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Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix: Formula One 2026 – live | Formula One 2026
Key events
Lap 42/66: Ferrari take their chance to bring Hamilton in for a 3rd stop. It’s all going to plan for them, it seems. Right on cue, the virtual safety car ends.
Lap 41/66: Virtual safety car! Alonso comes off on to the grass and what is probably his final F1 race at Barcelona is over. Verstappen dips into the pits and comes out in front of a Haas, producing some angry fist shaking from their crew.
Lap 40/66: Russell sneaks past Leclerc into 2nd after the Ferrari driver had made life a bit difficult. Leclerc comes in to pit.
Lap 39/66: “It’s the critical moment. We have our chance,” Ferrari tell Hamilton over the radio. He will do another 7 laps on these tyres before coming in for a third time. Could their strategy pay off?
Lap 38/66: Antonelli returns to the track just ahead of 5th-place Norris, with Russell ahead in 3rd. Everyone’s on hard tyres now but Hamilton out in front. Leclerc holds 2nd.
Lap 37/66: Hamilton has got the bit between his teeth. He’s already pitted twice and is chipping away at Antonelli’s lead from second. The Italian pits, a lap after Russell.
Lap 36/66: Mercedes call Russell in first for fresh tyres, leaving Antonelli out.
Lap 35/66: Russell and Antonelli continue to do things amicably out in front.
Halfway point
Lap 34/66: The top 10 after the halfway point
1 G Russell (Mercedes)
2 K Antonelli (Mercedes)
3 L Norris (McLaren)
4 L Hamilton (Ferrari)
5 C Leclerc (Ferrari)
6 O Piastri (McLaren)
7 M Verstappen (Red Bull)
8 I Hadjar (Red Bull)
9 L Lawson (Racing Bulls)
10 P Gasly (Alpine)
Lap 33/66: Russell defends Antonelli’s first attack on turn one! The Italian hangs back to prepare himself for another assault. “Let’s not take any risks,” he is told on the Mercedes radio.
Lap 32/66: Antonelli can have a go at Russell now with Sainz out the way in front of them. Leclerc lets a flying Hamilton pass him into 4th.
Lap 31/66: Antonelli has closed the gap to leader Russell to less than just over half a second.
Lap 30/66: Antonelli is on his last warning for track limits. Verstappen heads into the pits too and comes back out in 7th.
Lap 29/66: Hamilton takes Piastri on the outside to move into 6th, both cars avoiding a loitering Perez in the process.
Lap 28/66: Hamilton slots into 7th on his return to the track, a second or two behind Piastri. There is a very sizable gap back to Hajdar in 8th.
Lap 27/66: Ferrari go for a 3-stop strategy as Hamilton dips into the pits, locking up a bit. He’ll swap to medium tyres. Let’s see how everyone else reacts.
Lap 26/66: Bortoleto heads past Ocon into 14th. Antonelli is almost within striking distance of Hamilton in 2nd.
Lap 25/66: Gasly joins the fight for 9th. Hülkenberg gets a bit sweary on the Audi radio as Lawson holds his ground.
Lap 24/66: Hülkenberg has a go at Lawson for 9th and the Racing Bulls driver defends well.
Lap 23/66: “Leclerc is still very much in our race behind,” Red Bull tell Verstappen, with around 3.5sec the gap which is closing all the time.
Lap 22/66: At least a couple of seconds separate the top 7 and nobody is really under any pressure at the moment. Antonelli is gradually gaining on Hamilton in 2nd with the gap around 3.5sec.
Lap 21/66: Ferrari tell Hamilton “we are on plan C”, which doesn’t sound ideal. He’s still around 2sec behind Russell and has the fastest lap so far. Hajdar goes past Lindblad into 8th.
Lap 20/66: Gasly moves past Colapinto into 12th on Alpine team orders. Bearman goes past Alonso, who is now bringing up the rear.
