Spanish GP Qualifying: Advantage Piastri, Norris and Verstappen chase
F1 NewsSaturday, 31 May 2025 at 17:06
Oscar Piastri took pole of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix after a dominant show from McLaren that saw Lando Norris take second as Max Verstappen dug deep to take third.
Piastri and Norris both showed that the revised front wing regulations did not have an effect on their dominant MCL39 on a track where Red Bull Racing were expecting to go well.
But that was not the case for the Bulls as Verstappen, the reigning Formula 1 champion, was only good for third on the day and three tenths off the pace. The McLaren boys were separated by two tenths of a second.
George Russell must be kicking himself having posted the same time as Verstappen but did so after the Dutchman so he ended up fourth on the grid. However it was a decent result for the Mercedes driver given how hot the track was so far, but those clouds towards the end of qualifying cooled the track surface down and helped Mercedes.
However, Russell was not happy with his team's run plan in Q3 labeling it as too conservative as he hinted that his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, should've given him a tow. Seeing how close it was with Verstappen, he appeared to have been right.
After struggling in practice all weekend, Lewis Hamilton ended up being the faster Ferrari and qualified fifth, half a second off the pace and ahead of his Mercedes replacement, Antonelli, who was sixth in the Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc came next in the sister Ferrari, seventh fastest after opting for one run in Q3 with Pierre Gasly delivering the goods for Alpine in eighth.
Isack Hadjar, again, was superb for the Racing Bulls going ninth fastest ahead of local hero Fernando Alonso who was tenth after running once as well in Q3.
It was a disappointing day for Williams who, after some impressive performances earlier in the season, failed to reach Q3 with either of their cars as Alex Albon was 11th painfully missing out on Q3 while Carlos Sainz was eliminated in Q1 and will start the race from 18th on the grid.
But disaster if the day has to be Yuki Tsunoda who was dead last.
What the top three said
After taking his fourth F1 career pole position, Piastri said: "Very happy. It's been a good weekend so far.
"Didn't start off in the best way, we were struggling a little bit, but last night we found some pace and today the car is mega and feel I have been able to put in some good laps as well.
"This was a pretty miserable scene 12 months ago so to turn it around in the best way is a great result," the Australian concluded.
Second-places Norris admitted simply that his teammate did better on the day, he commented: "Oscar drove very well.
"The pace is definitely there, just a couple of little mistakes. A good result for the team, a nice one-two and an interesting start for tomorrow.
"It's a long run down to Turn 1, which is normally interesting and we have a lot of quick guys behind us, so we won't count them out. A good result today, I'm happy," Norris concluded.
A downbeat Verstappen added: "We were lacking all weekend compared to them [McLaren]. We executed well.
"Third is where we more or less should be. It's fun. Around here it's about squeezing everything out of the car," he maintained.
And when quizzed if he could take the fight to the McLarens on Sunday, the Dutchman responded: "I will try my best but they will be tough to beat."
Q1: Tsunoda out as well as Sainz
Track temperature went up between the final free practice session and qualifying, up to 48 degrees Celsius as air temperature was 2 degrees.
Esteban Ocon kicked off qualifying as he was the first out on track and set out to put the first timed lap on the board in his Haas. He was joined out on track by Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll, and Albon.
Tsunoda was the first top team driver to head out on track and just then the pitlane became quite busy as cars rushed out.
Leclerc, Hamilton, and Verstappen took their time though.
Liam Lawson went to the top then Antonelli took over but Norris then went half a second faster as Russell was only good for second.
Tsunoda radioed asking his team to check the floor.
Piastri then followed and beat his teammate's time as Alonso went fifth fastest with Hamilton and Leclerc following the former was sixth while the latter was fourth. The Verstappen went second fastest.
Order after the first runs: Piastri - Verstappen - Norris - Russell - Leclerc - Albon - Alonso - Hamilton - Hadjar - Bearman - Colapinto - Antonelli - Gasly - Stroll - Lawson.
In the drop zone: Nico Hulkenberg - Ocon - Sainz - Tsunoda - Gabriel Bortoleto.
With less than five minutes on the clock, the final runs of Q1 were on but soon Colapinto had an issue with his car in the pitlane as cars were stuck behind him. They soon started overtaking him.
Piastri, Verstappen, and Russell remained in the pits. Colapinto makes the track but then parks his car on the side unable to go for another lap.
In the end, Piastri led into Q2 with a lap time of 1:12.551, 0.247s clear of Verstappen in second and 0.248s ahead of Norris in third.
The order of the remaining 12 cars that made Q2: Russell - Antonelli - Leclerc - Stroll - Lawson - Albon - Bortoleto - Hamilton - Bearman - Gasly - Alonso - Hadjar.
Those that didn't make it were Hulkenberg in 16th missing out by 0.051s with Ocon 17th in the Haas as Sainz was down in 18th.
Colapinto and the ever "improving" Tsunoda were 19th and 20th respectively.
Q2: No Williams in the top ten
Without any delays, Q2 started with Albon being the first of the remaining 15 drivers starting a timed lap. He went fastest.
Bearman was behind Albon and was second fastest. Then Verstappen started his flying lap and went fastest as Bortoleto was seventh.
The Norris came flying on his first Q2 lap and went three tenths faster than the Dutchman as Alonso followed and third fastest with Gasly fourth.
Leclerc then went third as Hamilton took that place off his teammate while Piastri went to the top half a tenth clear of Norris. Russell went fourth reporting dark clouds in the distance...
The order after the first run: Piastri - Norris - Verstappen - Russell - Hamilton - Leclerc - Alonso - Gasly - Antonelli - Hadjar.
In the drop zone: Bortoleto - Lawson - Albon - Stroll - Bearman.
With less than four minutes on the clock, the second runs began while Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Russell, and Hamilton remained in their respective garages.
The top five were not disturbed as it was Piastri in the lead with a 1:11.998 with Norris in second and Verstappen in third.
The rest of the top ten were: Russell - Hamilton - Hadjar - Leclerc - Alonso - Antonelli - Gasly.
Dropping out of qualifying were Albon in the Williams, losing out by a painful 0.030s and will start the race from 11th as Bortoleto was 12th in the Sauber.
Lawson was next in 13th ahead of Stroll in 14th as Bearman was 15th.
Q3: Verstappen unable to crash the McLaren party
A bit of calm before the storm prevailed at the start of Q3, but that was soon over as the remaining ten cars made their way out on track as the skies turned a bit darker.
Piastri was the first driver to start a timed lap as Antonelli followed with Russell in his wake. Piastri went fastest as Antonelli went second fastest with Russell dropping his team to third.
"Watch for Lando coming clos behind," radioed Piastr's engineer to which the driver responded: "Cheeky," and went immediately out of the way so his teammate wouldn't give him a tow.
Verstappen only managed third as Norris took provisional pole from his team by 0.017s without a tow.
Order after the first runs was: Norris - Piastri - Russell - Leclerc - Alonso - Verstappen - Hamilton - Antonelli - Gasly - Hadjar (did not run opting for only one lap)
With a little over three minutes, the second round of laps began but Leclerc was out of his car. Alonso also remained in the garage.
Norris began his second attempt first as Piastri followed. Norris improved slightly but Piastri went ballistic and went two tenths faster than his teammate.
Russell improved to third and Antonelli to fourth as Hamilton jumped to third with Verstappen taking P3 from the Briton.
Final order: Piastri - Norris - Verstappen - Russell - Hamilton - Antonelli - Leclerc - Gasly - Hadjar - Alonso.
Spanish GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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