Aiming to get ’26 campaign back on track, Russell takes pole in Barcelona just ahead of rapid Lewis Hamilton; Antonelli in P3 off front row for first time this year
Mercedes’ George Russell, the preseason favorite for the Drivers’ title before his upstart teammate Kimi Antonelli put an end to that narrative with an early season salvo of dominance, took the first step in attempting to get his season back on track by laying down a blistering lap at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya good enough for pole position in Sunday’s Grand Prix. After being blanked in terms of points in the last two races in Canada & Monaco, Russell utilized his desperation to hook up a fast lap at the death of Q3 that put him well ahead of Antonelli by some three-tenths. Somewhat surprisingly, it was a resurgent Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari who gave Russell the closest run for his money, displaying a bit of the old seven-time champ magic to slot in just six one-hundredths of a second behind Russell and grab P2 across from his erstwhile teammate come Sunday. That bumped Antonelli off the front row for the first time this year and he will line up side by side with the McLaren of reigning world champion Lando Norris. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were the next fastest, qualifying in P5 and P6 respectively, putting them both ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who could only muster a time good enough for P7. The young Aussie struggled more than his teammate with rear locking and controlling tire temperature under the brutal Catalunyan sun.
GHOST CAR! 👻 It was mighty tight between Russell and Hamilton ⚔️
Lewis was so close to taking his first pole for Ferrari 🤏#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/Dy6tEzg58J
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 13, 2026
Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was P8, veteran Nico Hulkenberg an impressive P9 for Audi and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc did not set a time after crashing out early in Q3 following a snap of oversteer at Turn 4, bringing out the Red Flag for the cleanup. The Monegasque driver was unhurt aside from his pride, after also crashing out of his home Grand Prix last weekend late in the race.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Barcelona-Catalunya GP:
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Mercedes | 1:15.717 | 1:15.228 | 1:14.679 | 13 |
| 2 |
|
Ferrari | 1:15.625 | 1:15.418 | 1:14.743 | 14 |
| 3 |
|
Mercedes | 1:15.977 | 1:15.295 | 1:14.998 | 14 |
| 4 |
|
McLaren | 1:16.287 | 1:15.361 | 1:15.001 | 14 |
| 5 |
|
Red Bull | 1:16.352 | 1:15.484 | 1:15.021 | 12 |
| 6 |
|
Red Bull | 1:16.427 | 1:15.754 | 1:15.077 | 14 |
| 7 |
|
McLaren | 1:16.138 | 1:15.518 | 1:15.090 | 15 |
| 8 |
|
Racing Bulls | 1:16.673 | 1:15.585 | 1:16.542 | 14 |
| 9 |
|
Audi | 1:16.066 | 1:15.768 | 1:16.657 | 17 |
| 10 |
|
Ferrari | 1:15.964 | 1:15.281 | — | 8 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Can Russell keep Hamilton and Antonelli behind him and get back into the championship fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!