Max Verstappen achieved a perfect Singapore Grand Prix weekend with a sprint pole, sprint win, pole for the main race and finally Grand Prix victory. The Red Bull Racing driver led home Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli to the chequered flag at Marina Bay.

Verstappen withstood an early challenge from Leclerc and proved quicker over the remainder of the race.

Strategy cost Lewis Hamilton dear, allowing Antonelli to finish on the podium and further extend his championship lead – to the extent that he will get a first chance to take the drivers’ title in Austin, the scene of United States Grand Prix. Main rival and Mercedes teammate George Russell fought to a lowly ninth after starting P19 on the grid.

Front-row starter Charles Leclerc had the best getaway at the Marina Bay Circuit, but polesitter Verstappen ever so narrowly held him off in Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton maintained third position despite using the medium compound unlike his rivals on softs, followed by Antonelli, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – the order of the top six on the grid was unchanged.

Leclerc remained within close distance of Verstappen until Gabriel Bortoleto stopped on the start/finish straight with a gearbox issue, causing a VSC, but no driver pitted with the Audi potentially blocking the pitlane exit.

By lap 11, Hamilton’s gap to Leclerc had reached three seconds, with Lewis closely followed by Antonelli and the McLarens. However, that was when Charles started lapping half a second slower than Max. On lap 18, he was four seconds down.

That was when, despite having started on mediums, Hamilton was the first driver to pit, switching to softs. On the previous lap, Lewis had lapped 1.8 seconds slower than Max and 1.4 seconds slower than Charles.

Antonelli was the first frontrunner to move from softs to mediums on lap 23. Leclerc did likewise on the next lap and narrowly rejoined ahead of his Ferrari teammate, who was not overly happy to be stuck behind – he complained several times on the radio.

“I feel something leaking between my feet,” Antonelli reported on lap 32 – but Mercedes was not concerned – as Verstappen pitted, safely rejoining in the lead.

On lap 35, the Red Bull racer enjoyed a five-second advantage over Leclerc. Hamilton was seven seconds down, Antonelli eleven seconds adrift, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri respectively 21 seconds and 28 seconds away from the leader, after a 4.2 seconds pitstop for Oscar.

The race was neutralised by the virtual safety car on lap 39 as Lance Stroll pulled aside with a clutch issue. Leclerc and Antonelli made the most of it to switch back from mediums to softs, but Hamilton interestingly stayed out on used softs.

“Mate, I have no f***ing brakes! I just went straight! The pedal was so long!” shouted Antonelli, as Piastri pitted again on lap 41 due to a slow puncture.

Having rejoined from his second pitstop ten seconds behind Hamilton, Leclerc caught his teammate in just five laps and quickly overtook him. He was 15 seconds down on Verstappen, who was experiencing radio issues, with 15 laps to the flag.

Leclerc brought this down to 8.3 seconds on lap 55 of 62, and yet Verstappen comfortably prevailed by 7.3 seconds.

Struggling on his 44-lap stint on softs, Hamilton came under pressure from Norris, but Antonelli picked up the pieces, overtaking both cars on his way to the podium. The seven-time world champion dropped down to sixth under the chequered flag, behind Piastri.

Starting from P19 following a power unit change, Russell made steady progress through the pack, although slow, was unable to break into the top ten before pitstops allowed him to do so.

The Mercedes racer was the last driver to change tyres, doing so during the VSC, but the timing was not right and the neutralisation ended shortly after he entered the pitlane.

Russell therefore rejoined behind Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, only overtaking the Alpine to finish ninth.

The Alpine driver had qualified an impressive seventh but lost two positions to Lawson and Hulkenberg at the start and eventually dropped out of the top ten altogether, to Isack Hadjar’s benefit. The Red Bull driver scored one point from a pitlane start, after a tricky Saturday when he was struck by mechanical issues.

Oliver Bearman made the most moves, with breathtaking wheel-to-wheel racing against Haas teammate Esteban Ocon and a bold down-the-inside overtake on Carlos Sainz, went unrewarded in P12. Arvid Lindblad, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez followed.

Valtteri Bottas was nearly lapped by his Cadillac teammate, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto retired due to a driveline issue. Alexander Albon also unable to finish the race.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen. In his 250th race in Formula 1, the Red Bull driver finally achieved race victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Singapore Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:42:00.785
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +7.335s
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +24.573s
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +40.506s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +49.644s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +53.188s
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +81.666s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +83.386s
9 George Russell Mercedes +84.677s
10 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +90.862s
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
12 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
14 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF/+3 laps
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Gabriel Bortoleto Audi DNF

Max Verstappen signed off a simply lovely Saturday by taking pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, following his sprint race win earlier.

The four-time world champion set a best effort of one minute, 31.373 seconds to finish just 0.054 seconds faster than Charles Leclerc and secure his second pole at Marina Bay, having done so for the sprint.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell finished just fourth and sixth – with George knowing he will be at the back of the grid with an overhanging engine penalty, while Isack Hadjar will also start from the back following technical issues in Q1.

