Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix has just concluded, and it delivered plenty of action throughout all three sessions. Let’s take a look at everything that happened during the battle for pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Q1: Lewis Hamilton shines, Esteban Ocon struggles
The drivers quickly headed out onto the track to begin their first runs of the session. With thirteen minutes remaining, Carlos Sainz led the way with a lap time of 1:18.107, although the benchmark was still expected to improve significantly.
When the leading contenders completed their first representative laps, Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.625. George Russell followed just thousandths of a second behind, with Charles Leclerc in third, Kimi Antonelli fourth and Max Verstappen fifth.
Further down the order, Arvid Lindblad impressed by climbing to eighth place, while Gabriel Bortoleto also enjoyed a strong start to qualifying in tenth.
The final minutes proved crucial as drivers fought to secure a place in Q2. Eliminated in the first segment were Esteban Ocon, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. Both Audi drivers and Oliver Bearman successfully made it through to the next phase.
Q2: George Russell sets the pace, Nico Hulkenberg returns to Q3
The second segment began with Pierre Gasly becoming the first driver to set a timed lap, posting a 1:17.626.
With seven minutes left on the clock, George Russell led the standings ahead of Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton was fourth, followed by Max Verstappen. The McLarens were surprisingly further down the order, with Lando Norris eighth and Oscar Piastri tenth after the first round of runs.
Following their initial attempts, the drivers returned to the pits to prepare for one final push, knowing that a place in Q3 was at stake.
Eliminated in Q2 were Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz. Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg both delivered strong performances to advance to the final qualifying segment.
Q3: Disaster for Charles Leclerc as George Russell returns to the top
The final thirteen-minute shootout began with Max Verstappen leading the queue out of the pit lane. Oscar Piastri initially secured provisional pole position with a lap of 1:15.176, while Verstappen sat just one tenth behind.
The session was then interrupted by a red flag caused by Charles Leclerc, who crashed into the barriers at Turn 4. The Monegasque driver was unharmed, but his qualifying session came to an immediate end. The first replays clearly showed that the Ferrari driver lost control of the SF-26 while accelerating through the middle of the corner.
Once the car had been recovered, qualifying resumed with eight minutes remaining. At that stage, all drivers except Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen still had to set a lap time.
While Lando Norris opted for a single final attempt, his direct rivals chose to complete two runs. George Russell moved to the top of the standings ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli climbed to fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was only sixth after the first flying laps.
After a quick stop in the pits, the drivers headed back out for one final attempt. When the chequered flag fell, there was no doubt about the outcome: George Russell secured pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, narrowly beating an outstanding Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by just a few thousandths of a second. Kimi Antonelli finished third, while Max Verstappen ended the session in fifth place.
Below you can find the full qualifying classification from the Spanish Grand Prix.
Qualifying result
1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m14.679s
2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.064s
3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.319s
4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.322s
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.342s
6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.398s
7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.411s
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.863s
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.978s
10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) no Q3 time
11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 1m15.840s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 1m16.001s
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m16.191s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m16.261s
15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m16.389s
16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m17.827s
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m17.073s
18 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m17.424s
19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 1m17.545s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m17.757s
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m18.758s
22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m18.815s
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