Norris narrowly edges Antonelli for Spanish GP pole

Lando Norris pinched pole position from championship leader Kimi Antonelli in a nail-biting end to qualifying for the first Spanish Grand Prix at the brand-new Madring street circuit.

Lewis Hamilton was on provisional pole after the first laps of Q3 with a slender 0.061s advantage over Antonelli, but the Ferrari driver couldn’t find a meaningful step with his second attempt.

Antonelli, though, had plenty left on the table, and a purple final sector rotated him into top spot. The Italian was first on the road, and his time withstood challenges from the next six drivers – one of which was Hamilton – who failed to make an impact.

Norris, though, was stringing together a special lap. He signaled his intent with the quickest time in the first sector, and he was almost 0.3s quicker than Antonelli in the middle split. Bringing it home through McLaren’s unfavored final sector, replete with 90-degree corners, he crossed the line in 1m 31.824s, pipping Antonelli by 0.011s.

“It was probably one of the best laps I’ve done ever in my career,” he said. “I’m very, very happy, very proud.

“The adrenaline was high on the last lap. It’s just one where you’ve got to relax, just let it all flow. It’s easy to get tense around here, and there’s a lot of walls that come at you pretty quickly.

“Everything I wanted to achieve, I achieved. It’s one of the moments when you’re in that flow state. It puts a big smile on my face, so I’m happy.”

Norris was an unfancied pole contender, having missed FP2 with a gearbox problem that left him down on crucial experience at this brand-new circuit. With overtaking expected to be difficult, he’s now in a strong position to convert to victory.

“I’ve given myself the best chance for tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be the easiest track to overtake, but it’s going to be possible.

“First race here in Madrid. It’s been a pleasure so far. A lot of things can happen. It’s a long race, a difficult track. I’m looking forward to the whole thing.”

Antonelli was satisfied with his lap at the end of a high-pressure qualifying hour.

“I thought it was a good lap, but then this guy just snatched it away,” he said. “It’s not easy to put the things together on a track like this, which is quite tricky, but overall I think we did a good job, and now we’ll try to see what we can do tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen was last over the line to complete the top three, 0.14s off the pace, having topped Q2 after a low-key build-up to the weekend.

“I think for us it was a very good qualifying,” he said. “For me to be third is a great result.

“I think we made the car feel quite decent in qualifying and I could attack corners in the way I liked. I think this qualifying is a very good result.”

Hamilton ended up fourth, 0.189s off the pace, ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, who was 0.006s further back.

George Russell suffered from a big wobble through the final corner, leaving him sixth and 0.325s off the pace, ahead of the similarly off-pace Oscar Piastri, who slumped to seventh and 0.47s off his pole-getting teammate.

Liam Lawson was eighth and 0.492s off the pace ahead of Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad to complete the top 10.

Nico Hulkenberg was only 0.019s short of a spot in Q3, qualifying 11th ahead of Audi teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.

Esteban Ocon took the sole Haas car to 13th ahead of Pierre Gasly, who was mystified by a lack of grip that left the car feeling much less competitive than it had been in practice – though clipping the inside barrier at Turn 16 was unlikely to have helped.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified 15th – he was 0.549s slower than Q3-bound teammate Lindblad – ahead of Alex Albon in the lead Williams.

Albon’s Q2 progression knocked teammate Carlos Sainz out of Q1 by just 0.005s, condemning the Madrid-born star to 17th for his home grand prix. He will also see the stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Valtteri Bottas.

Sainz's compatriot Fernando Alonso will line up alongside him in 18th, having lapped 0.076s slower than Sainz, confirming both Spaniards will start at the back of the field.

Sergio Perez followed more than half a second adrift of Alonso, while Cadillac teammate Bottas qualified 20th with an unrepresentative time.

Oliver Bearman did not participate in qualifying following his late FP3 crash, while Lance Stroll did not set a time and will start from the back with an engine penalty.

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