Spanish GP Qualifying: Oscar Piastri beats Lando Norris to pole as McLaren seal front-row lockout in Barcelona
Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris in an all-McLaren battle for pole; Max Verstappen edges out George Russell for third as Lewis Hamilton takes fifth; watch the Spanish Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, with build-up from 12.30pm
Saturday 31 May 2025 23:52, UK
Oscar Piastri beat team-mate Lando Norris to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix as McLaren sealed a front-row lockout.
Piastri, who leads Norris by three points at the top of the world championship, trailed the Brit after the first laps in the final part of qualifying but produced a superb final run to take his fourth pole of the season with a 1:11.546.
Norris was unable to maintain the form he showed to take pole and win in Monaco last weekend as a scrappy final effort left him two tenths of a second off Piastri.
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Max Verstappen and George Russell were less than a tenth of a second off Norris in third and fourth, respectively, as they set identical times, with the Red Bull starting ahead of the Mercedes as a result of delivering his lap first.
Lewis Hamilton took fifth for Ferrari by out-qualifying his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was seventh behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, for just the second time in nine grand prix sessions this season.
McLaren's impressive display made a nonsense of speculation coming into the weekend that the runaway Constructors' Championship leaders would be hampered by a technical directive introduced in Barcelona limiting the permitted level of flexion in front wings.
Instead, the reigning champions have produced perhaps their most dominant start to a weekend so far this season, increasing the expectation that the title battle could be played out from either side of the McLaren garage.
Pierre Gasly took an impressive eighth for Alpine, while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar continued his superb form to seal ninth ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
Red Bull's woes with their second car continued as Yuki Tsunoda qualified last as he failed to make it through to Q3 for a third successive race.
Piastri lands blow in intensifying title battle
With it having become apparent as McLaren dominated practice on Friday that the battle between Piastri and Norris was set to continue, Saturday built into a thrilling Q3 showdown.
Having been outperformed by Piastri in final practice, Norris recovered to get himself right back in the battle by the time Q3 began.
Norris took advantage of a short-lived tow at the start of his first Q3 flying lap from Piastri, who pulled out of the way and slowed as quickly as possible when he realised his team-mate was trailing him as he completed his own effort.
Norris produced a significantly stronger first sector and it was enough to put him 0.017s clear of Piastri after the first runs, with the rest of the Q3 participants left to battle for third.
It was Norris up first on the final run but he struggled for accuracy throughout the lap, while Piastri delivered perfection behind him to triumph by the largest margin between first and second in any qualifying session this season.
Norris said: "Oscar drove very well. The pace is definitely there, just a couple of little mistakes."
Piastri has defied pre-season expectations of Norris being McLaren's main championship contender this season, with the Australian continuing to show a remarkable upturn in form from last season.
Bettering Norris on Saturday gives Piastri a 5-4 head-to-head advantage in grand prix qualifying this season, and saw the Australian surpass the four occasions he out-qualified Norris in the entirety of their 2024 campaign.
Piastri, who struggled in Barcelona last year, said: "Very happy. It's been a good weekend so far. It didn't start off in the best way, we were struggling a little bit, but last night we found some pace and today the car is mega and feel I have been able to put in some good laps as well.
"This was a pretty miserable scene 12 months ago so to turn it around in the best way is a great result."
The Sunday forecast of continued extreme heat in Barcelona ensures there is much work to be done by both McLaren drivers in conditions which will provide a tough test of tyre management, but Piastri has for now wrestled back momentum after Norris' Monaco victory.
Hamilton 'happy' behind Verstappen, Russell
As has been the case for much of the season to date, the nearest challengers to the McLarens were Verstappen and Russell, but even the expert pair of qualifiers couldn't prevent a one-two on this occasion.
Verstappen, who trails Piastri by 25 points, remains the biggest threat to the McLarens in the Drivers' Championship, and showed on his way to victory in Imola - at the start of this triple-header - that he will pounce on the slightest of first-lap opportunities.
"We were lacking all weekend compared to them [McLaren]. We executed well," Verstappen said. "Third is where we more or less should be. It's fun. Around here it's about squeezing everything out of the car.
"I will try my best [in the race] but they will be tough to beat."
Mercedes have generally seen a drop off in performance from Saturday to Sunday, which could leave Russell vulnerable to the Ferrari of Hamilton behind him.
Russell told Sky Sports F1: "We know we have a fast car on Saturday. We are doing best to have a fast car on Sunday.
"From what we have seen so far, it will be a tricky race, similar to Bahrain with a lot of overheating and a two-stop strategy. We saw how dominant McLaren were there."
Hamilton has endured an underwhelming opening start to his first season for Ferrari following a blockbuster switch from Mercedes, but will match the highest grand prix starting position of his campaign in fifth on Sunday.
The seven-time world champion had cut a frustrated figure on Friday as he described the SF-25 as "not driveable", but was in a far more positive mood after bettering his team-mate in qualifying for just the second time in 15 races stretching back to last season.
Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "We fixed it for today and the car was much more drivable, much more enjoyable.
" We clearly made an improvement in qualifying to get into Q3 and be in the top five. I'm really happy with that."
Sky Sports F1's Spanish GP schedule
Sunday June 1
7.25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Spanish GP build-up*
2pm: The SPANISH GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Spanish GP reaction
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
F1's European triple header concludes with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona this weekend, with live coverage starting from Friday on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime.
