Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix qualifying: George Russell narrowly beats Lewis Hamilton for pole position
Kimi Antonelli, Russell’s teammate and championship rival, will start third in Sunday’s grand prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
George Russell took pole position in qualifying for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix ahead of former teammate Lewis Hamilton and current teammate Kimi Antonelli.
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Russell was only 0.064 seconds faster than Hamilton’s Ferrari, who will have his first front-row start since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
George Russell said it was “nice to feel the groove again” after he failed to score points in either of the last two grand prix, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli raced ahead in the championship.
Antonelli, who leads the championship by 68 points, qualified third. He said: “It has been a little bit of a difficult weekend for me, I didn’t really have the feeling in the car.”
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Lando Norris will start fourth, followed by the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri qualified seventh, ahead of Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg.
Charles Leclerc will round out the top ten grid places, having crashed in the final session. Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate repeatedly said he was “ashamed” after crashing in qualifying for the second race in a row.
"The car was great, the car was amazing and I didn't deliver. And I think it's a lot worse than that - I put it into the wall," he said.
"No excuses. I just feel ashamed. It's part of our job to come out after a session and speak in front of the camera but I just feel ashamed."
George Russell said: “The last few races haven’t been on our side but I came into the race with a clean slate and job done.
“It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow, Lewis did an amazing job to get up there”.
Lewis Hamilton, who missed the first practice session to allow development driver Dino Beganovic a chance to drive, benefitted from Ferrari’s upgrades for this race.
“These guys did a great lap, congrats for George. But we’re in a good position to fight for tomorrow, so we have a race.”
Full Qualifying Results
1. George Russel (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
10. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
11. Arvin Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
12. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
13. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
14. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
16. Carlos Sainz Jr (Williams)
17. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18. Alexander Albon (Williams)
19. Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
20. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
21. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
22. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)