Formula One (F1) qualifying at the new Madring circuit in Madrid, Spain, on September 12 saw the order overturned at the last moment.
McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position by finishing 0.011 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Ahead of its first race, the circuit highlighted not only lap time but also how long the tires could be made to last as an important variable.
3-Line Summary
1. Norris took pole in Madring’s first qualifying session
2. The gap to Antonelli was 0.011 seconds
3. Tire management will be a factor in the race
1 Minute 31 Seconds 824 on the Final Lap
Norris recorded 1 minute 31 seconds 824 to beat Antonelli’s 1 minute 31 seconds 835. According to reports from the BBC and The Guardian, the gap between the two drivers was 0.011 seconds, while Max Verstappen (Red Bull) took 3rd place with 1 minute 31 seconds 964. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) was 4th, and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was 5th.
The result stands out even more because of Norris’s qualifying progression. He was 5th in the first session and 7th in the second, and after his first run in the final session, he was 0.449 seconds slower than Hamilton. However, he improved his time on the final lap and moved into the lead for the first time. It was a scene that fully revealed the nature of qualifying, where a single fast lap can determine the order.
For Norris, this was his second pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix and the 19th of his career. The Guardian reported that he took pole for this event in Barcelona in 2024, but has yet to win the Spanish Grand Prix. Pole position determines the starting order only and does not decide the race result.
A New Circuit Combining Walls and High-Speed Corners
Madring is a new venue on which the drivers had their first proper runs. In official F1 coverage, Pierre Gasly (Alpine) explained that the walls approach quickly, so drivers must determine the corner entry line and the force of entry with great precision. The circuit was assessed as having many high-speed sections while also creating the tension of a street circuit.
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) also said it was difficult because there were many sections where drivers had to run toward the wall and then avoid it, rather than simply skimming close to the wall. Teams were also challenged by the difficulty of completing vehicle setup using simulation alone on new asphalt and with an unfamiliar combination of corners.
This is why qualifying times do not simply show a car’s absolute speed. Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur said that, more important than being fastest in free practice, was anticipating how the grip would change in qualifying Q3 and finding the right setup. This is the team principal’s assessment, and which team’s setup will be most effective in the race has not yet been confirmed by the result.
Tire Graining as the Deciding Factor in the Race
During the first free-practice session, graining, in which the tire surface becomes rough, appeared early. George Russell (Mercedes) explained that high grip and substantial sliding could occur together on the new asphalt, and said that, if the level of wear seen in the first session continued, six pit stops would have been the fastest strategy. He added, however, that conditions improved somewhat during the second free-practice session.
The fact that several teams had saved two sets each of C2 hard tires on Friday is also connected to race strategy. Official F1 coverage analyzed that only Audi had used these tires on Friday, signaling that hard tires could play a significant role in the race.
What was confirmed in this qualifying session was Norris’s fastest single lap and the extremely small gap among the leaders. In the race, the bigger question became not whether that time could be repeated exactly, but whether the drivers could maintain tire performance and hold their positions on the new track, where the walls are close.
References
Tags #F1 #FormulaOne #SpanishGrandPrix #Madrid #Madring #LandoNorris #KimiAntonelli #McLaren #Mercedes #MaxVerstappen #F1Qualifying #PolePosition #TireGraining