Kimi Antonelli will line up on the front row for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix after qualifying second, just 0.011 seconds behind Lando Norris. Team-mate George Russell starts sixth after losing front grip on his final flying lap. It is the first time Formula 1 has raced at Madrid’s Madring, and Mercedes says tyre management could decide the 57-lap event.

Mercedes leaves Saturday in Madrid with one car on the front row and a second one in the middle of the top ten. Kimi Antonelli qualified second for the Spanish Grand Prix, while George Russell takes sixth on the grid.

A pole fight decided in the final moments

With overtaking expected to be difficult on Sunday, the team says its entire Saturday focus was on extracting the maximum from the W17 over a single lap. Several pole contenders emerged during the session, and it was settled only at the end of Q3, when Lando Norris went quickest by 0.011 seconds.

“On my final attempt I put in a strong lap and thought it might be enough for pole position. But hats off to Lando (Norris). He and McLaren did a great job and managed to snatch pole away from us at the very last second,” Antonelli said.

According to the team, Saturday morning’s third practice session had already been encouraging. The session was delayed by repairs to the track barrier and interrupted for a longer period, but Antonelli ended it fastest, with Russell sixth after failing to complete his quickest lap.

Tyre temperature ruled the session

Qualifying was first about getting the tyres switched on during the out-lap, then about protecting them, as they threatened to overheat towards the end of the flying lap. Antonelli described it as a very intense session in which the hot track made it hard to find the right balance.

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said traffic management was especially tricky in the early running, because a competitive lap depends on an undisturbed out-lap. Once the team had cleared Q1, he said, both drivers found a rhythm and kept improving as track grip built.

Shovlin also pointed to the wider picture: Mercedes expected a harder weekend than Monza, less because the car does not suit the circuit than because the layout demands a lot of downforce and the team has not introduced a major update in almost four months.

Russell loses the front end at Turn 11

Russell improved on his final run but ran into trouble from Turn 11 onwards, where overheating tyres cost him grip and lap time.

“Qualifying was a tough nut to crack for me today. Our main focus in all the sessions was keeping the tyres in the right window. I put in a really good lap in Q1 and had hoped I could use the same potential on my final lap in Q3. Unfortunately the lap did not go perfectly: from Turn 11 I had strong understeer and lost a couple of tenths because of it,” Russell said.

Team principal Toto Wolff said Russell never felt fully comfortable in the car and that the team tried steepening the front wing during qualifying to give him more confidence — not an ideal situation for a driver, he noted, particularly at a circuit where you want laps to get used to the car.

What it means for Sunday

Sunday’s race runs over 57 laps and is the team’s first grand prix at the Madring, with open questions over performance, tyre degradation and strategy. Wolff said Mercedes had not expected to fight for pole at the start of the weekend and is relatively satisfied with a result that gives it a chance at the front on Sunday.

Both Wolff and Shovlin expect overtaking to be hard — none of the support races made it look easy — but Shovlin said that if the high degradation seen on Friday returns, it could open the door to more creative strategy and a shot at the leading positions. Antonelli said he hopes to put Norris under pressure and that tyre management will be decisive.

Facts: 2026 Spanish Grand Prix qualifying

  • Pole position: Lando Norris (McLaren)
  • P2: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 0.011s off pole
  • P6: George Russell (Mercedes)
  • Car: Mercedes-AMG W17
  • Circuit: Madring, Madrid
  • Race distance: 57 laps

The Spanish Grand Prix is held on Sunday, 13 September 2026.

Source: media.mercedes-benz.com