George Russell is the big Winner after qualifying in Barcelona, as he has stemmed the flow of momentum on Kimi Antonelli\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Here is PlanetF1.com\u2019s full list of winners and losers from the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix qualifying.<\/p>\n
George Russell and Charles Leclerc headline Barcelona qualifying verdict
\nWinner: George Russell<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of feel like my old self again, where every lap I\u2019m doing my job, always fighting those top positions,\u201d Russell said after qualifying on pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, for the last few races, for numerous reasons, haven\u2019t quite been on our side, but I came in this weekend with just a clean slate, felt good and, yeah, just great to be on pole.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a bruising few weeks of misfortune and toil for Russell, coinciding with a vein of rich form for Antonelli, but the British driver stemmed the flow with an eye-openingly impressive final lap in Q3 to definitively underline a three-tenths pace advantage over the Italian.<\/p>\n
Revealing that he\u2019s gone back to an \u201capproach that works\u201d, Russell said he has managed to restore the feeling with the car back to where he was at the start of the season, and admitted that he, with his engineers, had gone astray in recent races.<\/p>\n
\u201cCar set-up, mentality, just going back to basics really,\u201d he said of his change of approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to constantly improve, and I think that, you know, doing some copy-pasting [Antonelli] probably really put me on the back foot. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this weekend I\u2019ve just gone in my own direction and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done in the past for the last few years, and really glad to see it paying off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli\u2019s daunting lead means that pole position, in itself, means very little, but it\u2019s a confidence-boosting affirmation for Russell to show that this fight isn\u2019t over just yet.<\/p>\n
As for Antonelli, how he handles the adverse moments of this season will be illuminating: it\u2019s not an unreasonable position to suggest that, in his second year, he is not the finished article in every way.<\/p>\n
There have been flashes of how his temperament can take over if he gets frustrated and, on an occasion where Russell has the upper hand on pace, how Antonelli will be able to keep the bigger picture in mind to bank the points and control his advantage will be a key question this year.<\/p>\n
He ruled out his missing FP1 as having an impact on his preparations for the weekend, but said he\u2019s been chasing the feeling throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot really happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust struggling with the feeling of the car, very low grip here, and just been attacking a bit too much corners.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yeah, in the last lap I lost basically everything in the last sector, a couple of big slides and tyre just went away from me. So definitely was not the best performance, but long run was good, so looking forward to that for tomorrow and hopefully we will have the same kind of pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Russell is to have a hope of the title, starting to chip away at Antonelli\u2019s lead will be imperative, and his emphatic pole position has set him up nicely.<\/p>\n
Loser: Charles Leclerc<\/p>\n
Having had the legs on Lewis Hamilton in Q2, any chance of Charles Leclerc being in and around the front row disappeared in an instant when he pushed too hard and threw his car off the road and into the barriers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second time in a week that Leclerc has crashed and, while extenuating circumstances factored into the first, this most recent escapade was all on his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to release brakes earlier, trying to carry more speed, as I knew it was the main weakness, if not the only weakness, because we were very fast in all the corners,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cTried to carry more speed in, worked out, but then I went on traction on the dirty side of the track, and lost the rear, but there\u2019s not much to excuse myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc opted to follow Lewis Hamilton\u2019s lead on a change of brake materials by swapping from Brembo to Carbone Industries, and he ruled out that having any sort of contribution to the mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt very at ease with it, and there\u2019s nothing of that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no excuses on trying to find the reference or whatsoever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very ashamed after last three weekends that have been particularly difficult for me to find pace for issues I had today and this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything felt really, really good, and in these days I need to deliver, and I didn\u2019t, so I feel very ashamed in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leclerc is entering what appears to be a whole new phase in his dynamic with Ferrari and, despite his new long-term contract with the Scuderia, it may not be the most comfortable one.<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s upswing in performance, in which the British driver has pointedly singled out how team boss Fred Vasseur is working hard behind the scenes to help bring about the changes the seven-time F1 World Champion has needed to increase his comfort, have unlocked the Lewis that has been missing in recent years and, perhaps realising this fact, Leclerc is having to play keep-up.<\/p>\n
