Mercedes star George Russell: "There will certainly be a top battle"

George Russell did everything right in qualifying for the GP in Barcelona and secured the best starting position for the seventh Grand Prix of the year. The Mercedes star, who has had a lot of bad luck recently, completed the 4.657 kilometre lap in 1:14.679 minutes and was therefore unbeatable. His former team-mate Lewis Hamilton came within 64 thousandths of the best time in the Ferrari, while world championship leader Kimi Antonelli had to settle for third place on the grid.

The star driver was beaming: "It's been a great weekend so far. I'm back to my old self and have been fighting for the top positions on every lap. The last few races didn't go to plan for my side for various reasons. But I came here with renewed vigour and feeling good, and it's great to be on pole here."

"We're in for an interesting race, Lewis did a great job to get second place. I think this is a real surprise. We thought we Mercedes drivers were fighting each other and McLaren for pole, and then Lewis came and was quick the whole session. There will be a fight for sure, Kimi did a great job as well. It won't be easy for us, but I'm ready," added the Briton, who celebrated the 10th pole of his GP career and triumphed for the first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

This is how qualifying went:

The high temperatures in Spain had already caused the GP stars problems in the last free practice session and it wasn't much cooler at the start of qualifying. At 30.5 degrees Celsius, the outside temperature was slightly lower than in the session before the lunch break (when 31.8 degrees were measured), but at 50.7 degrees the track was almost two and a half degrees hotter than in the third practice session.

The track filled up quickly and after eight minutes Max Verstappen took the lead with a time of 1:16.352 minutes. The Red Bull Racing star's joy did not last long, as he was immediately passed by. First Leclerc set a new best time of 1:15.964 minutes, then George Russell took the lead with 1:15.717 minutes and shortly afterwards Lewis Hamilton beat his former team-mate by 92 thousandths.

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McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were also faster than the Dutchman, who had to settle for seventh place after the first Q1 attempt. Lance Stroll, who brought up the rear of the field, brought out the first yellow flags of the session by crashing through the gravel on the tenth corner.

Bitter pill for local hero Fernando Alonso

The Canadian from the Aston Martin team was not the only one who had to improve to make it into Q3. Sergio Pérez in the Cadillac, Haas driver Esteban Ocon, Pérez's team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon in the Williams and local hero Fernando Alonso in the second Aston Martin racer, who finished in positions 17 to 21, also had to improve.

On the Q2 course were Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Arvid Lindblad, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz in positions 1 to 15, and the top 11 refrained from going out again.

Everyone else was back on track shortly afterwards and Hülkenberg earned praise from the observers as he improved to 5th place. He made it through, as did Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc and Antonelli, who lined up in front of him, and Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Lindblad, Hadjar, Bearman, Colapinto, Gasly, Bortoleto, Lawson and Sainz behind him. For Ocon, Albon, Pérez, Bottas, Stroll and Alonso, however, the session was over. The fact that the popular two-time champion from Asturias finished last was a particular disappointment for the home crowd.

Nico Hülkenberg makes it into Q2

The Q2 participants once again lined up quickly and everyone was on track after just a few minutes. Hülkenberg was briefly allowed to celebrate the top position, but then he was first ousted by Verstappen and finally penalised by the stewards with a cancelled lap time because he had driven off the track in turn nine. While the German headed for the pits, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli and Hamilton moved ahead of Verstappen, who was relegated to fifth place before disappearing into the pits.

Things went worse for McLaren, as Norris was unable to finish higher than eighth, while Piastri even had to make do with 10th place. Behind him, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Bearman, Gasly, Sainz and Hülkenberg occupied positions 11 to 16 after the first Q2 attempt; they had to improve in order to secure a top 10 place in Q3.

But it didn't stop there, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Verstappen and Hadjar stayed in the pits, while the rest made another Q2 attempt. Norris moved up to fourth place, while Piastri was seventh fastest in the end. Hülkenberg, who was warned by the stewards for travelling too slowly without needing to, improved to tenth place. The German was delighted that no other driver finished ahead of him, which meant he made it into Q3. Lindblad, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Gasly, Bearman and Sainz finished 11th to 16th, which meant they were out of qualifying, while Russell was able to celebrate the best Q2 time of 1:15.228 minutes.

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc crashes

It didn't take long for the red flags to be shown in the third qualifying section. The session was interrupted after just one minute. The reason: Leclerc put his Ferrari into the gravel in the fourth corner and was therefore out of the running for pole. Before the interruption, only two drivers had completed a timed lap: Piastri and Verstappen, with the Australian from the McLaren team clocking 1:15.176 minutes, almost one and a half tenths faster than the four-time champion from the Red Bull Racing Team.

The medical car was sent to the scene of the accident, which means that more than 25 g were measured when the car hit the barriers. It took twelve minutes before the session could be resumed. Eight and a half minutes were left on the clock when Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton and Hadjar took to the track.

Russell was given a warning for unnecessarily dawdling on his warm-up lap, but his quick attempt saw him take the lead with a time of 1:15.145 minutes. Behind him, Piastri, Verstappen, Antonelli, Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Lawson and Hülkenberg occupied the other positions, although neither crash driver Leclerc nor Norris, Lawson or Hülkenberg had set a lap time.

The first to start the decisive attempt was championship leader Antonelli, the Mercedes high-flyer was quickly joined by champion Norris, and soon everyone except Leclerc was back on track. Antonelli was able to improve, but in the end Russell was the fastest of them all. He completed the 4.657 kilometres in 1:14.679 minutes, 64 thousandths faster than Hamilton, who took second place ahead of Antonelli. Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Hülkenberg and Leclerc took the other top 10 places.