Despite McLaren’s high pace, Oscar Piastri anticipates that multiple teams will be vying for the pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix. He and teammate Lando Norris topped the time sheets during the first free practice sessions, but according to the Australian, all top teams can spring surprises. Piastri still leads the drivers’ championship, although his lead is slim.
Oscar Piastri emerged as the best during the second practice session in Barcelona. Mercedes driver George Russell posted a surprising second time, while Max Verstappen and Lando Norris recorded exactly the same lap time in third and fourth place. Ferrari also had a good day on Friday, although the second free practice session did not go as well for the Scuderia – in particular, Lewis Hamilton again struggled with balance issues in the SF-25.
Ups and Downs
In the run-up to the qualification, Piastri is not yet convinced that McLaren can easily secure another victory. He is wary of Mercedes and Ferrari, and also knows that Max Verstappen’s RB21 is likely to perform well on the Spanish asphalt. “It was a day of ups and downs,” Piastri said after the Friday sessions. “I think we ended on an upward trend – which is of course good, but our competitors also seem to be very fast.”
“Verstappen was fast all day, Ferrari was there too, and Mercedes also joined in at the end,” Piastri explained. “So it’s going to be a very exciting battle in the qualification. There are certainly a few things we can try and perhaps improve, but we always expected Red Bull to be fast here. So that’s not a big surprise. We’re just trying to make the car faster – we’ve been able to test certain things, some of which were good and others not, but we ultimately learn from that,” he concluded positively.
