McLaren’s Lando Norris snatched a shock pole position for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in a tight Qualifying session.
Norris had missed FP2 due to a gearbox issue and rebounded to finish fourth in FP3 before he quietly progressed through Q1 and Q2, before he left it until the checkered flag to beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli by 0.011 seconds to snatch pole.
FP3
A quiet start to the session saw Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto venture out first in the sixth minute and proceeded to set 1m 35.777 on the medium tyre as the initial benchmark, which his teammate – Nico Hulkenberg beat by 0.056s on the same compound.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc then Lewis Hamilton went quickest before Antonelli put Mercedes top with 1m 33.664 in the 19th minute, yet Leclerc responded with 1m 33.332 two minutes later.
Hamilton attempted to displace his teammate in the 23rd minute but locked up into the final corner and ran into the barriers, which brought out the red flags barely a minute later but Hamilton attempted to recover to the pit lane until Ferrari instructed him to stop on track.
Stewards subsequently stopped the session timer with 15 minutes and 38 seconds left after a 21-minute pause in order to allow marshals time to safely reinstall the barriers, and the session recommenced 18 minutes layer with a long queue of cars streaming straight onto the circuit.
Leclerc proceeded to lower the benchmark to 1m 32.963 but Antonelli on his second soft-tyre flier of his final run posted 1m 32.797 to top the session with five minutes left.
The session finished under a red flag after Haas’ Oliver Bearman clipped the inside wall of Turn 10, which sent him spinning backwards into the barriers of Turn 11.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1m 32.797 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.166 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.189 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.236 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.375 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.702 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 1.105 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.136 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.487 |
| 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.491 |
| 11 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.549 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.633 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.684 |
| 14 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.708 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 1.768 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.174 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.223 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.667 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 2.773 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.644 |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.873 |
| 22 | Alex Albon | Williams | No Time |
Qualifying
Q1
Bottas was first on track and laid 1m 38.011 as the initial benchmark time on soft tyres, which was quickly usurped by several drivers, as Lawson topped the first runs with 1m 33.316 on the soft tyre in a period which saw a mix of medium and soft-tyre runners through the field.
Once everyone set a lap time, Alonso, Albon, Perez, Bottas, Bearman and Stroll sat in the bottom six with four minutes left, with Bearman ruled out due to his FP3 crash whilst Stroll hadn’t set a lap time due to a technical issue.
At the checkered flag, Stroll failed to get out onto the circuit to register a lap time which left him last on the grid behind Bearman who will start ahead of the Canadian – owing to the Brit’s higher FP3 finish.
Perez and Bottas will start 19th and 20th respectively for Cadillac on the penultimate row behind Spain’s home heroes, Sainz and Alonso who qualified 17th and 18th respectively, although Sainz only missed out on Q2 to his own teammate, Albon by just 0.005 seconds.
Russell meanwhile finished Q1 fastest with 1m 33.211 ahead of Antonelli by just 0.056s.
Q2
Antonelli was first on track and laid down 1m 32.603 as the initial benchmark in the fourth minute but Verstappen a minute later found 0.046s to set 1m 32.557 as the benchmark time.
Bortoleto meanwhile headed the provisional bottom six after the first runs from Tsunoda, Ocon and Albon, whilst Colapinto aborted his lap due to a snap in steering across the banked La Monumental, and Gasly opted against participating in the opening Q2 run.
As the checkered flag fell, Colapinto surged up to eighth at the expense of Hulkenberg who was eliminated in 11th ahead of teammate, Bortoleto in 12th.
Ocon qualified 13th ahead of his French compatriot, Gasly whilst Tsunoda and Albon qualified 15th and 16th respectively.
Verstappen meanwhile lowered his benchmark to 1m 32.431 to top the segment.
Q3
Antonelli again was first out onto the circuit and laid 1m 32.140 as the benchmark time, but Hamilton found 0.061s to post 1m 32.079 as the time to beat moments later ahead of the Italian.
Russell sat third after the first runs ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Lindblad.
Antonelli responded with 1m 31.835 at the checkered flag but Norris found a further 0.011s to snatch pole from the Italian by 0.011s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 31.824 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.011 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.140 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.189 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.195 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.325 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.470 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 0.492 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.079 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.217 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 1m 33.223 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 0.165 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.444 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.530 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 0.861 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.309 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1m 35.312 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.076 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 0.601 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.699 |
| 21 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | No Time |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | No Time |
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