McLaren Dominate 2025 Spanish GP Practice

(Image credit: @F1)

McLaren dominated Friday Practice for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. 

Lando Norris emerged quickest in FP1 and looked comfortably quickest in FP2 until the soft-tyre run saw Oscar Piastri produced the fastest lap of the day to top FP2 on a strong day for McLaren.

 

FP1

Williams’ FP1 debutant, Victor Martins was first on track for an installation lap but once everyone set a lap time aside from the Frenchman, McLaren’s Norris set the pace on 1m 16.095 and just 0.009 seconds clear of his teammate – Piastri.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso surprisingly showed early pace on the hard tyres as he went quickest in the eighth minute on 1m 15.480, just 0.153s clear of Norris who responded five minutes later with 1m 15.259 to go quickest.

Mercedes’ George Russell however ran his opening stints on the medium tyre which saw him go quickest just seconds before the half-hour mark with 1m 14.751, whilst his teammate – Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotted into third.

The field’s attention soon turned to soft-tyre qualifying simulations shortly afterwards as Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg went second-fastest, before Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace with 1m 14.085 in the 33rd minute.

Norris however rebounded a minute later with 1m 13.718 to go fastest and ultimately top the opening practice session.

Both Mercedes and Williams drivers set their quickest lap times on the medium tyres with Russell and Antonelli classified 11th and 18th quickest for the Silver Arrows, whilst Carlos Sainz managed the 15th quickest lap and Martins was 19th quickest for Williams.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1m 13.718
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.367
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 0.378
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.520
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.576
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 0.621
7 Oliver Bearman Haas + 0.879
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls + 0.887
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull + 0.925
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 1.028
11 George Russell Mercedes + 1.033
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1.068
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 1.080
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber + 1.147
15 Carlos Sainz Williams + 1.217
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber + 1.437
17 Ryo Hirakawa Haas + 1.580
18 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes + 1.651
19 Victor Martins Williams + 1.804
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine + 1.812

 

FP2

Leclerc was straight out on track in the second session and set 1m 14.367 on medium tyres – which everyone except Stroll and Colapinto opted to run in the opening stint, whilst the latter pair went for the hard tyre.

Leclerc’s lap time however was soon bettered by Alonso who went 0.111s faster but Norris quickly usurped that lap time with 1m 13.636 to head Verstappen by 0.274s, with Piastri a further 0.077s behind in third.

Bearman’s opening stint was curtailed after just ten minutes due to a mistake on the exit of Turn 3 as he got on the throttle, which sent his Haas spinning into the gravel, although he recovered to the pits safely without a stoppage.

Up front, Russell found time in the 15th minute to go quickest with 1m 13.501 ahead of the soft-tyre run, which saw him go 0.455s faster, whilst Verstappen and Norris both posted 1m 13.070 just a minute apart with the reigning four-time champion ranked ahead due to having set his time first.

Piastri eventually topped the session with a 1m 12.760 set on the half-hour mark before race simulations passed off successfully with minimal issues, during which Bearman got back on track and went 19th-fastest with a quick soft-tyre flier.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1m 12.760
2 George Russell Mercedes + 0.286
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.310
4 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.310
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.500
6 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes + 0.538
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 0.541
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 0.625
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls + 0.640
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 0.734
11 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari + 0.773
12 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber + 0.832
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull + 0.923
14 Carlos Sainz Williams + 0.961
15 Alex Albon Williams + 1.079
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1.079
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber + 1.199
18 Esteban Ocon Haas + 1.245
19 Oliver Bearman Haas + 1.366
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine + 1.543

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