George Russell bounced back from the disappointments of the past few races to take pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Russell edged out Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari by just 0.064 seconds as runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli could manage only third place in the other Mercedes.
McLaren’s Lando Norris took fourth from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc crashed on his first lap in the final session and will start 10th.
Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri was seventh, from Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Russell said it was “nice to feel the groove again”, having failed to score points in the past two grands prix.
He fell 68 points behind Antonelli after a difficult race in Monaco was ruined by an unjust penalty for speeding in the pit lane but has looked the man to beat all weekend in Spain.
But Hamilton came oh so close to doing so as Ferrari’s upgrades for this race paid off, allowing him to take his first grand prix front-row start since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Briton Russell said: “The last few races haven’t been on our side but I came into the race with a clean slate and job done.
“It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow, Lewis did an amazing job to get up there, we thought the fight was with ourselves and McLaren and Lewis was very fast in that session.”
Hamilton had been on the back foot all weekend after missing the first practice session to allow development driver Dino Beganovic a run.
“I was easily 0.4-0.5secs off in final practice,” he said. “I was thinking: ‘Where am I going to get that pace?’ I left the track between P3 and Q1, went back to my motorhome, and then Q1 I was first.
“These guys did a great lap, congrats for George but we’re in a good position to fight for tomorrow so we have a race.”
