Piastri sets the biggest pole margin of the year to date, McLaren lock out the front row at Catalunya for the first time since 1998 and Sainz exits in Q1 at home for the first time. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix!
PIASTRI ON POLE AT THE 2025 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
Oscar Piastri secured pole position for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the 59th driver to have taken as many as four poles in Formula 1 history. Piastri is the first driver to record four pole positions in the 2025 season.
Piastri is the fifth different polesitter at the Spanish Grand Prix in the last five seasons.
Piastri secured pole position for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix by 0.209 seconds – the largest pole margin of the season to date.
Piastri out-qualified team-mate Lando Norris for the fifth time this year, having out-qualified him four times in total in the entire 2024 season. This was the first time Piastri out-qualified Norris at the Spanish Grand Prix.
This was the first time Piastri did not qualify in tenth place from his three appearances at the Spanish Grand Prix.
IN THE TOP TEN
With Lando Norris qualifying second for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren locked out the front row at Catalunya for the first time in 27 years, when Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard set the two fastest qualifying lap times at the 1998 Spanish Grand Prix. It was the team’s second front row lock out in total at the track.
Max Verstappen qualified third for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. It marked the first time since 2020 that he did not qualify on the front row for the Catalunya race.
Verstappen and Oscar Piastri maintained their 100% Q3 appearance records at the Spanish Grand Prix, while Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli joined them in the group – of which Michael Schumacher is the only other driver.
For the third time in the last four years, George Russell qualified fourth for the Spanish Grand Prix and equalled his best qualifying result at the track. He set an identical lap time to Max Verstappen, but Verstappen qualified ahead as he set the lap time first.
Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. It was the first time he qualified in the top five at consecutive races since the 2024 Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix.
Hamilton out-qualified team-mate Charles Leclerc for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli reached Q3 for the first time in three races, qualifying in sixth place.
Isack Hadjar recorded the Red Bull junior team’s first Q3 appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix since 2020. It was only the fifth time in total that a driver for the team has qualified in the top nine at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hadjar reached Q3 for a third consecutive race weekend.
Pierre Gasly reached Q3 for the fifth time this season. With eighth place, he recorded his second-best qualifying result of the year to date.
Having not reach Q3 at any of the first six races of the season, Fernando Alonso qualified in the top ten for a third consecutive race weekend at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.
ELIMINATED IN Q2
For the first time in 2025, neither Williams driver reached Q3 at the Spanish Grand Prix. Alex Albon qualified 11th, missing out on a place in the top ten by 0.030 seconds.
11th place marks Williams’ best qualifying result at the Spanish Grand Prix since Felipe Massa qualified ninth in 2017.
This was the first time since 2020 that Albon progressed past Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
With 12th place in qualifying for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, Gabriel Bortoleto recorded the best qualifying result of his career to date.
Lance Stroll was out-qualified by team-mate Fernando Alonso for the 21st consecutive race weekend.
Qualifying 15th, Ollie Bearman made it out of Q1 for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he also qualified 15th.
OUT IN Q1
For the first time in his career, Carlos Sainz failed to progress past Q1 at his home Grand Prix. He qualified 18th for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix – his previous worst Saturday result here having been 13th place in 2019.
This was Sainz’s first Q1 exit since the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Sainz recorded Williams’ second Q1 exit of the season. This was the tenth year in a row that a Williams car has been eliminated in Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
This was the first time since 2017 that neither Williams driver qualified on the back row for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda set the slowest lap time in Q1 at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. He recorded Red Bull’s first Q1 exit at Catalunya since 2008, as well as Red Bull’s second-worst qualifying result at the track – the team’s worst since David Coulthard failed to set a time and qualified 22nd at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix.
This was the third consecutive race at which Tsunoda failed to reach Q3. It was the second time this year, after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, that Tsunoda qualified 20th.
Esteban Ocon failed to make it out of Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time in his career.
Ocon has exited in Q1 at every other race to date in the 2025 season.
Ocon’s Q1 exit means that Haas continue their record of seeing at least one car eliminated in Q1 at every race to date this year. Sauber are the only other team to have done so, with both teams having recorded two double Q1 exits to date.
Stopping on track towards the end of the session, Franco Colapinto failed to complete his final run in Q1 and qualified 19th. He exited in Q1 for the second race in a row.
With 19th place, Colapinto recorded the Enstone team’s worst qualifying result at the Spanish Grand Prix since 2014.
This was the second race in a row that Colapinto qualified on the back row of the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg exited in Q1 for the fourth time in the last five races and was out-qualified by his team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto for the third time in the last four races.
This was Hulkenberg’s first Q1 exit at the Spanish Grand Prix since 2019.