Lap 19/66: Bearman comes in. Lindblad, Hadjar and Lawson hold the final three points spots. The top 7 are 15sec clear of the rest.
Luke McLaughlin
I was out on the grid and in the pit lane before the race – getting close to the cars on the baking tarmac was uniquely memorable – as was brushing past Novak Djokovic in the scrum around George Russell’s and Lewis Hamilton’s cars at the front of the grid.
Russell has been very quick all weekend and comfortably held off the challenge of Hamilton into turn one. Now it’s a question of tyre management, tyre strategy and the other minor detail of driving the car around 14 turns of the 4.657km circuit. Kimi Antonelli will lead the drivers’ standings no matter what this evening but it would be a major statement from Russell if he can bring it home.
Lap 18/66: Hadjar deals with Bearman with a minimum of fuss to move into 9th. Russell is, of course, back in the lead. Hamilton is just short of 2sec back.
Lap 17/66: This time Leclerc follows orders and pits, coming back out with a healthy gap on 7th-place Piastri. Both Williams are under investigation for a start-line procedure.
Lap 16/66: Leclerc opts to stay out for another lap but Russell is shaving time off his lead. Hajdar comes in and sneaks ahead of 12th-place Hülkenberg after returning to the track.
Lap 15/66: “You’ve exposed me to Kimi now,” says Russell but his nerves will be calmed by the sight of Antonelli heading for the pits now too. Leclerc leads the way and, behind him, it’s the same five that led the grid to start with – in the same order.
Lap 14/66: Norris comes in as well. Verstappen has got some mediums on and Hamilton opts for hards. Russell is getting a fit fidgety on the team radio at coming in so early.
Lap 13/66: Russell responds to Ferrari’s strategy by coming into the pits himself to swap his mediums for hards. Antonelli leads the way for the moment.
Lap 12/66: Alonso gets off the mark with a pass on Bottas at the back of the field. That’ll be popular.
Lap 11/66: “I’m wobbling on the straight. It’s quite impressive,” says Verstappen. He and Hamilton both come into the pits.
Lap 10/66: Hadjar eventually gets past Lindblad into 10th. Leclerc is gaining on Verstappen and is now within half a second.
Lap 9/66: Lindblad holds on to the last points place for the time being against Hadjar. Norris complains that he’s “sliding everywhere” on the McLaren radio – and he’s not alone.
Lap 8/66: Hajdar sets his sights on Lindblad in 10th next.
Lap 7/66: There’s a 3sec gap between Russell and Hamilton. Hadjar goes past a sliding Colapinto into 11th. Leclerc and Piastri battle for sixth and it’s the Ferrari driver who goes past on the outside and holds it.
Lap 6/66: Hülkenberg is under investigation for his overtake on Lindblad and possibly leaving the track to gain an advantage. Stroll’s afternoon appears over as he comes into the pits. Hadjar moves past Gasly into 12th.
Lap 5/66: Verstappen’s soft tyres haven’t propelled him forward either, still in fifth and he’s not exactly making ground up on Norris in fourth.
Lap 4/66: An early attack from Hamilton on his soft tyres is yet to materialise as Russell extends his lead bit by bit.
Lap 3/66: Hadjar starts to move back up the field, moving past Sainz with ease. Leclerc was a big mover too, up to 7th from his starting spot of 10th. It’s as you were with the top five.
Lap 2/66: Lindblad had moved as high as 9th on that first lap before Hülkenberg takes the place back. Hadjar has tumbled almost 10 places after a nightmare start.
Lights out!
Russell holds off the challenge from Hamilton on turn one! Antonelli also stays ahead of Norris.
Photograph: David Davies/PA
The drivers head out for their formation lap. It’s a scorching day in Catalonia. Interestingly, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are both starting on soft tyres. That’s brave!
George Russell does a grid interview from his scooter: “In these conditions it’s never going to be nice and comfortable. Lewis is on form and Kimi … nothing seems to stop him at the moment. I need to try and make amends.”
