F1 qualifying outcomes: Who secures the top spot in Barcelona?

As the second practice session for the F1 Grand Prix in Barcelona wrapped up, the atmosphere in the racing world felt quite different.

After months of straightforward dominance by Mercedes, the question arises: is McLaren really back in contention?

Lando Norris kicked off the second hour of practice, topping the timesheets by a narrow margin of just 0.009 seconds over George Russell. His McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, secured third place.

On the other hand, the current Drivers’ Championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, finished fifth—more than half a second behind Norris. He acknowledged that the upcoming race in Barcelona might not be “easy.”

“Clearly, George is fast, and McLaren seems competitive too, so it’s going to be a challenge,” Antonelli explained. “We’ll look into our performance tonight and be prepared for tomorrow.”

He also noted the difficulty of securing a good lap time, saying, “The tire window was quite small, and they overheated pretty quickly.”

“We’re just aiming to find the best balance. It’s tough to assess everything after just one lap, but I feel there’s still a lot to improve on. Overall, I’m feeling optimistic about tomorrow.”

It’s worth mentioning that Antonelli missed the first hour of practice, giving a mandatory rookie session to Mercedes test driver Fred Vesti.

Now, will Norris be able to carry his promising performance into qualifying? Or will Mercedes make a strong comeback? We’ll soon find out, as qualifying is set to begin at 10 a.m. ET. You can catch all the action live here.

F1 qualifying results: Barcelona

The preliminary starting grid is as follows, and it will be finalized during the qualifying session: