Eleven thousandths, and a street circuit nobody has raced on
Eleven thousandths of a second. That is what separates Lando Norris from Kimi Antonelli on the grid for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, one of the slimmest margins anyone has produced all season.
Norris takes pole at the Madring, the new Madrid street layout hosting Formula 1 for the first time. He never controlled the session. He simply arrived at the right moment. Antonelli had just grabbed provisional pole when the reigning world champion answered, immediately. Max Verstappen, quickest through the middle sector on his final run, lines up third.
Q3 changed hands almost every time a car crossed the line. Antonelli went first with a 1’32”140, fastest in all three sectors. George Russell closed to within a tenth. Lewis Hamilton then produced a 1’32”079 for Ferrari, 61 thousandths up on the Mercedes. The last runs reshuffled everything again: Antonelli retook the top spot by 244 thousandths from Russell, and then Norris came through.
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5.416 kilometres with almost nowhere to pass
Track position is everything here. The walls sit close, overtaking spots are scarce, and one safety car can tear up a strategy before anyone has time to react.
Conditions added to it. Track temperature pushed past 53 degrees during Q3, air temperature above 31. Verstappen had led Q2 by 46 thousandths from Antonelli, which tells you four teams were genuinely in this.
Ferrari’s day started badly. Hamilton put it wrong in final practice, brought out the red flag and ended the session early for everybody.
96 points, and one weekend will not close that
Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings on 267 points, ahead of Russell (201), Hamilton (191) and Norris (171). Mercedes sit top of the constructors’ table with 468, clear of Ferrari (346) and McLaren (287).
So pole alone does not do much for Norris. He is 96 points adrift and cannot keep letting Antonelli collect at his current rate. Starting first on a circuit where passing borders on impossible is the best card he has. Antonelli starts alongside him.
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