Lando Norris’s feet are on the ground for his interview: “We’re here to race. We want to try and win, so I’m going to go for that. But at the same time we’re against some fast cars, so we’ll play it as we should.
The drivers line up for the Spanish national anthem, with a Spain flag and the Catalan senyera unfurled on track. Carlos Sainz is the other home favourite involved today, back in 16th with Williams.
The umbrellas come down, the boiler suits come off. It’s almost time for the formation lap.
The trackside DJ is playing One More Time by Daft Punk, no doubt not a coincidence on what is expected to be Fernando Alonso’s 23rd and final F1 race at Barcelona.
The 44-year-old has won here on two occasions (with Renault in 2006 and Ferrari in 2013), with another five podiums to his name. Just coaxing his Aston Martin home today would be enough, you imagine, but that won’t bother the thousands waving Spanish flags in the stands, including his own grandstand.
I’m not sure about the DJ’s back-up dancers, clad from head to toe in material with a Park Güell-themed stone pattern. Very mysterious.
“Hi William,” writes a very formal Tomas Barbosa. “What do you think the tyre strategies will be today? I heard rumours of a 3 stop?”
I will bow to the expertise of Pirelli’s head of motorsport, Dario Marrafuschi:
We expect at least a two-stop strategy – at least two stops. In theory, we expect that the best strategy is medium-hard-hard, also because teams have saved the hard tyres and we think they probably wanted to have those tyres as an option for the race.
The common sense lets us think that the two stops with medium-hard-hard could be an option with a first stop between 15 and 21 and the second between 38 and 44.
For someone like Max Verstappen, starting 5th on the grid, a three-stop strategy might be a little bit quicker – but then again you run the risk of overheating those soft tyres when overtaking towards the end of the race. Track temperatures reached around 50C for qualifying yesterday!
‘The worst car and the worst engine’
Fernando Alonso says this will probably be his last F1 race in front of his home fans in Barcelona. The Aston Martin driver starts from the pits today, being outqualified by teammate Lance Stroll for the first time in 42 races.
The Spanish veteran was, er, not happy yesterday:
We knew we have the worst car and the worst engine and we’ve been very clear in every race so far that we have to work.
We repeat the same thing and it’s exhausting. We’re last, we know it, and we have no problem admitting it.
We have the worst engine, very poor energy deployment, gearbox problems and aerodynamic problems. We’re waiting for the second half of the year, and I hope we can improve a bit when the new car arrives.
A reminder of how qualifying went down yesterday …
Russell was in high spirits:
Really happy to be back in my groove. It’s been a difficult few races, obviously bad luck, and some poor performances in there, but I went back to an approach I knew works for me.
Car setup, mentality … Going back to basics. These cars are so complicated … it’s challenging to get on top of things, especially when I’ve got a guy like this [Antonelli] next to me performing so well … I’m just glad to feel myself again, feel at one with the car again.
Starting grid
Here’s how we line up in Catalonia today:
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
4 Lando Norris (McLaren)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
9 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi)
10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
16 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18 Alex Albon (Williams)
19 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac)
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Pit-lane Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Preamble
Hello, welcome, benvinguts. Is this the day George Russell reignites his title challenge? The Mercedes driver said he felt “like my old self again” after beating Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya yesterday and today is looking to win his first grand prix since the opener in Australia.
Kimi Antonelli, flying the sporting flag for Italy this summer in the absence of the Azzurri at the World Cup, starts third on the grid and leads the drivers’ standings by a whopping 66 points after five race wins on the spin, capped with victory at Monaco last weekend.
It’s lights out in Catalonia at 2pm (BST), so let’s all inject a bit of variety into our lives before another onslaught of football. Whether you’re a bleary-eyed Scot just waking up or an Australian toasting the Socceroos before bed, join me for lap-by-lap coverage and get in touch via email as the action unfolds. Anem
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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