Lando Norris edges out Max Verstappen to take Spanish Grand Prix pole

Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver taking the top spot with an absolutely exceptional lap after what was a hugely competitive qualifying session in Barcelona. He beat the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second with Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in third and his teammate George Russell was fourth with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fifth.

Coming on the back of his superb win at the Miami GP and the superb pace he demonstrated in chasing Verstappen down in Imola, then taking a strong second at the last round in Canada, Norris is on an absolute roll.

Norris and McLaren did very well to maintain their focus after a fire broke out in their motorhome an hour before first practice. Everyone was evacuated from the team’s base in the paddock with one member of the team taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Although Verstappen took pole in the opening seven meetings, he has now been denied in the last three and this was very much an indication the advantage he enjoyed in those opening meetings has been definitively closed down. Barcelona is considered a very reliable benchmark against which to measure a car’s performance, that McLaren were on top here suggests that Red Bull have genuinely been caught and that they now face a real fight.

This is Norris’s second career pole position and his first in Spain. He claimed his first at the Russian GP in 2021, which was the last time McLaren took pole. The team have not claimed the top spot in Barcelona since Kimi Raikkonen did so in 2005.

On the opening quick runs in Q3, Verstappen set the pace with his first lap with a time of 1:11.673, especially quick in the second and third sectors, with Norris just a tenth back, while Hamilton and Russell had looked quick in the opening of the lap and closed only several hundredths behind the McLaren.

The last runs were vital but Verstappen appeared to hold the cards in pace, albeit while being pushed hard. Verstappen duly improved his time but at the death Norris delivered a mighty lap, attacking every corner and pulling it off to perfection. His time of 1:11.403 was two-hundredths clear of the Dutchman who had been beaten fair and square.

Sergio Pérez finished in eighth but will take a three-place grid penalty carried over from the Canadian GP. Carlos Sainz was sixth for Ferrari, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were in seventh and ninth for Alpine and Oscar Piastri in 10th for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were in 11th and 14th for Aston Martin, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou in 12th and 15th for Sauber, with Nico Hülkenberg in 13th for Haas.

Kevin Magnussen was in 16th for Haas, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in 17th and 18th for RB and Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant in 19th and 20th for Williams.