Andrea Stella labelled Lando Norris' final qualifying lap as a "masterpiece", with the Briton clinching pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Norris pipped Formula One drivers' championship leader Kimi Antonelli to pole on Saturday, qualifying 0.011 seconds ahead of the Italian.

Max Verstappen placed third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had held pole after the first runs of the final session.

And McLaren boss Stella was enthused by Norris' efforts.

"I think it was a masterpiece. A masterpiece," he said.

"We had seen across the whole weekend, that if we put it all together, we were not far from the best cars. So we worked our way, step by step, to try and put all the performance together.

"I think Lando did it only in the final run of Q3 and, if you want the news, is that in the final corner he made a mistake of three tenths.

"So it was just an incredible lap. I think definitely one of the best of his life until the last corner.

"He just realised what is available in the car. We are happy with this pole position. At the same time, the group keeps being so tight that if you are a few tenths behind, like Oscar [Piastri], you are P7."

LN Fastest in the heat of Madring Quali#McLarenF1 | #OKXxMcLarenF1 | #SpanishGP  pic.twitter.com/JHpDW9Aiqc

— McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team (@McLarenF1) September 12, 2026

Reigning world champion Norris, meanwhile, reflected on what he felt was one of the best laps of his F1 career.

"I am shocked and a little bit surprised to be here now, but my God, it was probably one of the best laps I have done ever in my career, so I'm very, very happy, very proud, very happy for the team," he said.

"It was just one of those laps where everything came together. I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, but it was whether my brain would let me do it on the last lap and everything worked perfectly.

"I'm just very happy. It was one of those laps where you look at the lap time at the end, and you're like, 'Oh, that was pretty good!'

"The adrenaline was high on the last lap. It is just one where you have got to relax, just let it all flow. It is easy to get tense around here, there are a lot of walls that come out at you pretty quickly.

"Honestly, I am feeling pretty confident and the car felt good, so I felt good out there. I just wasn't doing what I wanted, I wasn't relaxed, and on the last lap I took a breath and everything came together.

"It was pretty much perfect, bar the last corner. I thought I was in the wall and I thought the boys were going to repair the car tonight. Everything I wanted to achieve, I achieved."

Verstappen was content with third on the grid, while seven-time world champion Hamilton is struggling to understand what to expect when the race rolls around.

"We all came into the weekend thinking there would not be so much deg and the tyres would last longer, but there was a lot of deg yesterday," he said.

"I'm sure that improves a little bit as the track gets grippier, but I have no idea what to expect tomorrow."