Oscar Piastri held off a “cheeky” Lando Norris who tried to steal a tow off of him to beat his team-mate to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Australian found himself trailing Norris after their opening runs in Q3, but came back with a 1:11.546 to grab pole by two-tenths of a second. Max Verstappen was third.

Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda out in Q1

As the track temperature rose to 48’C, the drivers, led by Lance Stroll, began to leave the pit lane with big questions about McLaren’s pace and whether any rival could even come close to matching it after Oscar Piastri finished FP3 seven-tenths ahead of the nearest non-McLaren driver.

Stroll put in a banker lap of 1:13.6, but he was in the drop zone within minutes while George Russell, Lando Norris, and then Piastri went P1. A 1:12.5 for the Australian driver. Max Verstappen jumped up to second place, but was over two-tenths down.

Franco Colapinto ran into trouble three minutes before the end of the session as he lined up into the pit lane for a second run, only to report: “I’ve got a problem.” His problem meant he held up the rest of the field, cutting it close for the chequered flag.

Carlos Sainz snuck into the top 15 in 13th place but had Lewis Hamilton, Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas team-mates behind him on the track.

Tsunoda wasn’t able to improve, but between the others, Sainz found himself down in 18th place at his home race.

“Yeah, not good,” Sainz simply said, while Tsunoda called his lap a “clean one” and yet he was eight-tenths off the pace and slowest of all.

The drivers eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

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Alex Albon calls out ‘dirty’ Haas in Q2

Alex Albon got proceedings underway in Q2, the sole Williams driver remaining posting a 1:13.1. Verstappen took eight-tenths off that before Lando Norris came through with a 1:12.0.

But even that wasn’t enough to hold back Piastri, the championship leader clocking a 1:11.9 to lead a McLaren 1-2 ahead of Verstappen and George Russell. The latter, inside the top 10 by sixth-tenths of a second, told Mercedes he’d give Kimi Antonelli a “tow” with the Italian in eighth place.

Antonelli improved his time but not his position, but he was safe with only Isack Hadjar troubling him and dropping him to ninth. Albon called out the “dirty” Haas for giving him dirty air, claiming Oliver Bearman “knew” what he was doing.

The drivers eliminated: Alex Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll, Oliver Bearman

Oscar Piastri is back on pole position

Piastri wasn’t hanging around in Q3 as he ventured out of the pits first, laying down a 1:11.8. His team-mate Norris completed his out-lap as Piastri crossed the line but the Australian notably moved off the racing line to cut short the tow for Norris.

That, though, didn’t stop the Briton from beating his time by 0.017s to sit on provisional pole. Piastri’s response to his team-mate: “Cheeky!”

Russell and Charles Leclerc were on the provisional second row ahead of Fernando Alonso and Verstappen.

Norris was the first of the McLaren team-mate outs for a second run, but only took a tenth off his previous best which opened the door to Piastri. The next to cross the line, the Australian pipped his team-mate by two-tenths to regain provisional pole.

As McLaren’s rivals crossed the line, that was a confirmed pole position for Piastri with Norris second ahead of Verstappen and Russell. Hamilton and Antonelli were fifth and sixth.

Spanish GP Qualifying result

1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:11.546
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.209
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.302
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.302
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.499
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.565
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.585
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.653
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.706
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.738
11 Alex Albon Williams 1:12.641
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:12.756
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:12.763
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:13.058
15 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:13.315
16 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:13.190
17 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:13.201
18 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:13.203
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:13.334
20 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:13.385

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