George Russell grabs pole in Barcelona as Hamilton revives, Leclerc crashes out

Mercedes dominance challenged

George Russell delivered a lap of 1:14.679 to claim the 150th pole position for the Mercedes team. Lewis Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, came within 64 thousandths of a second, his best qualifying performance since the 2024 British Grand Prix.

It’s fantastic to be here together with them, especially after the difficult free practice sessions. Yesterday I was over a second and a half behind and now I’m here on the front row.

Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, had to settle for third, 0.319 seconds off Russell. It was the first time this season the Italian failed to start from the front row.

Leclerc’s costly error

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed hard at Turn 4 early in Q3, bringing out the red flags. He escaped injury but will line up tenth on the grid, a heavy blow after the Monegasque had shown competitive pace throughout practice.

I feel a lot of shame. These have been difficult weekends for reasons I know. I tried to do something different in turn 4, but there are no excuses.

The grid takes shape

Lando Norris (McLaren) qualified fourth, just three milliseconds behind Antonelli. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was fifth, with teammate Isack Hadjar sixth. Oscar Piastri could only manage seventh, followed by Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg. The top ten was completed by the unfortunate Leclerc, whose car sustained heavy damage.

Other storylines

Q1 saw both Aston Martins eliminated, with Lance Stroll ending up in the gravel and Fernando Alonso reportedly frustrated with the team’s lack of performance. The session also marked the Formula 1 debut of the Cadillac-powered team, which placed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas 19th and 20th on the grid.