Piastri beats Norris to pole position in thrilling Spanish GP Qualifying as McLaren lock out front row

Oscar Piastri has grabbed his fourth pole position of the season during Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, the championship leader beating McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the dying moments of the session.

After setting the pace across Q1 and Q2, Piastri lost out to Norris when the opening runs of Q3 took place, the Briton having snatched provisional pole. But it was advantage Piastri as the final flying laps came in, the Australian pumping in a 1m 11.546s to go 0.209s quicker than the other papaya car.

Max Verstappen put in another solid Qualifying performance to slot into third for Red Bull, while Mercedes’ George Russell set an identical lap time to the Dutchman but had to settle for fourth after crossing the line later.

Lewis Hamilton was the lead Ferrari in fifth, putting him ahead of Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes and the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc in sixth and seventh respectively. Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, took eighth for Alpine, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar again looking strong in ninth while home favourite Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in 10th.

With increasingly fine margins at play, Williams’ Alex Albon just missed out on Q3 by three-hundredths of a second, with Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto behind in P12 ahead of the Racing Bulls machine of Liam Lawson. The other cars to exit in Q2 were the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Haas’ Ollie Bearman.

Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg found himself pushed into the elimination zone during a busy end to Q1, as did Haas’ Esteban Ocon. There was also disappointment for Carlos Sainz, the Williams driver exiting the session down in P18.

Franco Colapinto experienced an issue with his Alpine whilst queueing in the pit lane ahead of the final Q1 runs, meaning that he could not improve and ended up in P19.

Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, suffered another disappointment as he brought up the rear in P20 for Red Bull, the Japanese driver some way off the pace of his teammate.

After three busy practice sessions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the attentions of the paddock turned to Qualifying. McLaren had set the pace across Friday and Saturday so far – but could any of their rivals pose a greater threat during the rest of the weekend?

The drivers were greeted by increasingly hot and humid conditions as Q1 got underway, with the track temperature hitting 48 degrees while the air temperature held at 29 degrees. Most of the field opted to remain in the garage after the green light appeared, before a flurry of action a few minutes later saw numerous cars head out.

Once all 20 drivers had put a timed lap on the board – all sporting the soft tyre – Piastri repeated his FP3 performance by setting the benchmark, the Australian pumping in a time of 1m 12.551s. This put him two-tenths clear of Verstappen, while Norris was just 0.001s behind the Dutchman in third.

At the other end of the spectrum, the drivers at risk of elimination following the opening runs were Hulkenberg, Ocon, Sainz, Tsunoda and Bortoleto, while Stroll and Lawson found themselves in a precarious position in 14th and 15th respectively.

A queue had formed in the pit lane ahead of the final minutes of the session, but there was drama when Colapinto – at the head of the pack – reported an issue, meaning that others behind opted to overtake the Alpine.

It proved to be a frantic dash to the end of Q1 as everybody tried to improve, with Bortoleto impressively hauling himself up into the top 10. Lawson soon did the same, while Bearman and Stroll also bettered their efforts to escape the danger zone.

These improvements pushed Hulkenberg down into P16, and Ocon also missed the cut as he dropped to P17. There was disappointment for Sainz, meanwhile, the Spaniard failing to progress beyond P18.

Colapinto was unable to get going again from the pit lane, resulting in him ending Qualifying down in P19, while another driver to face a nightmarish day was Tsunoda, the Red Bull man having been unable to improve on P20.

The action continued at pace as Q2 began, with a number of drivers heading out early on the soft tyres for their first runs. Verstappen initially set the pace before Norris swept through to take P1 with a margin of three-tenths from the Dutchman.

That picture changed again when Piastri went even quicker, the Australian beating his teammate by 0.058s thanks to his lap of 1m 11.998s. Those at risk after the opening runs, on the other hand, were Bortoleto, Lawson, Albon, Stroll and Bearman.

“I’m happy to give Kimi a tow if needed,” fourth-placed Russell commented over the radio, the Briton seemingly wanting to help the other Mercedes car of Antonelli – currently sitting in P9 – to progress through to Q3.

As the session entered into its final minutes, Antonelli was amongst those to return to the track – but there was no sign of Russell, or any of the top five for that matter, as the rest of the field battled to make it through.

Stroll could not improve on his previous effort, nor could Lawson. Elsewhere there was pressure for the other Racing Bulls car of Hadjar – but the Frenchman impressively moved up to sixth. Fellow rookie Bortoleto missed out in P12, while Bearman was also unable to improve.

The other driver out in Q2 was Albon, the Williams driver exiting in P11 after missing the cut by just three-hundredths. The Thai driver voiced his unhappiness about the Haas of Bearman ahead of him as he crossed the line, accusing the American squad of running “purposely slow in Sector 3”.

Following those busy opening phases, it was time for the all-important top 10 shootout in Barcelona – and it looked to be business as usual when Piastri crossed the line to record a 1m 11.836s.

But while the likes of Russell and Verstappen failed to beat the Australian, the other McLaren of Norris surged through to better that effort by 0.017s, going fastest on a 1m 11.819s to secure provisional pole.

While Russell suggested that Mercedes had been “too conservative” after slotting into third – ahead of Leclerc in fourth and Verstappen in fifth – replays showed that Norris had gained a tow from his teammate into the final corner. When warned that Norris would pass him after crossing the line, Piastri dryly commented: “Cheeky”.

Alonso opted to set his effort early during a lull on the track, the Aston Martin driver receiving cheers from his home fans as he moved into fifth. While the Spaniard returned to the pits – and Leclerc stayed in the garage – the rest of the pack headed out for their final flying runs. Could anybody displace Norris at the top?

It turned out that the answer to that was yes, with Piastri putting in a storming lap of 1m 11.546s to go quickest. Norris’ subsequent effort was not enough to displace his teammate, the Briton ending up 0.209s adrift after a slightly scruffy outing.

Behind that McLaren front row lockout, Verstappen and Russell set identical times – but the Red Bull man was given third place due to setting his lap first, putting Russell in fourth. Hamilton had a decent session to put his Ferrari in fifth, while Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly, Hadjar and Alonso completed the top 10 order.

"(I'm) very happy," said Piastri. "It’s been a good weekend so far. Didn’t start off in the best way, we were struggling a little bit but I think last night we found some pace and today the car’s been mega. I feel like I’ve been able to put in some good laps as well so thank you to the team for all the hard work. This was a pretty miserable scene 12 months ago so to have turned it around in the best way is a great result.”

The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix is set to begin at 3pm local time on Sunday.