McLaren’s Oscar Piastri went quickest in the final hour of practice for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, beating team-mate Lando Norris by over half a second as a mistake on his qualifying simulation cost the Briton. Third place went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

In hot conditions and with track temperatures creeping towards 50˚C the session got off to a slow start, with only Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto heading out on track in the opening minutes. 

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda then moved to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1:14.851s on a set of Medium tyres, but his lap was soon beaten by Norris, who went three-tenths clear. Williams’ Carlos Sainz then claimed P1 with a lap of 1:14.124 set on Soft tyres. 

Leclerc lowered the benchmark to 1:13.941s on C3 Softs, with Lewis Hamilton, also on Mediums, moving up to second place, 0.121s off his Ferrari team-mate. 

As the half hour mark neared Mercedes’ George Russell took over at the top with a Soft tyre lap of 1:13.396, as Norris jumped to second with improved lap on Mediums. Russell was soon ousted from P1 as Verstappen went fastest on Softs tyres with a lap of 1:13.375 – 0.021s quicker than the Mercedes driver.

Norris then went for his quali sim, but the Monaco winner suffered a snap of oversteer in Turn and he was forced to use the run-off area. He made another attempt but there was no life in his tyres, and he ended up far behind team-mate Piastri who put together a cleaner lap to take top spot with a lap of 1:12.387s, 0.526 clear of Norris. 

Leclerc’s best time of 1:13.130 left him in fourth place ahead of Russell and a late improvement from Verstappen took the Red Bull driver to fifth, though he ended the session almost a second adrift of Piastri. Isack Hadjar finished sixth for Racing Bulls ahead of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, while Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin ahead of Hamilton and the second Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.387 14 231.605
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.913 0.526 18 229.934
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:13.130 0.743 17 229.252
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:13.139 0.752 18 229.223
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.375 0.988 14 228.486
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:13.382 0.995 17 228.464
7 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:13.405 1.018 12 228.393
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:13.414 1.027 17 228.365
9 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:13.527 1.140 17 228.014
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:13.637 1.250 18 227.673
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:13.722 1.335 19 227.411
12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:13.733 1.346 18 227.377
13 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:13.758 1.371 16 227.300
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.892 1.505 13 226.887
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:13.904 1.517 20 226.851
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:13.954 1.567 20 226.697
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:14.085 1.698 23 226.296
18 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:14.138 1.751 14 226.135
19 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:14.289 1.902 5 225.675
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:14.460 2.073 12 225.157