Spanish Grand Prix practice: Latest updates from Barcelona

Telegraph

a day ago

Latest updates
Kieran Crichard
30 May 2025 1:20pm
1:20PM
Long runs
Norris is on the soft tyre and McLaren will be getting some data on how the soft is performing over a longer run. The McLaren is so good on its tyres, which is a big part of why their race pace is very good.
1:15PM
Top ten with 15 minutes to go
Norris 1:13.718
Verstappen +0.367
Hamilton +0.378
Leclerc +0.520
Piastri +0.576
Lawson +621
Bearman +0.879
Hadjar +0.887
Tsunoda +0.925
Gasly +1.028
1:04PM
Changes at the top
Leclerc had gone half a second faster than Russell but he is then pipped at the top by Verstappen. Norris is on a lap, as is Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion is just off the time of Verstappen before Norris goes purple, purple, purple to go nearly four tenths quicker than Verstappen.
Piastri can only go fifth, more than half a second down on his teammate Norris.
1:00PM
New man at the top of the timesheets
Mercedes' George Russell is on the medium tyre and goes just over half a second clear of Norris. The Sauber of Hulkenberg then jumps up into second, just over a tenth off Russell, but he is on the soft tyre.
Hamilton is now back out on track and has a new set of softs on the car. His Ferrari teammate Leclerc is also on a new set of softs.
12:59PM
Meanwhile at Alpine
It has been a tumultuous few months for the team, with now former team principal Oliver Oakes departing and they have already had a change of drivers with Colapinto replacing Jack Doohan. Flavio Briatore is back at the team and seemingly at the helm and he will face the media in between sessions.
12:55PM
Activity at Ferrari
The mechanics are hard at work on Hamilton's Ferrari.
12:54PM
Not much change?
Verstappen, who sits third on the timesheets at the moment, has also been having his say ahead of the weekend on the front wings:
'It will change the balance of the car a bit. I do not expect massive time gains or losses between the teams. The wings never gave us a massive performance gain. I do not know if we got it wrong or did not extract the most from it.
'Even for the other teams, I am sure it is manageable. If you have a good car, you have a good car. Okay the front wing bends a bit less but you can tune it around.'
12:47PM
View from the seven-time world champion
Hamilton has nearly collided with the RB of Hadjar at turn 12. He is currently eighth fastest and here is what he has had to say on the testing of the flexible front wings ahead of the weekend:
'The flexi-wing was a band-aid for quality design I would say - getting the set-up and creating devices and mechanisms on the car mechanically, all the engineers are able to do it.
'It is still not that easy to get the load that you need on the front end at a low speed, or just rely solely on mechanical grip. So far everyone has been managing, some people better than others.
'This weekend is going to be interesting because we have got less flex at the front wing. You have a lot of front end at high-speed corners and less at low speed. It will be interesting to see how that affects different teams. Some teams probably did a better job than others, so I have no idea how it will affect us.'
12:43PM
That did not last long!
Norris goes purple in the first two sectors and goes quickest overall, over two tenths clear of Alonso. Here is the current top five:
Norris 1:15.259
Alonso +0.221
Verstappen +0.546
Piastri +0.553
Stroll +0.663
12:41PM
Home fans celebrating
Still early days in FP1 but Alonso is at the top of the timesheets, much to the delight of the home faithful. I suspect there will not be many times at all this weekend that Alonso or Sainz will be fastest. He is a tenth and a half clear of Norris. Verstappen is in third followed by Piastri and Leclerc.