George Russell has taken the first pole in 2026. Fastest in all three qualifying sessions, the five-time race winner was nothing short of peerless and set a pole time of 1m18.518s, nearly three tenths of a second quicker than his teammate Kimi Antonelli. After crashing out of FP3, doubts lingered over whether Antonelli’s car would be fixed in time for qualifying. The Mercedes mechanics’ heroic efforts looked to be in vain until they were handed a lifeline by Max Verstappen.
While coming down the main straight to start his first flying lap, the four-time world champion suffered a sudden snap of oversteer as he hit the brakes for turn one. The resulting spin sent Verstappen into the barriers and brought out the red flag. With no time on the board, Verstappen will start tomorrow’s race 20th.
Verstappen’s pain was Antonelli’s gain; the red flag gave Mercedes enough time to prepare the Italian’s car in time for Q1. Antonelli repaid his mechanics by ending the session in 7th before setting the second fastest time at the end of Q3. A front row lockout at the very first time of asking, Mercedes’ pace is now clear for all to see.
With the Silver Arrows out in front, there was a pitched battle for the second row of the grid. Verstappen’s crash meant Red Bull debutant Isack Hadjar was forced to champion his team’s cause. Having hovered around the top five for much of Q1 and 2, Hadjar put in a sensational final effort to take P3. He may have trailed Russell by a daunting seven-tenths of a second, but this nevertheless marks Hadjar’s best qualifying performance to date.
Having topped the first free practice session, Ferrari could not match the Mercedes in qualifying. Charles Leclerc salvaged second with just a single run in Q2 but had to settle for fourth in Q3, eight tenths of a second off pole.
Oscar Piastri couldn’t give his home fans the result they wanted; the local hero couldn’t match Hadjar or Leclerc in the closing stages, but with fifth, Piastri is well placed to threaten the podium, should those ahead of him hit trouble. Lando Norris was less than a tenth of a second behind his teammate in sixth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Racing Bulls were best of the rest. A late surge from Liam Lawson saw him take eighth ahead of his rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad, who survived a close shave at the end of Q2, where he nearly collided with his teammate in the pits due to a slow-moving Gabriel Bortoleto.
Heartbreakingly for Bortoleto, his sixth career Q3 appearance was not one he could savour. After setting the tenth fastest time in Q2 and getting the better of his teammate Nico Hülkenberg, Bortoleto’s Audi ground to a halt at the pitlane entry. Having failed to make it back to the pits under his own power, the Brazilian was not allowed to take part in Q3.
Behind the Audis, Ollie Bearman outpaced his teammate Esteban Ocon by nearly two tenths of a second. Pierre Gasly will line up 14th ahead of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto. Despite missing FP1, Fernando Alonso was able to set a time in the troublesome AMR26, one that was good enough for 17th on the grid. Cadillac took 18th and 19th in their first-ever qualifying session, with Sergio Perez six tenths of a second clear of his teammate Valtteri Bottas. They may have set the slowest competitive times of the session, but both their drivers remained upbeat and congratulated the team on having made it this far without too many reliability issues.
An ERS issue prevented Carlos Sainz from taking part in qualifying, while further engine trouble meant Lance Stroll was unable to set a lap as well.
After playing down their chances for the entire off season, Mercedes have finally shown their hand and, unfortunately for their rivals, it seems to be a formidable one.
