Lando Norris hailed one of the laps of his life after he came from nowhere to take pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.World champion Norris had not troubled the top of the timesheets at any stage across the weekend before he delivered a magical lap to see off Kimi 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, only to fall down the order in the closing moments. George Russell, the nearest title challenger to Antonelli, will start a disappointing sixth.World champion Lando Norris saw off Kimi Antonelli to land pole position for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)Norris raised hope of defending his world crown with successive wins in Hungary and then the Netherlands, but he finished a distant fourth last time out in Monza to leave him 96 points adrift of Antonelli – the equivalent of nearly four wins – with 10 rounds to play.Norris was then fifth in Q1, sixth in Q2, and sixth again after his opening lap in the decisive Q3 qualifying session. But he sensationally rose to the top of the order with his final throw of the dice.To illustrate his speed, Norris was almost half-a-second faster than Oscar Piastri, who, in the other McLaren, had to settle for seventh. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella described the lap as a “masterpiece”.“I’m shocked and a little bit surprised to be here now, but my God, it was probably one of the best laps I’ve done in my career,” said a jubilant Norris after he shared an embrace with his mother, Cisca.“It was one of those laps where everything came together. I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, but it was just whether my brain allowed me to do it, and in the end it was perfect.Norris celebrate his pole lap with his mother, Cisca in Madrid (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)“I looked at the time at the end of my lap and I was like, ‘oh s***, that feels pretty good’.“The adrenaline was high, and at one moment through the final corner I thought I was in the wall and that the boys were going to have to repair the car tonight.“But nonetheless it was one of the best laps I’ve done, just everything that I wanted to achieve, and it puts a big smile on my face.”Hamilton crashed out of final practice earlier on Saturday at a street track described by Russell as “mental” and Verstappen as a “car killer” in the build-up to this week’s event on the outskirts of the Spanish capital.Lewis Hamilton crashed out of final practice prior to qualifying (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)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 in time for qualifying, and he was 0.061secs ahead of Antonelli and almost two tenths clear of Russell after the first laps in Q3 to leave him dreaming of ending a three-year wait for pole only to be toppled by Norris, Antonelli and Verstappen at the death.Russell finished three tenths off the pace, and faces losing further championship ground to Antonelli in what is becoming a one-sided title race. Russell will start Sunday’s race 66 points behind his Mercedes team-mate.