Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix: Formula One 2026 – live

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?â€

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.

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)

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