With Hamilton being the mould-breaker by chasing the CI brake materials change \u2013 a small poke in the eye for brake supplier Brembo even if the technical relationship remains intact \u2013 Leclerc following suit just a few races later gives an impression that it\u2019s the Brit who is starting to figure out just what is needed to turn Ferrari into a proper challenger.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something that, of course, Hamilton has huge experience in but Leclerc is no longer the new kid on the block and, now in his seventh year, is making costly mistakes that only give his garage more work to do at a time when Hamilton is starting to pump in consistent results.<\/p>\n
Is it any wonder Hamilton\u2019s jubilation is becoming evident?<\/p>\n
Winner: Lewis Hamilton<\/p>\n
Hamilton felt he had been on the back foot after sitting out FP1, and was struggling for pace throughout practice as he wound up the guts of half a second down in FP3.<\/p>\n
Ferrari has brought a decent-sized upgrade package to Barcelona and, in his quest to unlock the setup and get the car into a sweet spot, Hamilton revealed he\u2019d stepped away from the track outright in order to \u201creset\u201d for qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time ever, I left the track between P3 and qualifying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I said, \u201cI\u2019ve got to get out of here.\u201d And I went back to my motorhome and I was just on the engineer call, just on my phone, but I kind of went where I had a bit of a reset. Came back and I was able to somehow get back on it. So yeah, whatever it did, it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
That it did: Hamilton went quickest of all in Q1 and led the Ferrari challenge in Q3 as Leclerc crashed out.<\/p>\n
Earning his first Ferrari front row, splitting the two Mercedes drivers, his efforts drew cheers from the crowds in the grandstands: a recognition of the talent and hard work that is starting to pay off, from an audience that hasn\u2019t always been so appreciative of Hamilton.<\/p>\n
More importantly for Hamilton, while his form through Canada and Monaco could have been explained away as being down to the somewhat unique characteristics of both, there is no such caveat here in Spain: Barcelona is a \u2018normal\u2019 circuit and representative of typical demands.<\/p>\n
Keep turning the screw on Leclerc in the way he is, and Hamilton will end up winning over the team that has unquestionably been the Monegasque\u2019s for the last half-decade.<\/p>\n
Loser: Alpine<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a good week for Alpine\u2019s argumentative team leadership after successfully winning its right of review over Monaco to start the weekend in Barcelona, but the on-track stuff has been less stellar.<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly, despite changing chassis as Alpine broke curfew on Friday night, encountered unexpected behaviour behind the wheel with both chassis, leaving the Frenchman more of a passenger than a driver whenever he hit the brakes in the A526.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been scratching our heads since the first lap of FP1,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery lap in Turn 1 and 4, as soon as I brake with my steering straight, the car is sending me left and right as I\u2019m trying to just go straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand. I\u2019ve never had that in 10 years in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never had that with this car. We are not understanding where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qualifying 14th, Gasly said he has \u201czero confidence\u201d with the car, and that the data from the car is quite anomalous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we see is very, very strange on the data, because I\u2019m not applying any type of steering, and the car is sending me in one way or the other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s not like it\u2019s always the same yaw as far, so it\u2019s not like I can predict what\u2019s going on, so it\u2019s just quite messy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gasly didn\u2019t rule out the possibility of breaking parc ferme to take on a pitlane start, given the necessity for Alpine to figure out the problem, particularly ahead of the Sprint weekend in Austria in two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not confident at all to drive 65 laps like this, because I\u2019m not having the control on the braking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I need to see with the team if we can do anything there, or if we want to try something, but it will be quite difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t much different for Franco Colapinto, who revealed that he never felt he was getting his A526 to do what he wanted on track, leading to a feeling of being very \u201cdisconnected\u201d behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
