McLaren have dominated practice for the Spanish GP despite the technical directive forcing teams to make changes to their cars. The Ferrari of Leclerc, the Mercedes of Russell and the Red Bull of Verstappen closed out the top 5.
The third and final practice ahead of qualifying saw Oscar Piastri put in a mesmerising lap half a second faster than his teammate. With the track improving throughout the session and teams continuing to make setup changes, there was plenty of action in FP3.
McLaren unbothered by flexi-wing clampdown ahead of Spanish GP
McLaren were already quick on Friday, but seem to have found even more pace on Saturday. Piastri set a 1:12.387 in the final stages of practice while teammate Norris could only muster a 1:12.913. This was still fast enough to keep the other top teams well behind them. While some teams seemed to struggle with car balance and traffic, Piastri didn’t look back and completed his program.
Lando Norris had a moment into turn 9, running wide and having to use the escape road. He came back out shortly after and clocked his personal best time of the session. The pace difference between teammates of the top teams is noticeable, with an average gap of 4 tenths of a second.
Final practice ✅
It’s a McLaren 1-2 to kick-off Saturday… now onto qualifying! 💨#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/cHNYy4pOz7
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 31, 2025
Outside the top 4 teams, things seem to have shifted. Racing Bulls both made the top 10, Hadjar just 0.007 off Verstappen, and Liam Lawson trailing Hamilton in P9 by 0.1 second. Both Saubers are looking strong in P11 and P12, and with the new regulations, we could see their race pace be competitive to finally see both drivers score points.
Williams struggles with Barcelona circuit in FP3
One team is missing from the top 10, given their latest performances. Williams only managed P13 and P19 ahead of qualifying, which could indicate a difficult weekend is imminent. The field has been tight all year so far, and every hundredth of a second matters in the 2025 season.
Practice in Barcelona, complete ☑️
Now on to Qualifying later today ⏩ pic.twitter.com/VEU7NhhIVv
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) May 31, 2025
The layout of Circuit de Barcelona for the Spanish GP is generally seen as a blueprint for the rest of the season. You go well here, you might just end up doing well everywhere. With Qualifying up next, it is, of course, anyone’s game as we have seen so far this season.
While McLaren is looking dominant, we have seen Verstappen steal three pole positions already, Leclerc and Russell look like they are comfortable and ready to push when it matters. Pole position this year has been decided by hundredths and thousandths instead of tenths, so we are definitely in for one hell of a ride later today in the fight for pole!
