Lando Norris on pole in Madrid

In a fantastic conclusion to Q3 in qualifying, the reigning world champion Lando Norris was able to take pole position with a time of 1 minute and 31.824 seconds. Mastering the brand-new circuit in Madrid for his 19th career pole position and his 3rd of 2026.

Lewis Hamilton in the early runs of Q3 took provisional pole before he was dropped the P4 where he would stay, where he led his teammate Charles Leclerc and George Russell of Mercedes. Inside the latter half of the top 10, Oscar Piastri had a very frustrating qualifying finishing 7th place with Liam Lawson, Franco Colopinato, and Arvid Lindblad behind him. Lindblad suffered an early crash in the second free practice session which finishes out the top 10.

Outside of the top 10 was both of the Audi drivers followed by Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsundoa, followed by the Williams drivers, Fernando Alonso and the Cadillacs.

Norris called the lap “one of my best”, as Norris outpaced Kimi Antonelli by only 11 thousandths of a second with Max Verstappen also finding time late in the session to pick up P3 ahead of the Ferraris.