More from the Barcelona Grand Prix<\/p>\n
George Russell reveals reversal of \u2018wrong decisions\u2019 behind Barcelona pole<\/a><\/p>\n Verstappen drops blunt take after Barcelona qualifying twist<\/a><\/p>\n Winner: Sergio Perez\/Cadillac<\/p>\n Qualifying in 19th, Sergio Perez strolled into the media pen after qualifying with the aura of a man who knows he and Cadillac are meshing well, and taking down some big players in the process.<\/p>\n Being just two seconds off pole position at an aero-dependent circuit such as the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is nothing to be sniffed at but, more impressively, Perez wound up a second clear of the hapless Aston Martins at the very back \u2013 all while having qualified with full focus being on race setup and preparation.<\/p>\n But, rather than looking back at the two green cars, Perez instead pointed to how he wants to find another six-tenths to be \u201cin the mix properly\u201d, while saying on the team radio that he felt almost everything had been maximised.<\/p>\n Speaking to the media, Perez suggested a little bit of time had been left behind, due to a deployment problem through the last two corners,<\/p>\n This is a year of learning and gaining experience for Cadillac and, while there are clearly operational weaknesses to be ironed out, there is a sense that there is huge potential to be unlocked from what is proving to be quite a tidy car design.<\/p>\n Some of these weaknesses were more evident on Valtteri Bottas\u2019 side of the garage, with the Finn barely making it into qualifying after his brake issue in FP3 saw Cadillac up against it to get the car ready.<\/p>\n Loser: Fernando Alonso<\/p>\n Returning home to a circuit in which he is the hero, the reality of the situation he finds himself in this year did appear to get to Fernando Alonso a little on Saturday.<\/p>\n While the Spaniard has cut a diplomatic figure for most of this year, the frustrations of having such a tough campaign after what was huge optimism last year shone through as he spoke to the media after qualifying in last place.<\/p>\n With Aston Martin well off the pace of every other team, including the newcomers Cadillac, Alonso also wound up behind Lance Stroll to end a two-year streak of outqualifying the Canadian.<\/p>\n For Stroll, the accomplishment didn\u2019t merit any comment, saying he \u201cdidn\u2019t give a s**t\u201d, while Alonso was irritated by a question put to him by PlanetF1.com about whether the circuit has exposed another weakness in the area of aerodynamic efficiency.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that we have the worst car and the worst engine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been very clear in every race so far that we have to work.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the second part of the year arrives a new car on the aerodynamic side, arrives a new engine, and we have the hopes there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe repeat every weekend. We will arrive in Austria in two weeks, we will be last in qualifying.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the weaknesses. We know that we have to work, and we are on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso\u2019s frustrations coincide with new speculation about his future: following on from an initial report from Motorsport Italy that Alonso could reunite with Alpine in 2027, PlanetF1.com has been informed by multiple sources that Flavio Briatore, together with new title sponsor Gucci, is eager to convince Alonso to return to Alpine and reunite with him.<\/p>\n Does Alonso have the added headache of trying to figure out whether to stick with the path he committed to, placing trust in Adrian Newey\u2019s processes and the path back to the midfield, or return to familiar climes where more significant short-term success may be possible?<\/p>\n Winner: Liam Lawson<\/p>\n Qualifying eighth in Spain, Liam Lawson is coming good this year.<\/p>\n Just over a year ago, Lawson\u2019s return to Racing Bulls saw him rebuild after his difficult tenure at Red Bull, but those difficulties have been consigned to the past and, now paired with a strong rookie teammate, Lawson is delivering.<\/p>\n Having scored a seventh place in Canada, and a sixth in Monaco (fifth before Gasly\u2019s penalties were rescinded), Lawson\u2019s eighth-place grid slot is indicative of a very solid driver and car combination \u2013 he was three-tenths clear of Lindblad in Q2.<\/p>\n In reality, with there being four top teams, ninth place is the best any midfield driver can hope for, meaning there\u2019s little more Lawson could realistically have aimed for in the absence of Leclerc from those top eight positions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a great place with the car,\u201d he said afterwards, as he took the opportunity to point out how it had been he, and not Lindblad, to achieve Q3.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just need to tidy up on a few little things, and we should have had both cars really in Q3 today.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s great. We\u2019ve got good speed, obviously. Tomorrow\u2019s race is going to be a lot harder than normal, I would say, with the tire dig, so we need to try and do a good job there.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n