Update: Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix. Read on to see how the qualifying hour unfolded.
Formula 1 is back in Madrid this weekend, for the Spanish Grand Prix at the all-new Madring.
The street circuit winds around IFEMA Exhibition Centre in Madrid, and has been described as a “brutal and unforgiving” challenge for the drivers. Many elements stand out, but the signature aspect of the Madring might be La Monumental, a 550-meter sweeping corner with 24 degrees of banking, that winds through a section of track that could see 45,000 fans seated around that corner alone.
Drivers enjoyed their first taste of the Madring on Friday, but today the lap times count for real.
Mercedes got off to a strong start over the first two hours of practice, with George Russell topping the timing sheets in FP1 and teammate Kimi Antonelli going fastest in FP2. The Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were at the front as well, with Leclerc third and Hamilton fourth in FP1, and the two bumping up a spot for second and third, respectively, in FP2 as Russell dropped to P4.
Will those four battle for pole, or can someone else get into the mix? A driver to watch might just be rookie Arvid Lindblad, who was up in the top five during FP1 until an accident cut his session short, and he settled for P7. Max Verstappen finished fifth in FP1, while Lando Norris finished sixth.
Norris missed the bulk of FP2 due to a gearbox issue on his MCL40, so he will be playing catchup on Saturday.
We’ll be covering qualifying live here on SB Nation, with the session starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. You can also join the game thread that we will have on the brand-new SB Nation app, by downloading the app and joining the F1 Community. You can download the new app from the Apple Store or from Google Play.
Spanish GP provisional starting grid
Here is the provisional starting grid for the Spanish Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the qualifying hour:
Row | Position | Driver | Team | Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 2 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| Row 2 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| Row 3 | 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 6 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| Row 4 | 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 8 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull |
| Row 5 | 9 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 10 | Arvid Lindblad | VCARB |
| Row 6 | 11 | Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi |
| Row 7 | 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
| Row 8 | 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | VCARB | 16 | Alexander Albon | Williams |
| Row 9 | 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren |
| Row 10 | 19 | Sergio Pérez | Cadillac | 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac |
| Row 11 | 21 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
Here is how the qualifying hour unfolded. All updates are in Eastern time.
11:02: LANDO NORRIS HAS TAKEN THE FIRST POLE AT THE MADRING.
10:57: Cars are roaring out for the final push laps.
10:55: The last time Hamilton took pole for a Grand Prix was at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
10:53: Verstappen only manages P5. Hamilton on provisional pole after the first set of laps in Q3.
10:52: Hamilton jumps to P1, but Verstappen is on a quick lap behind him.
10:51: Norris has just been shown a black-and-white flag for failing to follow the race director’s instructions.
10:48: Q3 is underway in Madrid.
10:47: Norris has been noted for speeding in pit lane, and McLaren has been fined for the infringement:
10:42: Verstappen, Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc, Lawson, Russell, Norris, Colapinto, Piastri, and Lindblad are the ten drivers through to Q3, in that order.
10:41: Hülkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, and Albon are the six drivers eliminated at the end of Q2.
10:39: Final minute of Q2. Who can advance?
10:32: Under eight minutes to go and Bortoleto, Tsunoda, Ocon, Albon, Colapinto, and Gasly are the six in the drop zone. The Alpines have yet to take to the circuit during Q2.
10:30: Early times are in, and Verstappen is at the top of the table, with a 1:32.557. He’s now on the C4 softs. Antonelli, Russell, Lawson and Norris round out the early top five.
10:25: Q2 is about to begin, and Albon is at the back of the queue, so perhaps he ran wide on a different lap and not his best.
10:24: “It’s a shame to be standing here right now,” said Bearman to the official F1 channel. “Had a gust of wind … it’s a shame, I shouldn’t have made that mistake.
“We’ll be giving it everything to do our best tomorrow.”
10:23: Some post-Q1 replays show concern at Williams. Albon might have exceeded track limits on his best lap, and Sainz might have impeded Bottas during the session. We’ll see if race stewards take any action.
10:20: Russell, Antonelli, Lawson, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Colapinto, Bortoleto, Gasly, Tsunoda, Lindblad, Hülkenberg, Ocon, and Albon are the 16 drivers advancing to Q2. Russell set his time right at the end of the session, and it seems there is no damage to his W17.
10:19: Sainz, Alonso, Pérez, Bottas, Bearman, and Stroll are the six drivers eliminated in Q1.
10:18: One minute to go in Q1, not sure Stroll is going to set a time.
10:15: Replays show Russell tapping the wall, and he boxes to give Mercedes a chance to check the car. Albon tapped the wall at that same spot earlier in the week and his car suffered suspension damage.
10:14: Very interesting that Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc continue to pump laps in on the C3 medium tires. Verstappen is in P3, with Hamilton in P4 and Leclerc in P5.
10:11: Seven minutes remaining in Q1, and the six drivers in the drop zone are Alonso, Albon, Pérez, Bottas, Stroll, and Bearman. Bearman is already out, as Haas could not get his VF-26 ready after his FP3 shunt. Stroll has yet to set a time.
10:10: Antonelli was on a banger of a lap, but goes wide at Turn 17 and has to bail out of the attempt.
10:08: The first effort from Norris puts him into third, but only for a moment, as Lawson goes fastest with a 1:33.316 to drop Norris down to P4.
10:06: Hello Mr. Bortoleto. The Audi driver slots into third on a set of softs. Could we get another shock like we did with Gasly last week?
10:05: Leclerc slots in third, with Hamilton fourth, both on mediums.
10:04: Some of the major contenders are out on the track, including Verstappen and Antonelli. Verstappen goes purple in the second sector but Antonelli sets the benchmark with a 1:33.566. Verstappen is second, 0.178 seconds off.
But he did that on a set of mediums.
10:00: Green light in Madrid with 18 minutes on the clock. A pair of Cadillacs are first on the track, with Bottas leading Pérez out to the circuit.
9:59: F1TV reports that Haas is “nowhere near” getting Bearman ready for the session.
9:53: James Hinchcliffe with a Dodgeball reference on the pre-quali show, walking about how drivers need to “duck, dive and dodge” due to the traffic.
9:50: Chris Medland reports from the Haas garage that it might take a “minor miracle,” according to a Haas mechanic, to get Bearman ready for Q1.
9:49: James Hinchcliffe points to VCARB, and in particular Lindblad, as a team and driver to watch when it comes to sneaking into Q3.
FP3 looked rather similar to FP2, with Antonelli atop the timing sheets once more. He posted a lap time of 1:32.797, with Leclerc second, 0.166 seconds off Antonelli’s pace.
Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen rounded out the top five. Norris was able to make the most of FP3, after missing the bulk of FP2 due to a gearbox issue.
Two separate crashes — one from Hamilton and the other from Bearman — disrupted the session and brought out red flags.
Hamilton was on pace to go to the top of the table on a push lap, but drove head-on into the barrier at final corner, bringing out the red flag.
Then in the final minute it was Bearman’s turn to bring out the red flag, as he crashed in Turn 10. The team at Haas is stil lworking to get his VF-26 ready for qualifying.
