George Russell scored an important pole position for the Barclona-Catalunya Grand Prix with a front row starting position over his championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli.
Russell set a time of one minute, 14.679 seconds for his first pole since the season opener at Melbourne, 0.064 seconds quicker than second-placed Lewis Hamilton with Antonelli in third and three tenths behind his Mercedes teammate.
The Mercedes driver’s pole this weekend is no surprise after topping two of the three practice sessions, while also going fastest in Q2 after finishing second in the opening qualifying segment.
In Q3, meanwhile, drivers had to overcome an early red flag as Charles Leclerc crashed at the Turn 4 exit after drifting onto the dirty line which suddenly caused him to lose the back end of his Ferrari.
By that point only two laps were completed, Oscar Piastri’s one minute, 15.176 seconds to Max Verstappen’s one minute, 15.328 seconds, both of which were subsequently beaten to provisional pole by Russell.
Russell set a time of one minute, 15.145 seconds, 0.031 seconds quicker than Piastri, while teammate Antonelli could only achieve a provisional fourth after going 0.269 seconds slower.
Antonelli improved with a time of one minute, 14.998 seconds on his second run though, initially jumping ahead of his teammate, before Russell took pole back moments later by 0.319 seconds.
The championship leader dropped again after Hamilton’s late time, with one minute, 14.743 seconds, meaning he will share the second row with Lando Norris who set a time of one minute, 15.001 seconds at the end for McLaren.
Verstappen ultimately qualified fifth, improving to a one minute, 15.021 seconds late on, with his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar 0.056 seconds behind in sixth to complete the third row.
It was a scrappy end for Piastri who slipped down to seventh, having only improved to one minute, 15.090 seconds, and his McLaren will be joined on the fourth row by in-form Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.
Lawson set a time of one minute, 16.542 seconds, still some way off the top four teams, but more important a tenth ahead of ninth-placed Nico Hulkenberg for Audi with P10 going to Leclerc.
It could have been worse for McLaren though as both of its cars were at risk at the end of Q2 with Norris eighth and Piastri only tenth, but the pair improved to survive the elimination.
So P11 went to Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad, 0.161 seconds ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto for Audi and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
It means Colapinto has now outqualified teammate Pierre Gasly in five of the last six sessions – including sprints – as P14, a day after his Monaco podium was reinstated.
Oliver Bearman ultimately took P15 for Haas with P16 going to Carlos Sainz in a Q2 session topped by Russell, who was second to former Mercedes teammate Hamilton in Q1.
Q1 saw Esteban Ocon qualify P17 for the third consecutive race after being pushed into the elimination zone late on by Sainz, whose Williams teammate Alex Albon took P18.
It is a Cadillac tenth row with Sergio Perez in P19, again outqualifying Valtteri Bottas in P20, while Aston Martin was a second behind the new outfit at the back.
For the first time in 2026, Lance Stroll qualified ahead of Fernando Alonso by taking P21, while last place P22 went to the world champion and the 2013 race winner.
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:14.679
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:14.743
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:14.998
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.001
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:15.021
6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:15.077
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.090
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:16.542
9 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:16.657
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari No time
11 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:15.840
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:16.001
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:16.191
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:16.261
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:16.389
16 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:17.827
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:17.073
18 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:17.424
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:17.545
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:17.757
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:18.758
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:18.815
George Russell has secured pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in a close-fought Qualifying hour, beating Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli after Charles Leclerc crashed out of the session.
Bouncing back from a frustrating round in Monaco, the Mercedes driver was consistently one of the quickest throughout Qualifying and his spectacular effort of 1m 14.679s was unbeatable, earning him a third pole position of the season.
Hamilton made his return to the front row in style with a last-gasp attempt, demoting Antonelli to third place to mark the Italian’s lowest Grand Prix Qualifying result so far.
Lando Norris claimed P4 ahead of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, with the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri taking P7. Eye-catching performances from Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg saw them finish eighth and ninth respectively.
Lastly, after mingling at the top end for most of the session, Leclerc endured heartbreak as he crashed straight into the barriers early in Q3 and subsequently failed to set a lap time, leaving him to start the race from P10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/russell-storms-to-barcelona-catalunya-gp-pole-ahead-of-hamilton-and-antonelli-as-leclerc-crashes-out.5TO9HsowvlMjmFJBPVP3qv
George Russell was overjoyed after he clinched pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, admitting that his performance so far has made him “feel like my old self again”.
The Mercedes driver suffered a weekend to forget in Monaco as his chances of finishing on the podium – or even in the points – were ruined by a late drive-through penalty, which he was handed after failing to serve an original penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Seeing his deficit to team mate Kimi Antonelli increase to 68 points in the Standings, Russell admitted that he was “dying for a smooth weekend” in Barcelona, which has so far come to fruition.
After leading in FP1 and FP3, the Briton was consistently towards the top in Qualifying and claimed provisional pole. Despite late efforts from Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, his final effort of 1m 14.679s was enough to secure pole position.
