The qualifying for the Spanish Formula 1 GP left a series of important marks for the 2026 season. Besides the extremely tight battle for pole, the session in Madrid consolidated sequences for Mercedes, Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton, while exposing difficulties for Audi and Alpine.
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The difference of only 0.011 seconds between Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli was the smallest recorded in a qualifying this year. Until then, the smallest gap had been 0.012 seconds between Norris and Hamilton in Hungary. For McLaren, the result represented the third pole position of the season, while Norris reached the 19th of his career.
Antonelli returned to the front row for the first time since the Belgian GP, when he was on pole in Spa. With this, Mercedes secured a car on the front row for the third consecutive GP. Max Verstappen also achieved his best grid since Belgium, the event where he had started from second position.
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Ferrari placed both its cars among the top five on the grid for the second consecutive race. Hamilton extended his streak to ten starts in the top 5, with Miami, where he was sixth, being the last time he was outside this group. George Russell, on the other hand, repeated his worst starting position of the year in sixth, matching his results in Hungary and Monaco.
Further back, Franco Colapinto reached Q3 for the second consecutive event, repeating the sequence he had achieved between Miami and Canada. Audi missed Q3 for the second GP in a row, while Pierre Gasly experienced a strong contrast compared to Monza: after securing pole in Italy, he was eliminated in Q2 in Madrid and finished only 14th.
Read more F1: Check out the full qualifying results of the 2026 Spanish GP