The first qualifying segment got off to a poor start for Esteban Ocon, who locked up and appeared to touch the wall in Turn 13. Moments later, Lance Stroll suffered a similar issue in Turn 7. Both seemingly escaped those errors without damage.

Isack Hadjar also had an off but ended up stopping out on track. “The engine is off,” he reported. The Red Bull driver eventually managing to restart his car and pitted without a lap time on the board.

Hours after colliding with Oscar Piastri in the sprint race, Lando Norris set the early pace with one minute, 33.047 seconds, 0.029 seconds quicker than his teammate. Verstappen and Hamilton were 0.194 seconds and 0.264 seconds down respectively, with the Mercedes cars over half a second adrift.

With five minutes remaining, Arvid Lindblad, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto and Hadjar were the bottom six drivers. Lance Stroll was just 0.04 seconds clear of the Racing Bulls. It did not go any better for Hadjar: “Same issue, I lost the gears,” he said. The Red Bull driver returned to the pitlane and was out of qualifying.

As Hamilton took the lead with a time of one minute, 32.680 seconds and improved upon with one minute, 32.429 seconds, three tenths faster than Leclerc and Norris after their respective improvements, the Silver Arrows ended up P12 and P13, nearly 1.2 seconds adrift.

Further down the classification, major progress from Lindblad and Bortoleto kicked the Aston Martins out of the top 16. Fernando Alonso’s and Lance Stroll’s ended right there.

Hamilton maintained a similar advantage on the opening runs of Q2, with his one minute, 31.766 seconds putting him four tenths clear of Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen was over half a second adrift, complaining of “insanely bad” gear shifts, followed by George Russell, Norris, Piastri and Leclerc – those five drivers within one-and-a-half tenth.

There were theoretically three Q3 spots for midfield teams, and with five minutes remaining, those were occupied by Liam Lawson, Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg. Pierre Gasly was two tenths away in P11.

Gasly actually improved by six tenths on his final attempt, jumping ahead of all his main rivals. The Racing Bulls managed to regain their advantage over the Alpine, but Pierre still taking the final spot for the top ten shootout, as the Hulk gained an insufficient two tenths late on.

Having clipped the wall in Turn 17, Franco Colapinto ended up down in P16, around 1.2 seconds down on his teammate.

Meanwhile, Hamilton revealed his dominance with one minute, 31.529 seconds, which only Verstappen came close to, in one minute, 31.639 seconds. Norris and Leclerc were 0.366 seconds and 0.424 seconds down respectively. Antonelli and Russell, again, were more than half a second adrift.

It was actually Verstappen who set the pace early on in Q3 with one minute, 31.373 seconds, with Hamilton achieving one minute, 31.496 seconds despite being nearly three tenths faster than his old title rival in sector two.

Antonelli was up to an encouraging third place with one minute, 31.562 seconds, with Leclerc, Norris and Russell all within four tenths of the leader. Piastri, however, was 0.820 seconds adrift, having been slower than anyone but Lindblad in the final sector.

Both Verstappen and Hamilton were unable to improve on their final Q3 run. Lewis was jumped by Ferrari teammate Charles for second place, although it was 0.054 seconds slower than Red Bull’s polesetter.

Piastri was the only other top team driver to improve, by some margin – over three tenths – but that was not enough for him to gain a position. Oscar took seventh behind Kimi, Lando and George.

Gasly was best of the rest for Alpine with a one minute, 32.225 seconds. Lawson and Lindblad ended up 0.144 seconds and 0.556 seconds slower respectively.

Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:31.373
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.427
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:31.496
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.562
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.712
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.860
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:32.225
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:32.369
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:32.781
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:32.784
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:32.908
12 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:33.323
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:33.526
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.658
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.787
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:34.289
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:34.946
18 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:35.123
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:35.984
20 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford No time
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Marin-Honda 1:34.223*
22 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.747*
*Grid penalty for power unit change

Max Verstappen took victory in the final sprint race of the 2026 Formula 1 season at the Singapore Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver finished first as George Russell crashed out of the lead at the end of the first lap whole the McLarens collided on the final lap.

A downpour soaked the starting grid 15 minutes before the scheduled start, while some parts of the Marina Bay Circuit remained dry. The race was delayed by half an hour due to the standing water in Turns 2 and 3.

When the sprint finally got underway, all cars started on intermediate tyres after two formation laps.

Front-row starter Russell had a much better getaway than Verstappen and took the lead before Turn 1, with Lewis Hamilton up to third from sixth on the grid. Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly followed, with Isack Hadjar down to P11.

Russell’s lead was short-lived, as he lost control of his Silver Arrow on the kerb at the exit of the last corner and spun into the inside wall at the end of lap one. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez collided at Turn 16, with the Aston Martin coming to a stop against the barriers, and Isack Hadjar retired after reporting “the engine braking is dying”.

