George Russell pipped Lewis Hamilton and blew team-mate Kimi Antonelli away to secure pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. The Brit needs to start his comeback swiftly after slipping to 68 points behind his Mercedes partner and title rival and was more than three-tenths of a second quicker than the teenager with a blistering final lap.
Though it was only just enough to fend off Hamilton who eased Ferrari‘s disappointment about Charles Leclerc crashing out by producing a stunning final effort. It was good enough for the front row as he split the two Mercedes, but not for pole as Russell edged out his former team-mate by just 0.064 seconds.
But it was an excruciating, and short, session for Fernando Alonso who experienced what was surely the nadir of his time with Aston Martin, and possibly one of the lowest points of his entire Formula 1 career. At his home circuit, he qualified 22nd and last, out-qualified by team-mate Lance Stroll for the first time in 42 qualifying sessions, since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
But the timesheet was a scathing indictment of Aston Martin’s pace overall. Both Stroll and Alonso were more than three seconds off the pace set by Lewis Hamilton in Q1. They were also more than a full second off the pace of the slowest Cadillac car in Q1. Cadillac are new to the sport this year.
Though Alonso was perhaps more optimistic than expected in the media pen. Speaking during Q2, he said: “It doesn’t matter – I came here knowing that we are last and we are last… Nothing has been exposed. We know that we have the worst car and the worst engine. In the second part of the year arrives a new car and a new engine. The hopes are there.”
For the other home hero, things weren’t much better. Carlos Sainz at least managed to escape the drop zone in Q1, unlike his Williams team-mate Alex Albon, but that was as good as it got for the man from Madrid who was 16th and last of the Q2 runners. British teenager Arvid Lindblad was unlucky to miss out on the top 10 shootout, qualifying 11th while team-mate Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg were the two drivers representing midfield teams to make it through along with the usual suspects.
There was suddenly only one Ferrari left and Lewis Hamilton did everything he could to make the most of it. He got the better of one Mercedes but not the other, as Russell did the business and must now convert that result into victory in Sunday’s Grand Prix to start chipping away at Antonelli’s lead.