Russell Claims Pole For 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP

Mercedes’ George Russell has claimed pole position for the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. 

Russell topped FP3 and proceeded to top the last two segments of Qualifying to claim pole position ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, in a tense finish to Q3.

 

FP3

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were the only drivers to venture out at the start of the session on soft and medium tyres respectively, during which Bottas set 1m 19.998 as the initial benchmark which he soon lowered by 0.036 seconds to 1m 19.962 on his second flier.

Everyone else waited until around 20 minutes into the session before they ventured out with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg then Gabriel Bortoleto setting the initial pace, before McLaren’s Norris set 1m 16.609 as the benchmark.

Russell however produced 1m 16.258 to go quickest just before the half-hour mark as his Mercedes teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli soon slotted into second albeit 0.242s down on the Brit.

Red flags were waved in the 35th minute after Bottas spun out at Turn 10 after he ran deep on entry and caused a five-minute pause, but not many were able to initially improve once everyone came back out for another round of flying laps.

The last 12 minutes subsequently switched focus to the soft-tyre qualifying simulations, which saw Russell lower his benchmark time to 1m 15.679 with ten minutes left.

Nobody eventually was able to get close as Antonelli aborted his qualifying simulations due to traffic, which left Piastri as Russell’s nearest challenger but 0.214s down.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1m 15.679
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.214
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.243
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.246
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.702
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.755
7	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.821
8	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 1.005
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 1.282
10	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 1.341
11	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 1.348
12	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.645
13	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.904
14	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.946
15	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 2.051
16	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 2.361
17	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 2.712
18	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 2.733
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 3.012
20	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 3.817
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 4,283
22	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 4.424

 

Qualifying

Q1

Bottas was first out on track and set 1m 19.105 as the initial benchmark time but Sainz went 0.998s quicker than the Finnish driver.

Times however soon began to tumble as the leading drivers came out and Verstappen set a more representative 1m 16.352 to go fastest, although Hamilton eventually emerged quickest at the end of the opening stint with 1m 15.625 which wasn’t beaten at the end of Q1.

The elimination zone meanwhile comprised of; Perez, Ocon, Albon, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll, although Bottas managed to move above Albon into 19th after everyone had completed one lap time.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya traditionally sees huge track evolution towards the end of Q1 and as the checkered flag fell, none of the bottom six survived as Ocon improved to 17th ahead of Albon, Perez and Bottas.

Aston Martin will occupy the back row but Stroll for the first time in 42 Grand Prix Qualifying sessions outqualified Alonso, which meant that the Spaniard will start his home race from last on the grid.

 

Q2

After a brief early lull, Gasly was the first driver to venture out and laid 1m 17.626 as the initial benchmark time, which was quickly usurped by several drivers as Verstappen set 1m 15.484 as a representative benchmark time.

Leclerc shortly afterwards went quickest from Antonelli by 0.014s but Russell set the pace with 1m 15.228 as 0.067s split the top three.

Bortoleto meanwhile headed the six drivers in the elimination zone in 11th position ahead of; Colapinto, Bearman, Gasly, Sainz and Hulkenberg – whose lap time was deleted for a breach of track limits, whilst Piastri sat just above the bottom six in tenth after a poor first flier.

As the checkered flag fell, Hulkenberg snatched the last Q3 spot at the expense of Lindblad who was eliminated in 11th position from Bortoleto and Colapinto.

Gasly improved in time on his last flier to leapfrog Bearman who slipped to 15th behind the Frenchman, whilst Sainz rounded out the six eliminees in 16th position.

 

Q3

Verstappen was first out of the pits and laid 1m 15.328 as the initial benchmark time which was immediately bettered by Piastri, as the Aussie set 1m 15.176 as the benchmark time to beat when the red flags came out after Leclerc crashed at Turn 4 after his front end snapped mid-corner.

After a 13-minute delay, the session resumed with eight minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock but only Russell could better Piastri’s lap time by 0.031s as the Brit set 1m 15.145 to go fastest.

Verstappen sat third ahead of Antonelli, Hadjar and Hamilton, as Norris, Lawson and Hulkenberg stayed in the pits until the closing minutes – with Norris having had to abort his first flier due to the red flag.

At the checkered flag, Antonelli went onto provisional pole with 1m 14.998 but Russell found 0.319s to claim pole with 1m 14.679 in a British front-row alongside Hamilton who fell 0.064s shy.

Norris qualified fourth ahead of Verstappen by 0.020s, whilst Hadjar qualified an impressive 0.056s shy of his Dutch teammate.

Piastri qualified seventh ahead of Lawson and Hulkenberg.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1m 14.679
2	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.064
3	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.319
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.322
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.342
6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 0.398
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.411
8	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.863
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 1.978
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	No Time
11	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1m 15.840
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 0.161
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 0.351
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 0.421
15	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.549
16	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 1.987
17	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1m 17.073
18	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.351
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 0.472
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 0.684
21	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.685
22	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.742