2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
3 min read

The first-ever Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix Qualifying session took place today around a track that everybody knows off the back of their hand!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, and Fernando Alonso were the six slowest drivers! Esteban Ocon was well off the pace in comparison to his teammate, whilst the same could be said for the Williams of Alex Albon, as both drivers suffered disappointing Q1 exits! Cadillac will start from the 10th row of the grid, with Sergio Perez once again ahead of Valtteri Bottas, whilst there was a surprising result in the Aston Martin head-to-head battle, with Lance Stroll finally outqualifying Fernando Alonso (in Grand Prix Qualifying) for the first time since Silverstone 2024! However, Aston were a whole second slower than the Cadillacs, which is frankly abysmal! Lewis Hamilton was on top for Ferrari in Q1, just under a tenth clear of George Russell’s Mercedes!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, and Carlos Sainz all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! After showing great pace throughout Qualifying, Arvid Lindblad will be very disappointed to have not made Q3, whilst Gabriel Bortoleto had to settle for P12! Alpine struggled for pace a bit today, although Franco Colapinto can be happy with outqualifying teammate Pierre Gasly, whilst Oliver Bearman could only manage 15th for Haas! Carlos Sainz was slowest in Q2, losing an entire second between the two sessions! Russell topped Q2, with the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc close behind!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a rapid 1:14.679 was enough for George Russell to take a massive Pole Position around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya! For the first time since the China Sprint, George looks clear of his teammate, but now he needs to convert it when it really counts! Lewis Hamilton did a fantastic job to put his Ferrari on the front row, just 64 thousandths off Pole, whilst Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to settle for third, over 3 tenths off his teammate’s Pole lap! Lando Norris was very unlucky to miss out on a Top 3 spot by just 3 thousandths of a second, whilst Max Verstappen was only a further 2 hundredths back in 5th! Isack Hadjar did a relatively good job in comparison to his teammate, beating out Oscar Piastri to a third-row start, whilst Liam Lawson continued his excellent season by beating Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg to best of the rest! The reason why P8 was best of the rest and not P9 was because Charles Leclerc crashed in the other Ferrari down at Turn 4, bringing out a Red Flag! Leclerc is having a shocker at the moment!