Norris Takes Pole Position at the First Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid

Saturday's qualifying session confirmed that the gap between the four front-running teams remained minimal. Antonelli was the first to set a benchmark in Q3, but Hamilton responded with a lap that put Ferrari at the front before Antonelli himself went back to the top. Norris waited until his final attempt to deliver the lap that gave him pole by just eleven thousandths over the Italian, while Verstappen settled into third and Hamilton and Leclerc closed out the second row. Norris acknowledged that he did not expect to have a lap like that at hand on a completely new circuit, and said he felt everything came together the right way on the final attempt, something he described as one of the best laps of his career in the series.

Photo By Mclaren

Behind the top four, Russell finished sixth and Piastri once again found himself below his teammate, qualifying seventh, with Lawson, Colapinto, and Lindblad in eighth, ninth, and tenth, the latter after recovering from the crash he had suffered in the second practice session. Neither of the two Audi cars advanced to Q3, as Hulkenberg ended up 11th ahead of Bortoleto, followed by Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, and Albon. For the local crowd, the result was disappointing, as both Sainz and Alonso were eliminated in the first phase, and Sainz is also awaiting a review for a possible block on Bottas. Bearman could not complete any laps after Haas failed to repair in time the car damaged in final practice, and Stroll never made it onto the track due to a water pressure issue.

Photo By Mclaren

The race takes place on Sunday at three in the afternoon local time over 57 laps, and the track itself explains why the qualifying result carries more weight than usual. The Overtake Mode, the system that replaces DRS throughout the calendar and delivers extra electrical energy to whoever stays within a second of the car ahead, loses its usefulness on a layout where fast corners, narrow sections, and the proximity of the walls limit the real opportunities to attempt an overtake. With Antonelli defending a 66-point lead over Russell and Norris looking to make up ground on a weekend in which McLaren arrived behind Ferrari and Mercedes in practice, the starting position secured on Saturday could end up weighing as much as race pace over the 57 laps on Sunday.

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:33.469	1:32.873	1:31.824
2	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:33.267	1:32.591	1:31.835
3	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:33.381	1:32.431	1:31.964
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:33.531	1:32.710	1:32.013
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:33.532	1:32.755	1:32.019
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:33.594	1:32.850	1:32.149
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:33.829	1:33.204	1:32.294
8	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing	1:33.310	1:32.780	1:32.316
9	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:33.963	1:33.038	1:32.903
10	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:34.340	1:33.204	1:33.041
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:34.417	1:33.223
12	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:33.986	1:33.388
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:34.667	1:33.667
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:34.246	1:33.753
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:34.311	1:34.084
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:35.307	1:35.532
17	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:35.312
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:35.388
19	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:35.913
20	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:38.011