Russell beats Hamilton to pole in Barcelona as Leclerc crashes

George Russell claimed pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix but Lewis Hamilton denied Mercedes a front-row lock out.

It was a mixed session for Ferrari: while Hamilton claimed a place on the front row, Charles Leclerc crashed out in Q3, leaving him tenth on the grid.

Q1

The opening phase of qualifying saw relatively little drama as drivers tried to coax the best times from their tyres, coping with the twin challenges of high minimum pressures and a track surface over 50C.

Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari on top initially, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli demonstrated Mercedes’ potential by getting within a hundredth of a second of his time. George Russell put Mercedes on top, but Hamilton found fractionally more in his Ferrari, deposing his rival with a 1’15.625. However Hamilton’s driving before his lap caught the attention of race control, which showed him the black-and-white flag for driving unnecessarily slowly.

Only half of the field returned to the track for a final tilt at the times. Nico Hulkenberg was the sole Audi driver to reappear and impressively leapt up to fifth place.

However there was no change among the bottom six runners after the final runs were completed. Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon dropped out along with the two Cadillacs and Aston Martins.

The sole surprise of the session came as Lance Stroll narrowly out-qualified Fernando Alonso. It marked the first time in 42 grands prix – a run of almost two years – he had come out ahead.

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Q1 result

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Q2

Russell went quickest and stayed there in the second session, though his team mate and the Ferraris kept up the pressure. Leclerc and Antonelli both lapped within a tenth of a second of him.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull’s cars occupied the top six places after their first runs and the teams felt safe enough not to run again and save another precious set of tyres for the race. Both McLaren drivers were in trouble, however, languishing behind Arvid Lindblad after their first runs, and opting to run again.

Norris and Piastri secured their progression the second time of asking but had to use another set of tyres while doing so. Lindblad was unable to improve and slipped out in 11th place while his team mate went through.

Nico Hulkenberg had a nervy session, losing his first lap time due to a track limits infringement at turn nine and collecting a warning for driving unnecessarily slowly. He made it through, however, pipping Lindblad by less than a tenth of a second. Their team mates went no further, and dropped out with Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz Jnr and the Alpine pair.

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Q2 result

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Q3

Verstappen was the first driver to put up a time in the final part of qualifying, but his 1’15.328 was immediately beaten. Piastri rebounded from his poor start to Q2 by taking over a tenth of a second off the Red Bull driver.

Hamilton and Norris were on course to set competitive times, beating their rivals’ efforts in the first and second sectors respectively. But they never got to finish their laps as the red flags came out.

Leclerc ran wide at the exit of turn four, tried too hard to get back on the power and snapped sideways. His SF-26 nose straight into the barrier, but he climbed out without injury.

When the session remained with eight-and-a-half minutes left on the clock, the Mercedes drivers plus Hadjar and Hamilton returned to the track on their used rubber to log their first times. Even on his less fresh rubber, Russell had enough left to take the top time off Piastri with a 1’15.145. However he was warned for driving unnecessarily slowly before setting his time.

Antonelli could only manage fourth behind the two drivers who completed their first runs when their tyres were brand new. But once he got a fresh set of tyres he produced a strong middle sector and claimed provisional pole position with a 1’14.998.

But Russell, running behind him, had yet more in hand. He beat Antonelli in all three sectors and crossed the line with a 1’14.679 which looked hard to beat.

Verstappen and Hamilton gave it a good go. The Red Bull driver flew through the first sector but faded at the end of the lap. He fell short of both Mercedes and Norris, who came within three-thousandths of beating Antonelli.

Hamilton had a stronger end to his lap, however, going fastest of all through the middle sector. He got within a tenth of a second of Russell, but it was enough to displace Antonelli from the front row of the grid.

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Q3 result

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2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

• Russell blames “copy-pasting” Antonelli’s approach for recent slump
• Hamilton needed a “huge leap” before claiming first front row at Ferrari
• Hadjar puzzled by Red Bull’s sudden gains: “I don’t know how we are 0.3s off pole”
• “Tiny” error behind Antonelli’s “no battery” radio messages on final lap – Wolff
• “It must be tough to stick with me”: Leclerc “ashamed and disappointed” after crash

Browse all 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix articles