George Russell claims pole for Barcelona GP as Hamilton stunts Antonelli’s front row bid

MONTMELÓ, June 14 — George Russell of Mercedes claimed pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after a thrilling end to the qualifying session on Saturday.

The Briton clinched his third pole of the season by finishing just 0.064 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in his upgraded Ferrari, who bumped championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the other Mercedes on to the second row for Sunday’s race.

After a difficult outing in Monaco last weekend and a disappointing start to the campaign for the pre-season title favourite, Russell said it was good to “feel the groove” again as he secured a career 10th pole.

Antonelli has won the last five races and is aiming for a sixth on Sunday, but he will have to start from third after a superb late run from Hamilton.

The seven-time champion had endured a tough weekend but looked far quicker in qualifying and came extremely close to claiming pole himself.

It will be the first all-British front row in Barcelona.

“It’s been a great weekend so far, I’m always fighting. I came into this weekend with a clean slate, felt good and it is great to be on pole,” said Russell.

“It will be an interesting race tomorrow, Lewis did a great job to get up there so I’m sure there will be a fight. Tomorrow will not be easy.”

Antonelli has been dominant this season but admitted it was tough going for him at Montmelo.

“It’s been a little bit of a difficult weekend so far. I didn’t really have the feeling with the car,” he explained.

“The long run was strong yesterday but today I’ve been lacking a little bit, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

It seemed like McLaren were closest to challenging Mercedes this weekend but 2025 champion Lando Norris came in fourth and Oscar Piastri was seventh.

With track temperatures edging beyond 50 degrees centigrade tyre management was key, with the soft compound only good for one flying lap.

Max Verstappen moved top of the timesheets briefly in Q1 before Charles Leclerc laid down a benchmark of 1:15.964s.

Hamilton turns up

Antonelli fell just behind him but Russell replaced the Monegasque driver, and then Hamilton powered past him too in 1:15.625.

The Briton had toiled in the practice sessions as he worked to get to grips with Ferrari’s heavily upgraded car.

Lance Stroll triggered a brief yellow flag as he hit the gravel and both he and his Aston Martin team-mate, home favourite Fernando Alonso, will fill the back row on Sunday.

Williams’ Alex Albon, set to beat Nigel Mansell’s record of 95 Grand Prix starts for the team on Sunday, also failed to progress.

Drivers were in no hurry to emerge for Q2, but once the session came alive Verstappen again set the early running. Leclerc quickly usurped him, before being himself replaced by Russell with a time of 1:15.22.

Antonelli improved to third in Q2 while Nico Hulkenberg survived the cut after his first flying lap was erased for track limits, getting a second on the board late on.

In Q3 Leclerc spaked a red flag when he came off the track between turns four and five and hit the barriers, with the front wing of his car destroyed.

The medical car was deployed but the Ferrari driver, who also crashed in his home Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, was able to walk away from the incident.

Only Piastri and Verstappen had set lap times, leading to a gripping final eight minutes once racing resumed.

Antonelli took pole provisionally before Russell’s fastest time of 1:14.679 and Hamilton’s last gasp dart which means he starts the race in a Mercedes sandwich.

“I have no idea whether I will be able to keep up, we will find out tomorrow,” said Hamilton.

“All weekend we’ve been four tenths off, even with the upgrade, that’s where we thought we were.

“For us to be that close, less than a tenth between us, that’s a real showing of the hard work of everyone at the factory.” — AFP