The safety car was called into action, with the race neutralised for five laps – during which Arvid Lindblad spun, rejoining in last position after driving the wrong way down the track, and Franco Colapinto’s race ended because of a technical issue.

Verstappen maintained the lead at the restart, while Oliver Bearman snatched eighth place away from Gasly after wheel-to-wheel action throughout sector one. The Alpine driver lost another two positions over the following two laps. Pierre complained of being pushed wide by Nico Hulkenberg, but the race stewards took no further action.

Verstappen’s gap to Hamilton hovered between 0.7 seconds and 1.4 seconds from lap seven to lap 11 before the Red Bull driver significantly pulled away, with his advantage reaching three seconds at the end of lap 13 and five seconds by lap 16.

The intermediate compound was greatly suffering on the mostly dry track, so it was all about tyre management. Leclerc reported his front tyres were “destroyed”. The Ferrari driver was losing two seconds a lap to teammate Hamilton and was caught by the McLarens and Antonelli with three laps remaining.

Norris dove down the inside of Piastri on the very last lap, but the Papaya cars made contact and spun. The reigning world champion dropped down to eighth, while his McLaren teammate retired, costing the team eight points.

Meanwhile, Verstappen achieved victory with a reduced but healthy 2.6s-second lead over Hamilton, as Leclerc held off to take third. Antonelli inherited fourth ahead of Lawson, Bearman and Hulkenberg.

So a dramatic opening lap with George Russell crashing out and a final lap contact between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In between this, the sprint race was a procession, and yet Max Verstappen finally scoring a win at Marina Bay.

Singapore Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 39:48.162
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +2.591s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +16.871s
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +17.238s
5 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +20.632s
6 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +24.321s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +27.525s
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +28.272s
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +36.220s
10 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +37.640s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +50.464s
12 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +52.467s
13 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +55.792
Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Gabriel Bortoleto Audi DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford DNF
Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes DNF
George Russell Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF

Max Verstappen will start the final sprint race of the 2026 Formula 1 season in pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix.

This is the first time the Red Bull driver has come first in a qualifying session of any sort at the Marina Bay Circuit, though he will be investigated afterwards for a yellow flag infringement which occurred in SQ1.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start the sprint race from only seventh position, having been outpaced by the Ferraris and McLarens.

No driver had even set a lap time in Q1 when Sergio Perez caused a yellow flag as he crashed into the Tecpro at Turn 5. The Cadillac driver damaged his front wing and eventually lost it on the racing line, with the red flag waved to clear the debris.

There were just six minutes remaining, with few actually competitive lap times set. As a consequence, the final moments were a rush to get a decent lap time, with cars out in the pitlane several minutes before the light even went green.

Verstappen eventually went fastest with one minute, 33.477 seconds, nearly half a second slower than his own FP1 on the same medium tyre. The Red Bull driver led Charles Leclerc by 0.018 seconds and Russell by 0.096 seconds, with Lewis Hamilton 0.271 seconds down.

Everyone else was at least six tenths adrift, starting with an impressive Nico Hulkenberg for Audi, closely followed by Isack Hadjar, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Antonelli.

Further down the classification, Carlos Sainz was slowest of all. “I had a lot of front locking and no rear, combined,” he complained on the radio. He was eliminated after Q1, like Williams teammate Alexander Albon, the Cadillacs, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Arvid Lindblad. The Racing Bulls driver was missing one tenth to make the cut, following a confusion created by an FIA software glitch.

Verstappen went 0.75 seconds quicker than the SQ1 fastest time as early as his first attempt in the second segment of sprint qualifying, setting a time of one minute, 32.724 seconds.

However, the four-time champion’s reference was quickly surpassed by Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris, with the Ferrari driver adding one minute, 32.457 seconds to the leaderboard. Antonelli and Russell were six and nine tenths adrift respectively.

Meanwhile, Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso, Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were at risk of elimination. Even Hadjar was missing nearly half a second compared to Nico Hulkenberg.

Russell’s second attempt was no better, with a lock-up into Turn 13. Hadjar’s and Colapinto’s respective improvements knocked the eight-time Grand Prix winner out of the top ten, but a final progress saw him jump to safety in fourth.

Colapinto was therefore eliminated with a 0.094 seconds deficit on Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, along with Hulkenberg, who was unable to improve late on.

Switching from medium to soft compound as per the regulations, drivers had few chances to make an impact in the eight-minute SQ3 stage.

The McLarens and Mercedes were first out, with Norris setting the pace in one minute, 31.587 seconds, leading Piastri by 0.189 seconds, Russell by 0.250 seconds and Antonelli by 0.518 seconds.

Then it was the Ferraris in action and Leclerc went quickest in one minute, 31.568 seconds, narrowly edging Norris out. Hamilton was nearly two tenths faster than his tea-mate in the first sector but lost even more in the final part to end up 0.134 seconds apart.

