George Russell scorched to pole position for Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton narrowly failed to pip him with a thrilling last-ditch effort for Ferrari. Another dramatic qualifying session was stopped early in Q3 when Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate, suffered a heavy high-speed crash that knocked him out of contention.
Russell had said on arrival in Spain that the pressure was off him, having fallen 68 points behind championship leader and Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli due to a run of bad luck. The latest episode had come with an incorrect penalty for pit lane speeding last weekend in Monaco. But his fastest lap of 1min 15.717sec was enough to put him top of the standings, with Hamilton 0.064sec slower.
Antonelli, aiming for a sixth consecutive grand prix victory, was 0.319sec slower and will start in third. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, of McLaren, were fourth and seventh respectively, with the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar fifth and sixth. Russell’s pole was his 10th in Formula One, and the 150th for the team overall.
“It’s been a great weekend so far,” said Russell. “I feel like my old self again … I came in this weekend with a clean slate, felt good, and it’s just good to be involved. It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow. Lewis did an amazing job, that was a real surprise: we thought it was going to be a fight between us and McLaren … From every standpoint, it’s a bit of a relief.”
Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, said: “It just feels great to be up there. This weekend’s been so difficult … in P2 I was over a second off … I didn’t feel comfortable. In P3 I was easily 4/10ths, 5/10ths off and I was like: ‘Where am I going to get that pace?’”
The 19-year-old Antonelli said: “It’s been a little bit of a difficult weekend so far for me, I didn’t really have the feeling with the car. Today, I’ve been lacking a little bit, but looking forward to tomorrow.”
Asked if he can capitalise on the long, straight start in Barcelona from third behind Russell and Hamilton, Antonelli said: “Yeah, we’ll try to get a good start and then for sure we’ll make the best use of the tow … there is a lot of work to do to be ready for tomorrow.”
Leclerc, having crashed out of his home race in Monaco last Sunday, lost grip at the high-speed turn four, in the middle sector, attempting to set an early pace-setting lap in the concluding session.
The Monégasque careered across the run-off area and slammed heavily into the barriers, causing Q3 to be halted. Despite the heavy impact Leclerc walked away from the crash, while the concerned faces of the Ferrari team in the pits reflected the grave implications for their chances of a successful weekend. Hamilton’s unexpectedly strong second place on the grid was most welcome.