“It’s been a great weekend so far – I kind of feel like my old self again, where every lap I’m doing my job and always fighting in those top positions,” he said after the session. “Obviously the last few races, for numerous reasons, haven’t quite been on our side but I came into this weekend with just a clean slate, felt good and, yeah, just good to be on pole.”
Although the Silver Arrows have established themselves as the team to beat, Russell’s season has been marred by technical problems and self-confessed weaker performances in Miami and Monaco, which have played a role in Antonelli winning an impressive five Grands Prix in a row.
The Italian settled for third, but Qualifying also demonstrated that Ferrari and McLaren could prove to be tough competition in Sunday’s race, leaving Russell to anticipate a challenging day.
He explained: “I think it’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow. Lewis did an amazing job to get up there – I think that was a real surprise.
“We thought the fight was with ourselves and McLaren, and then Lewis has been really quick all session so I’m sure there’s going to be a fight on our hands.
“Obviously Kimi’s been doing an amazing job, so tomorrow’s now going to be easy from every standpoint but I feel ready.”
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A frustrated Charles Leclerc is feeling “ashamed” of himself after crashing in qualifying for the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix, leaving him 10th on Sunday’s grid.
The Ferrari driver drifted onto the dustier line at Turn 4, inevitably causing him to lose the back end and spin into the barrier on the first push lap of his Q3 session.
It has continued an underwhelming run for Leclerc, who is without a podium since Japan in March and crashed out from third at his home race in Monaco last weekend.
He blamed last week’s crash on his brakes, so switched to a similar configuration as team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but still had little effect as he ended another session in a downbeat mood.
When asked if the brakes had anything to do with his qualifying crash, Leclerc replied: “No, no, there’s none of that.
“I adapted very well straight from FP2, I felt very at ease with it, and there’s nothing of that – there’s no excuses.
“I felt very ashamed after the last three weekends that have been particularly difficult for me to find pace for issues I had.
“Today, and this weekend, I think everything felt really, really good and on these days I need to deliver and I didn’t. So I felt very ashamed in general.”
The result is made worse by Hamilton qualifying second, so he is in a good position to extend his points advantage over Leclerc after jumping ahead following his podiums in Canada and Monaco.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/charles-leclerc-ashamed-of-himself-after-qualifying-crash-at-f1-barcelona-gp/10829973/
Lewis Hamilton believes “we’re in a good position to be able to fight” for victory in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver set to start on the front row.
The seven-time World Champion was best of the rest in Qualifying behind polesitter George Russell, Hamilton finishing just 0.064s adrift of the Mercedes driver and ensuring a front row start for Sunday’s 66-lap race.
It marks Hamilton’s best Qualifying performance for Ferrari ahead of a Grand Prix, with the in-form Briton having finished second in the last two races in Canada and Monaco.
“All weekend we’ve been kind of four tenths off these guys [Mercedes], so even with the upgrade we thought maybe that’s where we were,” said Hamilton.
“But for us to be that close, less than a tenth between us, it’s a real showing of the hard work everyone at the factory has done to bring these upgrades to this track, so a big, big thank you to everyone back in Maranello.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing, keep developing, and I’m hoping tomorrow we can squeeze some more out of this and I hope we keep up with these guys for once.”
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Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were left surprised by Red Bull’s pace in Qualifying for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, with the pair set to start on Sunday from the third row of the grid.
Both Verstappen and Hajdar were within four tenths of polesitter George Russell having found performance with Red Bull’s RB22 on Saturday afternoon.
“I think actually Qualifying went a little bit better than expected,” said Verstappen. “The gap was a lot smaller, looking back P5 looks decent but actually we had a really good opportunity for P3 but somehow in my final sector, just started sliding too much and just not following the normal line that you want to take.
“Also, I think it was only Oscar [Piastri] and me that did the [first flying] lap before the red [flag], and then like 10 minutes in the pits, you probably lose a little bit of rhythm as well which is not ideal in Q3.
“You want to do a lap, come in, refuel, put new tyres. You know where you lost a little bit of time and go out again. When you’re waiting around a bit, it’s probably not ideal but at the end for us, it was much better.
“I went into Qualifying thinking that we would be miles off and just be P7, P8, but this was promising.”
Hadjar finished just behind the four-time World Champion and admitted that he was disappointed to end up only P6, with Kimi Antonelli in P3 less than one-tenth quicker.
“Tough Friday, Saturday morning and then in Qualifying, it looks like we picked up the pace a bit,” said Hadjar.
“Especially as we moved to Q3. I don’t even know how we are three tenths off pole because we’ve been a second off the whole time. That’s a bit surprising and being so close to P3 is a bit disappointing [to miss out].”
The Frenchman believes Sunday’s 66-lap race “should be fun”, with high temperatures and multiple pit stops expected that mean strategy will be imperative.
When asked about his thoughts for the race, Hadjar said: “Lots of pit stops, lots of tyre degradation. I need a big Turn 1 and from there we need sharp pit stops and that’s it.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/better-than-expected-verstappen-and-hadjar-surprised-by-red-bulls-pace-in-qualifying-for-barcelona-catalunya-gp.5x1TC5doCaydOiaFlwcB4v