Leclerc then improved late on with one minute, 31.399 seconds, but could not hold off a much quicker Verstappen, who set a lap time with one minute, 31.156 seconds on his single attempt – the first time he has won out in a qualifying session at this street circuit, even if this does not count as a pole position in the record books.

Russell scored a front-row spot in the final moments of the session, leading Leclerc, Piastri, Norris and Hamilton.

Antonelli ended up seventh, 0.693 seconds down on Verstappen, with Lawson, Hadjar and Gasly making up the top ten.

Singapore Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:31.156
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.276
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.399
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.454
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.587
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:31.702
7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.849
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:32.341
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:32.048
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.319
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.249
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:33.420
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:33.423
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.466
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:33.734
16 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:34.368
17 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:35.136
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:35.662
19 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:36.130
20 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:36.760
21 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:36.868
22 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:37.376

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen achieved his 72nd victory in his Formula 1 career in an eventful Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

After the Sepang race was delayed by an hour and a half due to dysfunctional software on a wet track, Verstappen beat both Silver Arrows drivers to take the win as George Russell suffered a technical issue.

After a 40-minute delay due to a rain, the formation lap began, with Isack Hadjar having a trip through the gravel as the whole field warmed up intermediate tyres. Several cars, including front-row starters Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, suffered software glitches that rendered throttle input ineffective. The red flag was waved, which delayed the race by a further 53 minutes.

When the race finally got under way, only nine cars went for intermediate tyres, including Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli, Russell and Isack Hadjar. Others like Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri stayed with slicks – as did Pierre Gasly, who spun out behind the safety car on lap one and dropped to P13.

A standing start took place at the end of lap two, as Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg made late pitstops to switch from slicks to intermediates.

The Silver Arrows of Antonelli and Russell moved to the front of the pack easily at five red lights out, despite polesitter Verstappen having the same intermediates. The four-time world champion only narrowly held off Liam Lawson for third, with the Racing Bulls driver enjoying a good getaway too.

Meanwhile, the Ferraris dropped down the order, along with Norris. Having clipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi, Leclerc pitted at the end of that lap for a new front wing and moved to intermediates, while teammate Hamilton lost further track positions trying to make their gamble work – along with the Alpines, Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen passed Russell for second place in Turn 4 on lap six, with the top three drivers within three seconds while fourth-placed Lawson was ten seconds down. He was overtaken by Hadjar at the last corner on that same lap.

Verstappen caught Antonelli and started putting pressure on the race leader on lap eight. Antonelli went wide at the last corner but retained the lead.

Bottas lost control in Turn 13 on lap nine and ended up benched in the gravel, causing a safety car period that was perfect timing for the inter-shod runners to switch to slicks, as the latter had become the quicker tyre compound, while allowing those who stick with slicks to recover.

Antonelli led from Verstappen, Russell, Hadjar, Lawson, Ocon, Lindblad, Sainz, Bortoleto and Piastri, with a variety of slick tyre compounds out on track – most interestingly the Mercedes drivers on mediums and the Red Bulls on softs – while Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc were down in P15 to P17, with the Ferraris on softs and Norris on hards.

A determined Verstappen went around the outside of Antonelli at the restart in Turn 1, while Russell went past in Turn 5, with the championship leader dropping to third in a few seconds. Meanwhile, Bortoleto and Sainz collided, with the Williams dropping down to P18 and the Audi driver handed a 10-second penalty.

As Verstappen pulled away from the Silver Arrows by over three seconds, Antonelli was getting impatient behind his teammate, but team orders were not in play, so the championship leader found a way past in Turn 4 on lap 21. Further down the field, Hamilton was overtaking his opponents one after another, climbing to fifth by lap 22, while Leclerc broke into the top ten on the following lap.

Antonelli went wide at the last corner and hit the pit entry bollard on lap 24, losing another two seconds to Verstappen, with the gap up to 7.5 seconds. He was now just one second ahead of Russell, but both gaps subsequently increased.

The wave of second pitstops began on lap 29 for frontrunners, including Russell on lap 32, moving to softs – too early. Antonelli logically followed on the next lap to avoid being undercut, and so did Verstappen, now comfortably leading by 11 seconds.

As Hadjar found himself under pressure from Hamilton, the virtual safety car neutralized the race, with Alex Albon stopped due to a technical failure. Verstappen opted for a ‘cheap’ pitstop but gave up the lead to Antonelli. Both Ferraris also changed tyres.

Mercedes eventually opted to pit both cars on the following lap, along with most frontrunners, until the VSC turned into a full safety car.

Ahead of the final laps in green-flag conditions, Verstappen led Antonelli, Russell, Hadjar, Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Lawson and Alonso, who fought his way into the top ten.

But before racing even got back under way, Russell stopped trackside with a technical issue and retired, while Norris was surprised by cars slowing down ahead and had a trip through the gravel and fell to P11.

