Lando Norris came from nowhere to edge out championship leader Kimi Antonelli and take a brilliant pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.World champion Norris had not troubled the top of the timesheets at any stage across the weekend in Madrid, but he pulled out a magical lap – one the British driver proclaimed as one of the best of his career – to see off Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds.Max Verstappen will start from third place for the inaugural event at the Madring, a spot ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who at one stage looked set to land his first pole in Ferrari colours.George Russell, the nearest title challenger to Antonelli, will start a disappointing sixth.Norris raised hope of defending his world crown with successive wins in Hungary and then the Netherlands, but a fourth place last time out in Monza leaves him 96 points adrift of Antonelli in the standings.But Norris was at his very best at the hell-raising street venue on the outskirts of the Spanish capital to secure top spot. To illustrate his speed, he was almost half-a-second faster than Oscar Piastri, who, in the other McLaren, had to settle for seventh.“I am shocked and a little bit surprised to be here now, but my God, it was probably one of the best laps I have done in my career,” said a jubilant Norris.“It was one of those laps where everything came together. It was just whether my brain allowed me to do it and in the end it was perfect.Norris claimed pole by just 0.011 seconds to Kimi Antonelli“You look at the lap time, and you are like, ‘Oh s***, that feels pretty good’.”Top-10 - Spanish Grand Prix qualifying1. Lando Norris (McLaren)2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)6. George Russell (Mercedes)7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)8. Liam Lawson (Red Bull)9. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)10. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)Hamilton crashed out of final practice at a venue described by Russell as “mental” and Verstappen as a “car killer” in the build-up to this week’s event.However, qualifying passed by without any accidents, although Russell grazed the wall in Q1 and team-mate Antonelli locked up and ran off the track but avoided an unwanted date with the barriers.Hamilton’s car had been repaired for qualifying and he was 0.061secs ahead of Antonelli and almost two tenths clear of Russell as he lay down a marker after the opening runs in the decisive Q3 running.That allowed Hamilton to dream of ending a three-year wait for pole position, only for Antonelli to usurp him at the summit with his final lap in Q3.Lewis Hamilton will start fourth in the Spanish capitalVerstappen also improved to move ahead of Hamilton before Norris ended up on top with a spellbinding lap.Further back Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso provided little cheer for the home crowd when they were both eliminated from Q1.The Spanish pair have scored just nine points between them amid miserable campaigns for their respective Williams and Aston Martin teams.Sainz will start Sunday’s race from 17th, one place ahead of Fernando Alonso. Lance Stroll did not post a competitive lap following a water pressure failure in his Aston Martin, while British driver Ollie Bearman had to sit out qualifying. Bearman crashed out of final practice earlier on Saturday and his Haas mechanics were unable to repair his car in time.