Max fifth in third free practice of the Spanish GP

Published on 31 May 2025 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen has finished fifth in the third free practice of the Spanish Grand Prix. In sunny Barcelona, it was championship leader Oscar Piastri who set the pace. Towards the end of the practice, Max was looking at a gap of about a second to the session leader.

The third free practice got underway on the quiet Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. For the first ten minutes, almost no one is on the track, and only Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) are out setting lap times. After a quarter of an hour, the track becomes busier. Yuki Tsunoda temporarily sets the fastest time at 1:14.8 seconds, but it’s not long till McLaren-driver Lando Norris improves on Tsunoda's time. He is three-tenths faster than Max’s Oracle Red Bull Racing-teammate. At the 40-minute mark, Max makes his way onto the track. Like the McLarens, he braves the track on medium tyres. In his first run he notes a time of 1:14.2. The four-time world champion reports over the team radio that he’s not happy. “I have no grip on the rear”, he complains.

Where Max, both McLaren drivers and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) opt to start on mediums, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), George Russell and Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) immediately head out on the soft tyres. Russell goes fastest halfway through the practice. With a lap time of 1:13.3, his time is almost half a second faster than Norris, in third. Max improves his time in his second run, but doesn’t get further than sixth, with a 0.720 second distance to P1.

With twenty minutes on the clock, multiple drivers start to run laps on the soft tyres. The same is true for Max. In his first run on the soft tyre, he goes fastest with a 1:13.375 lap time. This puts him 21-thousandths of a second faster than Russell. Yet, the Oracle Red Bull Racing-driver is far from satisfied. “The car doesn’t turn”, he reports. Norris also is set on improving his time, but during his first attempt, the Brit shoots off the track and has to abort his lap. His second attempt proves more succesful and Norris sets the fastest time. His time in the sun is brief, however, thanks to teammate Oscar Piastri. With a 1:12.3 time, the championship leader is half a second faster than the rest of the grid. In the closing moments of the session, there are still attempts to improve lap times, but no one touches Piastri’s impressive drive. He ends the session ahead of Norris and Leclerc. Max makes another attempt at a flying lap, but doesn’t manage to improve his time. He finishes the session in fifth, with about a second’s gap to the fastest car on track.

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