2025 Spanish GP FP3: Piastri the man to catch

Oscar Piastri delivered a commanding performance in final practice for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, clocking a 1:12.123 to lead team-mate Lando Norris by a dominant half-second and solidify McLaren’s grip on the weekend. As teams fine-tuned setups ahead of qualifying, McLaren proved once again that the new front wing regulations—brought in to limit flexi-aero exploits—have done little to slow their charge in the 2025 F1 World Championship.

What To Know?

Oscar Piastri was half a second clear of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in P2.
In the Ferrari, Charles Leclerc came a distant third, over seven tenths off the pace.
Albon encounters an issue that Williams were investigating, and Hamilton, at the end, complaining about his gearbox.

Piastri, who entered the weekend with a slender three-point lead over Norris in the Drivers’ standings, looked untouchable around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, leaving rivals trailing by significant margins. Charles Leclerc emerged as the best of the rest in third for Ferrari but was a full 0.743s off the pace of the Australian. George Russell initially topped the early runs on the soft tyre but slipped to fourth, while Max Verstappen endured another uncharacteristic session, finishing fifth and nearly a second adrift as he struggled with balance and grip in the Red Bull.

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The four-time world champion has won the last three Spanish Grands Prix, but with a 25-point deficit to Piastri in the current title fight, Verstappen now faced the unfamiliar task of playing catch-up at a circuit where he has traditionally excelled.

Further down the order, Racing Bulls continued their quietly strong form with Isack Hadjar in sixth and Liam Lawson 10th. Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli slotted into seventh, continuing his impressive adaptation to the top tier, while Fernando Alonso gave the Spanish crowd something to cheer about with eighth. Lewis Hamilton, however, remained off the pace in ninth, unable to extract more from the Ferrari in a session where both drivers struggled with rear-end grip.

With McLaren sweeping all three practice sessions and Piastri now clearly in control, qualifying later today looked set to be a critical showdown—not just for pole, but for momentum in what’s shaping up to be one of the most fiercely contested campaigns in recent F1 memory.

2025 Spanish GP FP3 Results

2025 Spanish Grand Prix FP3, 31 May 2025

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	1:12.387		13
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:12.913	+0.526s	17
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:13.130	+0.743s	16
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:13.139	+0.752s	17
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:13.375	+0.988s	13
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	1:13.382	+0.995s	17
7	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:13.405	+1.018s	11
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:13.414	+1.027s	16
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:13.527	+1.140s	16
10	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	1:13.637	+1.250s	17
11	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:13.722	+1.335s	18
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:13.733	+1.346s	17
13	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams Mercedes	1:13.758	+1.371s	15
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:13.892	+1.505s	12
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:13.904	+1.517s	19
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	1:13.954	+1.567s	19
17	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine Renault	1:14.085	+1.698s	22
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas Ferrari	1:14.138	+1.751s	13
19	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:14.289	+1.902s	5
20	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas Ferrari	1:14.460	+2.073s	11

Race Guide

Season: 2025 F1 World Championship
Race weekend: 30 May 2025 – 1 June, 2025
Race date: Sunday, 1 June, 2025
Race start time: 15:00 local time
Circuit: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Laps: 66
Circuit length: 4.675km
2024 winner: Max Verstappen

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Ben is a staff writer specialising in F1 from the 1990s to the modern era. Ben has been following Formula 1 since 1986 and is an avid researcher who loves understanding the technology that makes it one of the most exciting motorsport on the planet. He listens to podcasts about F1 on a daily basis, and enjoys reading books from the inspirational Adrian Newey to former F1 drivers.