There were just four laps remaining when the safety car returned to the pitlane, and Verstappen mastered the restart. After that, Max was never at threat from Kimi and was victorious. Hamilton found a way past Hadjar in Turn 1 on lap 53, clinching his first podium finish since Silverstone. The Red Bull driver also dropped behind the Ferrari of Leclerc.

Piastri finished sixth ahead of Lawson, while a combative Alonso held off Norris for eighth. Lindblad scored the last available point in P10, underlining another strong day for Racing Bulls relative to the rival Alpine team.

Having held sixth place early on, Esteban Ocon collapsed to P15 under the chequered flag, behind teammate Oliver Bearman.

So after a long delay due to the weather, the race finally got going and it was entertaining. Back in 2017, Max achieved his second victory. Nine years later, he has scored his 72nd at the same track.

Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:47:14.808
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +2.307s
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +4.919s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +7.258s
5 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +8.571s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +9.454s
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +12.753s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +13.372s
9 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +13.993s
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +15.928s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +17.404s
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +18.052s
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +18.997s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +22.305s
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +22.532s
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +23.315s
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +25.431s
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +28.233s
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +29.310s
George Russell Mercedes DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF

Max Verstappen achieved his first pole position of the 2026 Formula 1 season following a dominant qualifying session at Sepang, scene of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Red Bull driver was fastest in all three qualifying segments after also topping FP1 to take his first pole since the 2025 Abu Dhabi finale with a lap time of one minute, 35.130 seconds at Sepang.

Verstappen will be joined on the front row by Lewis Hamilton on the weekend Malaysia ends its nine-year hiatus from Formula 1 to host the Bahrain Grand Prix due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

It comes after the four-time world champion also went fastest in the first runs of Q3, taking the provisional top slot with a time of one minute, 35.250 seconds, 0.308s quicker than teammate Isack Hadjar.

Verstappen was unable to improve in the first two sectors of his second lap, before bouncing back with a purple final sector to go 0.120 seconds faster for his 49th pole in Max’s career.

His final time was 0.298 seconds faster than Hamilton’s one minute, 35.428 seconds for Ferrari, which pushed Hadjar down to third. He will drop five places for an ICE change.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli endured a struggle by taking fourth, 0.501 seconds off the pace, after entering Q3 already compromised by what happened in Q2.

The Mercedes driver had to push through an extra set of new softs after his first Q2 lap was deleted for track limits at Turn 6, leading to him doing just one lap in the final segment.

Antonelli’s one minute, 35.631 seconds ultimately sees him start third following Hadjar’s penalty, one place above Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc with a time of one minute, 35.666 seconds.

Defending champion Lando Norris was 0.627 seconds off the pace with the sixth-fastest time on a weekend McLaren has struggled for speed, with teammate Oscar Piastri taking seventh-fastest with one minute, 35.762 seconds – though again, both will be promoted one position on the grid.

It was even more of a struggle for Antonelli’s teammate George Russell, who was 0.741 seconds off the pace in eighth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto completing the top ten.

Liam Lawson missed out on Q3 by two tenths to take P11 after being pushed into the Q2 elimination zone by Bortoleto right at the end.

The Racing Bulls driver will duly share the sixth row with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who took his best qualifying result of the season, while P13 went to Williams driver Carlos Sainz.

Sainz will be joined on the seventh row by Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll in the first double Q2 appearance for Aston Martin, who confirmed both drivers for 2027 season.

Franco Colapinto took P15, but the Alpine driver will start the race at the back due to a 15-place grid penalty. Five for his Baku collision and ten for changing his Mercedes power unit.

Arvid Lindblad took P16 for Racing Bulls, as he is also set for a grid drop, one position above Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg who paid the price for starting Q1 on the mediums.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman will join him on the ninth row in P18 ahead of his outgoing teammate Esteban Ocon in P19. His first Q1 exit since Spa.

Alex Albon’s frustrations continued with P20 for Williams ahead of the usual suspects. Valtteri Bottas in P21, three tenths quicker than Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez.

So fantastic to see Max Verstappen taking pole position. The Red Bull look very competitive at this Sepang circuit. To have his former championship rival Lewis Hamilton in P2 will make the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia an exciting race.

Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:35.130
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:35.428
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:35.631
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35.666
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.757
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.762
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:35.871
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:35.558*
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:37.210
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:37.673
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:37.023
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:37.220
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:37.527
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:37.566
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford No time
16 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:37.970
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:37.980
18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:38.233
19 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:38.600
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.611
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.933
22 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes No time**
*Five-place grid penalty for power unit changes
**Fifteen-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Baku and power unit changes

George Russell scored his third victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season with a dominant pole-to-flag drive in the Mercedes, resisting the late challenge from Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes driver took pole by a big margin of eight tenths and confirmed the Silver Arrows’ dominance in race performance. George led either side of a pair of mid-race safety cars to score his first win since the Austrian Grand Prix while teammate Kimi Antonelli recovered to P5 from P16.

At the start, Russell made a good start to defend his lead on the short run towards Turn 1, with Oscar Piastri picking off second-starting Charles Leclerc.

