Following a disappointing weekend in Monte Carlo, McLaren is aiming to redeem themselves in Barcelona and has started on the front foot. During the qualifying simulations, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked in excellent lap times that put them on par with George Russell and Mercedes, who finished “only” second yesterday. However, it is no secret that Mercedes remains the car to beat at the Catalan circuit. The W17 proved to be extremely competitive across both qualifying and race simulations, while McLaren closed the gap to Ferrari late in the session during high-fuel runs. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton swapped positions throughout the day, with the British driver rather unhappy with his car’s balance, whereas the Monegasque displayed a strong overall performance and a clear step forward between opening and closing practice. As expected, Red Bull was noticeably missing from the top-tier battle at a circuit that completely exposes the RB22’s deficiencies in medium and high-speed corners.
McLaren excels in low-speed sections while Ferrari pays a power unit penalty
The operational window of the MCL40 continues to surprise the paddock, as the papaya challenger remains highly competitive—in fact, the class of the field alongside Ferrari—in the slowest corners of the track. We previously saw in Miami that low-speed cornering is one of McLaren’s greatest strengths, which is exactly why they headed into Monaco last week with so much confidence. Friday in Barcelona confirmed that Norris and Piastri are among the fastest in the twisty sections, particularly during long apex-loading phases. Notably, Mercedes and McLaren matched each other across the power-limited straightaways on their fastest laps, a technical detail that contradicts the trend seen earlier this season where the W17 held a clear advantage on top speed. With the upgrade package introduced in Canada, the Brackley engineers successfully added downforce, but the MCL40 likely still suffers from a drag deficit under equal engine modes. Yesterday, a very strong Mercedes was visible through the Turn 1-2-3 complex and the Turn 7-8 sequence, while also setting the benchmark in high-speed sectors.
With this current generation of ground-effect cars and power units, Barcelona’s high-speed corners have taken on a unique characteristic. Friday’s telemetry traces reveal that performance through Turns 3, 9, and 13-14 depends heavily on electrical deployment through the preceding straightaways. For all intents and purposes, these zones become power-limited even during a single flying lap. A prime example was the strategy deployed by Ferrari during FP2. On the short blast between the Turn 7-8 chicane and the famous ