{"id":16400,"date":"2026-09-12T16:41:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T16:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/?p=16400"},"modified":"2026-09-12T16:41:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T16:41:38","slug":"spanish-gp-lando-norris-beats-kimi-antonelli-by-a-hundredth-to-claim-pole-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/spanish-gp-lando-norris-beats-kimi-antonelli-by-a-hundredth-to-claim-pole-in-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"SPANISH GP \u2013 Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli by a hundredth to claim pole in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lando Norris beat Kimi Antonelli by a hundredth of a second to take pole for the Spanish Grand Prix; the world champion saved his best lap until last to secure his first pole of the season. McLaren went into qualifying not in contention, having lost track time in practice, but lit up the first sector on his final attempt, which was key in him securing pole.<\/p>\n

Norris managed to find a huge amount of pace on his final attempt to edge the Italian off pole by eleven thousandths of a second, hailing it as one of the best laps of his career. The pole came from nowhere after he was fifth in Q1 and seventh in Q2; only a freak accident appeared to be a path to pole.<\/p>\n

But predictions of a crash-fest followed after practice, after drivers warned about the high-risk nature of the new Madring street circuit, with tricky entries to corners and walls coming back at the drivers on the exits. But unlike FP3, the session was clean without a stoppage, drivers appearing to kiss rather than hit the barriers.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third just over a tenth and a quarter off the top two, putting himself half a tenth faster than the two Ferraris.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, like Norris, emerged as a late contender for pole having topped Q2 by over a tenth and a half; he was unable to use the competitive form to fight for pole at the end of Q3. Lewis Hamilton bounced back after crashing out of final practice to put himself fourth but was unable to repeat his provisional pole on the first runs of Q3.<\/p>\n

Norris, who will be on pole, said, \u201cThank you. I am shocked and a little bit surprised to be here now but my God, it was probably one of the best laps I have done, ever in my career so very, very happy, very proud, very happy for the team. It was just one of those laps where everything came together\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli speaking after qualifying P2: “I thought it was a good lap but then this guy just snatched it away. Good job to them. On my side, a very intense qualifying. Difficult to get the balance right with track being so hot, but the lap was pretty clean. Obviously not easy to put things together on a track like this, which is quite tricky.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, who will start Sunday’s race in third: “For us, it was a very good qualifying. For me to be third is a great result. The car felt quite decent in qualifying, and I could attack corners the way I liked, so for us I think this qualifying was a good result.”<\/p>\n

The strong session following the heavy crash, which cost every driver track time in FP3, put the seven-time champion six thousandths faster than teammate Charles Leclerc. Ferrari once again failed to translate a strong showing in practice into a decent qualifying as the Monegasque went three hundredths ahead of George Russell.<\/p>\n

Russell needed a strong session before the flyway\u2019s started if he is to turn the tide against his teammate Antonelli\u2019s march towards the championship, but he had to settle for sixth, three tenths off the Italian. Russell put his Mercedes a tenth and a half ahead of Oscar Piastri, with the second McLaren just under six tenths faster than Franco Colapinto.<\/p>\n

The Briton had looked more or less on Antonelli’s pace for much of the weekend, even if he clearly lacked the Italian’s fluid ability to let the car run free and flow and slide on corner exits. But the three-tenth gap to his teammate highlights race by race how increasingly difficult it gets for him and Hamilton to overturn the Italian\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

Both Mercedes, on edge through qualifying; Russell grazed the wall in Q1 and teammate Antonelli locked up and ran off the track but avoided the barriers.<\/p>\n

Colapinto survived a near crash on his first run in Q2 at Monumental as his rear slid out. Arvid Lindblad was another to bounce back from a crash in practice, putting his Racing Bull tenth. He and Piastri had set identical times in Q2, with them getting through to the final part of qualifying after going two hundredths faster than Nico Hulkenberg.<\/p>\n

But unlike Piastri, Lindblad was unable to better his position. Another strong session for Audi saw Hulkenberg go just over a tenth and a half faster than teammate Gabriel Bortoletto, with Esteban Ocon almost three tenths off.<\/p>\n

While Colapinto executed his Q2 lap after aborting his first, teammate Pierre Gasly was unable to save his attempt but avoided crashing his Alpine. He later lamented a radically different car balance compared to FP3.<\/p>\n

Yuki Tsunoda put his Racing Bull four and a half tenths ahead of Alex Albon, who was slowest in the second part of qualifying.<\/p>\n

Both Spaniards found themselves knocked out in Q1, Carlos Sainz missing out by a thousandth of a second as he went three quarters of a tenth faster than Fernando Alonso. Things could get worse for Sainz at his first home race; the Madrid-born driver is under investigation and could be given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas.<\/p>\n

The Finn having to settle for twenty-first, having gone almost a tenth off Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez. Ollie Bearman\u2019s heavy crash in FP3 left him on the sidelines for qualifying.<\/p>\n

Related<\/h4>\n