straight-line sections.
Lewis Hamilton completed qualifying with the ADUO-2, while Charles Leclerc remained on the ADUO-1 as a precaution. The difference was also visible in their maximum speeds. Hamilton reached approximately 335 km/h on the long straight compared with Leclerc’s 333 km/h, while at the other main speed reference the British driver hit 299 km/h against 297 km/h for his team-mate.
As already seen at Monza, the figures demonstrate the step forward achieved by Maranello’s engineers with the new internal-combustion-engine specification. Further technical coverage of Ferrari’s development work can be found in the Ferrari technical analysis section.
That is precisely why Charles Leclerc’s fifth place takes on a different significance. If Lewis Hamilton gains around 0.15 seconds on the straights but finishes only 0.006 seconds ahead, it means the Monegasque is recovering almost the entire deficit through the corners.
In the second sector, the two Ferrari drivers recorded exactly the same 32.766, which was 0.031 seconds quicker than Lando Norris. In sector three, Charles Leclerc produced a 30.621, making him as much as 0.080 seconds faster than the McLaren.
Charles Leclerc lost most heavily in sector one, where his 28.632 compared with Lando Norris’s 28.226. His final 1:32.019 also matched his theoretical ideal lap, showing that he extracted virtually everything available from his package.
It cannot be claimed that fitting the ADUO-2 would automatically have given Charles Leclerc pole position. What can be said is that his qualifying performance was excellent and stronger than fifth place alone suggests. The Ferrari driver was the reference among the analysed cars through the fast corners, with Lando Norris effectively level with him.
Ferrari therefore appears to have an effective chassis when cornering speeds rise. At the Madrid circuit, however, the SF-26 struggled much more through the slow corners and during the initial phase of acceleration.
Lewis Hamilton left frustrated by final Q3 attempt
For Lewis Hamilton, the main regret came from his second Q3 run. After the first attempts, Hamilton provisionally held first place. He improved on his final lap, but only marginally.
Between Turns 1 and 2, Lewis Hamilton lost around 0.12 seconds as the front end did not immediately give him the confidence he needed. Hamilton later explained that he encountered more understeer and a different rear-end balance compared with his previous run.
That explains why, despite improving his personal best, Hamilton was unable to make the same step as Lando Norris and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. His theoretical 1:31.965 simply represents the sum of the best sectors he actually completed; it does not represent the lap time Lewis Hamilton might have achieved with a cleaner passage through Turns 1 and 2.
Hamilton was nevertheless positive about the set-up work completed by Ferrari. The car was not outside its operating window; the problem was simply that at the decisive moment the team did not make the same performance jump as its rivals.
Max Verstappen took advantage to secure third place and will start ahead of both SF-26s on a circuit where overtaking could prove difficult. More coverage of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari season is available on the Lewis Hamilton page.
Pirelli expects open strategies and high tyre temperatures
The indications provided by Pirelli Motorsport chief Dario Marrafuschi add further important elements ahead of the race. Front graining appeared on Friday, together with a tendency for the rear tyres to overheat. Rather than pure wear alone, temperature control could therefore determine how long each stint lasts.
La Monumental must also be viewed in that context. Turn 12 places the tyres under high loads and significantly raises their temperatures. Wear is concentrated more heavily on the outer shoulder, although that does not make the corner the circuit’s principal source of tyre wear.
The unusual loads and energy demands around Madring are part of the wider technical challenge Ferrari faces at the new circuit, where braking and energy recovery requirements differ significantly from Monza.
Pirelli considers one-stop and two-stop strategies very close in total race time. Medium-Hard remains the most straightforward option, although using the Soft also creates credible alternatives. The C2 is regarded as sufficiently conservative and, despite its limited mileage in practice, behaved as expected.
The undercut could be powerful. With tyres around ten laps fresher, the initial advantage is estimated at approximately 1.5 seconds. Much will depend on traffic, however, because rejoining behind a group of cars could wipe out the benefit offered by fresher rubber.
Ferrari keeps fresh Soft tyre as extra Madrid strategy option
Ferrari has given itself an additional strategic option by using the Medium compound in Q1 and preserving a new set of Soft tyres. That set could be used for an aggressive strategy or in the event of a late neutralisation.
On a circuit where overtaking does not appear straightforward, the ability to react to events could prove just as important as outright pace.
Lando Norris will start from pole with a McLaren that recovered its speed and balance at the decisive moment after a difficult Friday. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has the pace to challenge him, while Max Verstappen remains perfectly placed to take advantage of any opportunity.
Ferrari is close on the stopwatch and competitive through the corners, but the all-Mercedes-powered front row highlights the limitation that still separates the Scuderia from pole position. The SF-26 chassis must continue recovering through the corners what Ferrari’s power unit gives away on the straights.
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