Norris produces a masterpiece to take Spanish GP pole

MADRID, Sept 12 : Formula One champion Lando Norris produced a wonder lap from out of nowhere to put McLaren on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit on Saturday.

Mercedes's 20-year-old championship leader Kimi Antonelli, beaten by a mere 0.011 of a second in the afternoon sunshine, joined the ecstatic Briton on the front row with Max Verstappen third fastest for Red Bull and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton fourth.

"I'm shocked. I'm a little bit surprised to be here now," exclaimed Norris in his first comments to the crowd after getting out of the car.

"It was probably one of the best laps I've done ever in my career.

"It was just one of those laps where everything came together. I had a good idea of what I wanted to do but it was whether my brain let me do it on the last lap and everything pretty much worked perfectly."

STELLA HAILS A MASTERPIECE OF A LAP

Norris clocked 1:31.824, with Antonelli on 1:31.835. It was the champion's 19th career pole and third of the season.

With overtaking likely to be difficult in Sunday's race, pole position confers a greater advantage than usual although the likelihood of crashes and safety cars remains high at a challenging and unforgiving track where Formula One has yet to race wheel to wheel.

Team boss Andrea Stella hailed a "masterpiece", and said Norris might have been even quicker but for a mistake at the very last corner that possibly cost him three tenths.

"It was an incredible lap, one of the best of his life until the last corner," the Italian told Sky Sports television. "He realised what was available in the car."

Norris had been only sixth after the first flying laps of the final phase, when Hamilton set the pace and appeared to be heading for his first pole since 2023 despite not being fastest in any individual sector, and was only fifth and seventh respectively in the previous two phases.

Antonelli then went fastest but Norris secured the top slot with an inch-perfect, wall-skimming effort just when it mattered most.

"It was one of those laps where you look at the lap time at the end and you're like 'oh shit, that was pretty good," he said, still fizzing with excitement.

Antonelli had to recognise the achievement: "I thought it was a good lap but then this guy just snatched it away. But good job to them," said the Italian.   

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified fifth with Mercedes's George Russell, Antonelli's closest rival but 66 points behind after 13 rounds, sixth - disappointing for someone who desperately needs to pump more air into his fast-deflating title hopes.

Russell also hit the wall in the first phase, pitting for the team to check over the car, before then going fastest ahead of Antonelli. 

McLaren's Oscar Piastri was seventh, ahead of Red Bull's Liam Lawson and Alpine's Franco Colapinto, with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad completing the top 10.

"The first lap wasn't too bad but the second lap was pretty shocking. Disappointing," said Piastri of an effort that looked even worse in comparison to Norris. 

Oliver Bearman did not take part in qualifying after crashing his Haas heavily right at the end of the final practice session.

The Briton will still start ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, who failed to set a time due to a suspected water pressure problem.

Spanish drivers Carlos Sainz (Williams) and two-time champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will also start towards the back, in 17th and 18th places respectively.