Russell started on medium tyres with his rivals on softs, but tyre degradation was not much of a factor on the low-impact street circuit, reducing race strategy to a simple one-stopper.

George quickly broke free of the pack while Oscar and teammate Lando Norris, who had passed Isack Hadjar four fourth, immediately came under pressure from the Red Bulls. Hadjar and Max Verstappen appeared stronger on the straights than the Mercedes-powered papaya cars, who were struggling for traction out of Turn 16, the corner leading onto Baku’s long 2km straight.

After Verstappen cleared Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, both he and Hadjar made their way past Norris and put pressure on second-placed Piastri, with Hadjar waving his teammate by. But as Verstappen started to go through a graining phase on his medium tyres, his challenge on Piastri was halted, making soft-tyre runner Hadjar impatient about having a go at the McLaren driver instead.

Just as Hadjar was given the green light to start challenging Verstappen, the race was interrupted by a safety car on lap 30 of 51 following a crash by Alex Albon. While holding off Esteban Ocon for a distant P13, the Williams driver locked up his tyres into Turn 5 and hit the TecPro barriers on exit, escaping without any harm.

With every frontrunner yet to make their one and only pitstop, the safety car led to a series of activity in the pits, with Russell retaining his lead from Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton, while Norris dropped to ninth behind Gasly and Antonelli after going deep into Turn 1.

That mistake affected Norris as all pure chaos broke loose on the Lap 36 restart. While Verstappen picked off Piastri for second, Franco Colapinto locked up his tyres and went into Alpine teammate Gasly, taking Norris out with them as Antonelli narrowly escaped from the mayhem. In the background there was more intra-team contact as Arvid Lindblad punted Liam Lawson into a spin, with the Turn 1 chaos bringing out another safety car.

The entire top ten held station on a much more timid second restart on lap 39, with Russell leading from Verstappen, Piastri, Hadjar and Leclerc. But on the following lap there was more Baku drama for Piastri as he went deep into Turn 1 while defending against Hadjar, throwing away a potential podium finish.

Despite all the chaos, the double safety cars turned what should have been an easy drive for Russell into a nail-biting finish, defending against an aggressive four-time world champion.

But Russell held on in a drag race to the finish to hold off Verstappen, with Hadjar joining the pair on the podium on his return from his wrist injury. Leclerc finished fourth ahead of Antonelli.

As Antonelli predicted before the race, repeating his spectacular Monza comeback win was going to be difficult on the streets of Baku. The championship leader had made his way up to eighth by the time the race was yellow-flagged, and then benefitted from the Turn 1 chaos to overtake Hamilton for fifth position.

Lindblad crossed the finishing line in seventh, although there is an investigation into his contact with Lawson. The Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman finished eighth and ninth, with Carlos Sainz scoring a points in an upgraded Williams.

Both Aston Martin cars again were unable to make it to the finish after the team’s latest horror weekend, while Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas ended the race in the wall on the final lap.

Thanks to his third win of the championship and first since Austria, Russell has gained back 15 points on Antonelli in the championship, now trailing his teammate by 66 points going into next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix hosted by Malaysia.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:38:02.143
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +0.196s
3 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +10.704s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +14.136s
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +14.512s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +22.382s
7 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +31.159s
8 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +31.189s
9 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +31.929s
10 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +32.416s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +33.231s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +34.013s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +34.230s
14 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +36.401s
15 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +41.400s
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF

Contrasting fortunes for Mercedes as George Russell will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position while his teammate and championship rival Kimi Antonelli was forced out following car damage in Q1.

At the 6km Baku City Circuit, Antonelli clipped the barriers on the inside of the Turn 1 left-hander during Q1, unable to return to the pits in his Mercedes W17 with front-left suspension damage. Antonelli had already set a lap time quick enough to advance to Q2, but was out of qualifying and is set to start P16 at best.

After setting the pace through Thursday’s practice sessions, Russell was able to capitalised fully to take a dominant pole ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. This was the Mercedes driver’s fifth pole of the season.

McLaren was an early surprise in Q3 when Piastri and Lando Norris jumped early pacesetter Russell to top the first series of qualifying runs. Off the back of a messy practice sessions, the papayas had yet to string together optimal qualifying laps, with Norris even suspecting something was wrong in his car in Q1.

But Piastri’s one minute, 43.571 seconds lap proved an achievable target for Russell to beat, with the Mercedes driver going half a second faster on his second run to set one minute, 43.037 seconds, which none of his competitors could find an answer for.

On the final run, Russell took yet another five-tenth out of his own benchmark to set a dominant one minute, 42.526 seconds pole lap.

Ferrari employed a different run plan by delaying its first run, which benefitted Leclerc in getting provisional second, and he found another tenth that secured that position on the grid ahead of Piastri, despite being eight tenths behind Russell.

