Lando Norris stuns Mercedes and Ferrari with inaugural pole position at the Madring

Lando Norris claimed the inaugural pole position at the Madring where he surprised favourites Mercedes and Ferrari to beat Kimi Antonelli by 0.011s.

The McLaren driver will line up on the coveted grid slot ahead of Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, while there was disappointment for Spain with both Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso eliminated in Q1.

Double Spanish elimination in Q1 at the Madring

Only 21 drivers left the pit lane for Q1 at the Madring as Haas announced that Oliver Bearman would not participate after crashing late in FP3.

It was better news for Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari repaired his SF-26 in time for qualifying.

The Ferrari teammates left the pit lane in formation, with both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on the medium Pirellis. The Mercedes teammates were on the soft tyres, with Kimi Antonelli setting the early pace on a 1:33.566.

Red Bull entered the fray with Liam Lawson up into P1 by two-tenths ahead of Antonelli, and Max Verstappen slotting into third.

Track limits came in thick and fast as they did in the practice sessions, with several drivers losing lap time for exceeding limits at Turn 6.

Antonelli had a moment at Turn 17, locking up and heading into the run-off area. Verstappen made it a Red Bull 1-2, with Hamilton and Leclerc behind the RB22s on the timesheets.

With five minutes to go, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas were in the drop zone, while Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman had not set a time.

Russell tagged the wall at Turn 21, and told Mercedes that he “hit the wall” and needed to box for the team to check his W17. Back on track, he went quickest with a 1:33.211.

As the drivers completed their final laps, Carlos Sainz was punted into the drop zone and was eliminated along with Alonso.

Eliminated: Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas, Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll

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Pole at Monza to Q2 elimination at the Madring for Pierre Gasly

The track temperature was up to 53°C as Q2 got underway.

Mercedes led the field out with Antonelli purple in all three sectors on his way to a 1:32.603. Russell fell short of his teammate’s benchmark by a quarter of a second.

Leclerc went quickest in the middle sector but was only third fastest.

Verstappen was the next to go purple, with the Red Bull driver posting a 1:32.557. That put him 0.046s faster than Antonelli.

Pierre Gasly had a moment through La Monumental but held onto his Alpine before aborting his lap. Neither he nor his teammate Franco Colapinto had set a time as they left the pits for a final run with four minutes remaining in the session.

The Alpine teammates were joined in the drop zone by Gabriel Bortoleto, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and Albon.

Colapinto climbed out of the drop zone in eighth place, pushing Hulkenberg down into P11. Piastri aborted his lap after scraping through in ninth place.

Eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon.

Lando Norris claims first pole at the Madring

Ferrari went into Q3 with three sets of new soft tyres available for both drivers, which would be a boost if there was a red flag.

Lando Norris was shown a black-and-white flag for failing to follow the Race Director’s notes.

Antonelli was the first to cross the line, posting a 1:32.140. Russell wasn’t able to match his teammate’s time.

However, both Mercedes driver were beaten by Hamilton. The seven-time world champion lowered the benchmark time to a 1:32.079. Leclerc slotted into fourth place behind the Mercedes drivers, with Verstappen fifth fastest.

Heading out for a second run, Leclerc was in the queue when Racing Bulls sent Lindblad out ahead of him. The Briton blasted his way into the queue with Leclerc having to take avoiding action.

Verstappen and the McLarens briefly remained in their garages as the on-track action heated up.

Antonelli powered his way to a purple first sector and went on to shave two-tenths off Hamilton’s provisional pole position time. Russell remained third.

Hamilton, though, was on a flier and was up through the middle sector. But he dropped time in the third and stayed second.

Norris came from nowhere to grab pole position by 0.011s ahead of Antonelli. Verstappen improved to third and will be joined by Hamilton on the second row of the grid.

Leclerc was fifth ahead of Russell, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Lindblad.

Spanish Grand Prix: Qualifying top ten

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:31.824
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.835
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:31.964
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.013
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.019
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.149
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.294
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull 1:32.316
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:32.903
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 1:33.041

The full results from Qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix

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