Russell back in ‘the groove’ as he takes pole for Barcelona Grand Prix

MONTMELO: George Russell of Mercedes claimed pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after a thrilling end to the qualifying session on Saturday.

The Briton clinched his third pole of the season by finishing just 0.064 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in his upgraded Ferrari, who bumped championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the other Mercedes on to the second row for Sunday’s race.

After a difficult outing in Monaco last weekend and a disappointing start to the campaign for the pre-season title favourite, Russell said it was good to “feel the groove” again as he secured a career 10th pole.

Antonelli has won the last five races and is aiming for a sixth on Sunday, but he will have to start from third after a superb late run from Hamilton.

The seven-time champion had endured a tough weekend but looked far quicker in qualifying and came extremely close to claiming pole himself.

“It’s been a great weekend so far, I’m always fighting. I came into this weekend with a clean slate, felt good and it is great to be on pole,” said Russell.

“It will be an interesting race tomorrow, Lewis did a great job to get up there so I’m sure there will be a fight. Tomorrow will not be easy.”

It seemed like McLaren were closest to challenging Mercedes this weekend but 2025 champion Lando Norris came in fourth and Oscar Piastri was seventh.

Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar came fifth and sixth respectively. Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Nico Hulkenberg came eighth and ninth, ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari who crashed but walked away unharmed.