Starting grid for 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix after penalties

September 12, 2026

Kevin Peterson

Lando Norris took a surprise pole position for Formula 1‘s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at Madring circuit, beating championship leader Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds.

Norris snatched his third pole of the season with a late 1:31.824 and will start Sunday’s race from the top spot on the front row alongside Antonelli.

Max Verstappen will start third for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton joining him on the second row. Charles Leclerc will headline the third row after qualifying fifth with George Russell starting from sixth in the second Mercedes.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri takes seventh as Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad round out the top ten.

Two grid penalties have reshaped the lower half of the order ahead of Sunday’s 57-lap race. Home hero Carlos Sainz qualified 17th but was slapped with a three-place grid drop for impeding Valtteri Bottas at Turns 6 and 7 during Q1.

The Williams driver will now start from P20, just ahead of Ollie Bearman, while Lance Stroll starts from last after a 40-place grid penalty for taking a new Honda power unit.

Full starting grid for 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:31.824
2	Kimi Antonelli	Merecedes	1:31.835
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:31.964
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:32.013
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:32.019
6	George Russell	Merecedes	1:32.149
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:32.294
8	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	1:32.316
9	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:32.903
10	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:33.041
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:33.223
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:33.388
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1:33.667
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:33.753
15	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:34.084
16	Alex Albon	Williams	1:35.532
17	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:35.312
18	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1.35.388
19	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1.35.913
20	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:38.011
21	Oliver Bearman	Haas	NO TIME
22	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	NO TIME