Lando Norris celebrates after taking Spanish GP pole in Madrid Mark ThompsonSept. 12, 2026 11:57 am EDT Updated Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris came out of nowhere to take pole position for the Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, with a spectacular final run in qualifying in Madrid.It is the McLaren driver’s third pole of the season, after he also topped qualifying in Budapest and Zandvoort, both races he went on to win.Norris had missed almost all of FP2 on Friday due to a gearbox issue. And, despite showing some promise in FP3, McLaren initially appeared unable to build on that when qualifying began on Saturday afternoon. Here, Ferrari and Red Bull looked as if they would be the ones to take the fight to Mercedes.However, Norris ended up setting the pace with a time of 1:31.824-seconds on his final lap, edging out 2026 championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes by just one hundredth of a second.
Norris could have been even faster, with McLaren team principal Andrea Stella describing the lap as a “masterpiece” to Sky Sports, before adding that Norris had lost three tenths of a second due to a mistake in the final corner.Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified third, ahead of Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, who had gone on to provisional pole at the Madring after the first set of flying laps in Q3.
