George Russell put his recent run of bad luck behind him by securing pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, declaring he felt “like my old self again”. The Mercedes driver posted a lap of 1min 15.717sec on the 4.657km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, edging out Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari by just 0.064 seconds.
Hamilton, who has struggled all weekend, produced a dramatic late surge to claim second place, capitalising on a significant upgrade to the Ferrari. The seven-time world champion admitted he was surprised by his pace, saying: “For sure. It’s been a very, very tricky weekend… I needed to make a huge leap going into qualifying.”
Kimi Antonelli, Russell’s 19-year-old teammate and championship leader, qualified third and will aim for a sixth consecutive victory. However, he was downbeat, saying: “I’m struggling with the feeling of the car… Definitely not the best performance.” Charles Leclerc, the other Ferrari driver, crashed spectacularly in Q3, causing a red flag, and will start from tenth. He said he felt “very ashamed” and offered “no excuses”.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren were fourth and seventh respectively, with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar of Red Bull fifth and sixth. Russell’s pole marked his 10th career pole and the 150th for Mercedes, coinciding with his 100th race for the team. The Briton had fallen 68 points behind Antonelli in the standings due to a series of mishaps, including a battery failure in Canada and a pit-lane speeding penalty in Monaco.
Looking ahead to the race, which may feature a three-stop strategy due to high tyre degradation, Leclerc remained optimistic about his chances of recovering from tenth. However, Hamilton will hope to convert his strong qualifying into a first win for Ferrari, while Russell aims to capitalise on his return to form.
