Lando Norris of McLaren celebrates with his team after winning Pole Position during qualifying ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Spain at Madring Circuit in Madrid, Spain, on September 12, 2026. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
McLaren’s Lando Norris produced a stunning final lap in Saturday’s qualifying to take pole position for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.
The defending champion’s late effort of 1m 31.824 seconds pipped Mercedes driver and current championship leader Kimi Antonelli to the first-ever pole at the Madring, with a margin of only 0.011s separating them.
“I’m shocked,” Norris said after qualifying. “I’m a little bit surprised to be here now, but my god it was probably one of the best laps I’ve done ever in my career. Very, very happy, very proud, very happy for the team.
“It was just one of those laps where everything came together. I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, but it was whether my brain let me do it on the last lap and everything pretty much worked perfectly.
“I’m just very happy – one of those laps where you look at the lap time at the end and you’re like, ‘Oh, s*** that was pretty good’.”
Max Verstappen posted the third-fastest time for Red Bull, followed by the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who had to settle for fourth and fifth respectively.
MADRID, SPAIN – SEPTEMBER 12: Pole position qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren Second placed qualifier Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and Third placed qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing look on during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Madring on September 12, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Formula 1 via Getty Images
Further down, George Russell could only manage sixth for Mercedes while the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri took seventh place.
Filling in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, Liam Lawson clocked in the eighth-fastest time on the grid, with Franco Colapinto’s Alpine coming in ninth and Arvid Lindblad rounding out the fastest 10 drivers for Racing Bulls.
Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz of Williams got hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac, which means he will start from 20th on the grid for his home race.
Sainz’s penalty moves fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin up the order along with the Cadillac duo of Sergio Perez and Bottas.
Lance Stroll, who failed to set a qualifying time, has also been handed a 40-place grid penalty for taking on new power unit elements beyond his allocation.
Spanish Grand Prix 2026 Starting Grid
Here’s the starting order for Sunday’s race in Madrid with penalties applied:
- Lando Norris (McLaren): 1:31.824
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes): +0.011
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull): +0.140
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): +0.189
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): +0.195
- George Russell (Mercedes): +0.325
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren): +0.470
- Liam Lawson (Red Bull): +0.492
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine): +1.079
- Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls): +1.217
- Nico Hulkenberg (Audi): +1.399
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi): +1.564
- Esteban Ocon (Haas): +1.843
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine): +1.929
- Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls): +2.260
- Alexander Albon (Williams): +3.708
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin): +3.564
- Sergio Perez (Cadillac): +4.089
- Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac): +6.187
- Carlos Sainz (Williams): +3.488
- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
The Spanish Grand Prix race starts at 3 p.m. local time (CEST) on Sunday, September 13.
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