Isack Hadjar celebrated his return from wrist injury with fourth on the grid, while Norris slipped up on his final attempt and settled for fifth ahead of Hamilton. Pierre Gasly took seventh for Alpine as Max Verstappen could only manage eighth having been held up by yellow flags for Lando’s off.

Carlos Sainz made full use of the upgraded Williams FW48 to take ninth, as Franco Colapinto qualified tenth.

Russell topped Q2 with a late one minute, 43.462 seconds effort, two tenths ahead of Verstappen as it promised to set up a tight pole shoot-out.

The battle for the final Q3 positions was as close as it has been all season with Williams now in the hunt, and Sainz able to go ninth and claim a rare Q3 appearance. The dramatic rate of track evolution meant drivers were able to find lap time and peak on their final run. In the final moments of the session, Alpine’s Colapinto snatched P10 away from Haas driver Oliver Bearman, joining his teammate Gasly in the next segment.

Racing Bulls got knocked out in Q2 with Liam Lawson out in P12, followed by Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon. Arvid Lindblad could only get P15 to continue what has been a messy weekend so far for the Racing Bull driver, off the back of an FP2 crash which team principal Alan Permane commenting it was a “rookie enthusiasm”.

Russell also led the way in Q1 after Antonelli elimational, dropping Verstappen at the end of the segment with one minute, 43.615 seconds lap. In the background, Williams comfortably made it through with both of its upgraded cars.

On a high-speed track exposing its power unit deficit, Audi paid the price of progress made by Williams as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were both eliminated in P17 and P18. The four cars from Cadillac and Aston Martin were also knocked out, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll already facing a back-of-the-grid penalty for Honda power unit changes.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.526
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:43.363
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.364
4 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:43.500
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.672
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:43.858
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:44.047
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:44.081
9 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:44.566
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:44.963
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:44.775
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:44.860
13 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:45.001
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:45.016
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:45.106
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes No time
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:45.799
18 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:45.920
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:46.593
20 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:46.658
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:47.337
22 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:48.290

Kimi Antonelli achieved his eighth career Formula 1 victory by winning the first Madring race as Lando Norris was caught out by the virtual safety car.

Norris led from the front after pulling away in the early stages of the race, but he pitted right after a virtual safety car period, which affected him so far back that he lost the victory.

Pirelli predicted a difference between soft and medium tyres at the start, so it was interesting for second-row starters Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to pick the soft compound, unlike polesitter Norris and Antonelli alongside him.

Hamilton did take a better launch but ran out of space to attack into Turn 1, after which chaos ensued. Both Antonelli and Verstappen cut Turn 2, but while the Mercedes driver handed the lead back to Norris straight away and did so again in the next sequence of corners, his Red Bull counterpart retained the advantage over the Ferrari.

Verstappen argued that he had to take avoiding action due to Hamilton’s driving, but Red Bull was adamant he should make sure to avoid a penalty, so Verstappen let Antonelli – whom he was now leading – and Hamilton by on lap four.

Seconds later, the seven-time world champion started complaining about braking issues. He started losing pace on lap five, went off the track on lap six, and retired after being repeatedly asked to pit.

On lap 10, Norris led Antonelli by five seconds, Verstappen by 11 seconds, Charles Leclerc by 13 seconds and George Russell by 15 seconds. Liam Lawson was a further 15 seconds, leading the ‘midfield’.

Another brake problem, this time for Lance Stroll, took the Aston Martin out of the race on lap 13 and caused a virtual safety car. Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted – despite the latter starting on hard tyres, like Leclerc and Piastri – but Norris and Leclerc stayed out on mediums and hards respectively.

Race leader Norris was called in right when the VSC period ended. He could have stayed out but pitted anyway and, to compound his fate, had a slow tyre change. The McLaren driver emerged back on track in fifth place – 16 seconds down on Leclerc, 14 seconds away from lead pitter Antonelli.

Unsurprisingly, Kimi caught Charles as early as lap 18, but he did not launch an attack and started dropping back on lap 21. “I didn’t touch the wall, but the steering feels weird,” Antonelli told his engineers. By lap 25, he was over three seconds adrift.

Russell, who had started on hards and switched to mediums, made a second pitstop as early as lap 28 of 57 to go back to the white-walled compound. He went on to take fifth away from Lawson with an around-the-outside move on lap 35, but was not convinced by his strategy. “Why did we pit? I think we could have held Norris off,” the Mercedes racer said.

Meanwhile, Antonelli’s gap to Leclerc consistently hovered around three seconds, but by lap 45, the frontrunners grew closer and closer to one another. Antonelli was now right behind Leclerc and Norris was putting pressure on Verstappen for third, with those four drivers within four seconds.

At that stage, it was extremely clear that Ferrari was delaying Leclerc’s single pitstop in the hope of a safety car – virtual or not – but there was none, and he finally pitted on lap 48. Charles was given soft tyres for a nine-lap dash, but emerged in between the top three and fifth-placed Russell.

The end of the race was a three-way contest for victory between Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris. Despite running very close to one another, none of them was able to make anything resembling a move – until the penultimate lap, when the Red Bull driver cut the Turn 5 chicane after encountering traffic and the reigning champion applied some pressure.

Antonelli eventually pulled away to take his eighth victory of the 2026 championship from his Red Bull and McLaren rivals. Leclerc narrowly secured fourth place from Russell despite the new soft tyres on the Ferrari. Lawson took sixth for his third race back at Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly completed a massive 55-lap stint on hard tyres to hold seventh position for the longest time, hoping for a late safety car of the race, but he eventually had to pit under green flag and ended up P12 under the chequered flag.

Gasly’s Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto finished seventh after starting on mediums and switching to hards under the early VSC.

After a qualifying performance he himself described as “pretty shocking”, Oscar Piastri ended up eighth in a race where he sustained front wing damage straight away due to contact with Russell at the start. The McLaren driver never had his teammate’s pace.

Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg scored the remaining available points for Racing Bulls and Audi, ahead of Esteban Ocon for Haas. Those three drivers, like Colapinto, pitted under the VSC – showing this was the optimal strategy.

Among the last seven drivers in the classification, Alexander Albon was the only one to make the most of a cheap pitstop – the others missed out.

Home fans was not pleased by the collision between Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz over P17, which damaged the Aston Martin’s front wing, while the Williams driver received a five-second penalty.

Alonso finished in this exact position, while Sainz was one of four retirements alongside Sergio Perez, Stroll and Hamilton.

So not the most thrilling race at this new track but in terms of the championship, Kimi Antonelli has extended his points lead over his rivals.

Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34:23.754
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +4.351s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +5.089s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +29.116s
5 George Russell Mercedes +29.829s
6 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +86.746s
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +94.281s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +95.839s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
11 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
16 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +2 laps
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +3 laps
Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari DNF

The defending Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris achieved his third pole of the season for the Spanish Grand Prix, beating championship points leader Kimi Antonelli on a brand new Madring circuit.

With a final attempt, Norris took a small margin of 0.011 seconds out of Antonelli’s benchmark to defeat Mercedes its fourth consecutive qualifying session.

It was Formula 1’s first-ever qualifying session at Madring, a challenging 5.4km circuit featuring a mixture of street sections and a high-speed purpose-built loop with little runoff areas.

But despite worries qualifying would be derailed by crashes and traffic, the session took place without any issues.

In the deciding Q3 shootout, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton led the way after the first series of runs with a time of one minute, 32.079 seconds lap, ahead of Mercedes duo Antonelli and George Russell, and his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull had also shown competitiveness throughout qualifying, with Max Verstappen another contender for pole, but the four time champion slipped up at the end of his first flying lap and settled for fifth ahead of the Papayas.

Heading out first of the frontrunners, Antonelli took over top spot from Hamilton with a time of one minute, 31.835 seconds effort, which most of his rivals did not have an answer for. But Norris did, drifting out of the final corner to set a time of one minute, 31.824 seconds to take pole.

Verstappen was third on a surprisingly competitive outing for Red Bull after the team had struggled earlier in the weekend, with Ferrari duo Hamilton and Leclerc in fourth and fifth. Russell could only manage sixth followed by Oscar Piastri. Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten.

Earlier in the session, Russell led the way in Q1, beating teammate Antonelli at the end of the session by 0.056 seconds as he survived a tap with the wall.

Red Bull looked particularly competitive in Q1, with Lawson a close third on softs and Verstappen was fourth on the medium tyres, allowing Max to save a set of softs for later on. Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc followed the same strategy as they each claimed a top seven position.

It was the usual players at the bottom of the timesheets, with Williams once again on the edge of a Q2 spot. Albon beat teammate and home favourite Carlos Sainz by a tiny margin of 0.005 seconds to go through into Q2 ticket with P16, the Williams driver bouncing back from a tap with the wall in FP3 which forced him to sit out the majority of the session.

Sainz is ahead of his fellow countryman Fernando Alonso, who managed P18 for Aston Martin. Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas finished at the bottom of the twenty cars setting a lap time, with Bottas unable to complete a clean lap after being impeded by Sainz.

Qualifying got underway without Haas driver Oliver Bearman. A “gutted” Bearman suffered a heavy crash at the end of third practice session, as Haas faced an impossible battle to restore the car in time for qualifying.

Lance Stroll was the other driver not to set a lap time on the Madring circuit due to what Aston Martin called a suspected water pressure issue. He is set for a back-of-the-grid penalty anyway for exceeding his Honda power unit allowance for the season.

Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.824
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.835
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:31.964
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.013
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.019
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.149
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.294
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:32.316
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:32.903
10 Arvid Lindblad Red Bull-Ford 1:33.041
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:33.223
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.388
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:33.667
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.753
15 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:34.084
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:35.532
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:35.312
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:35.388
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:35.913
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.011
21 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari No time
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda No time*
*Grid penalty for changing power unit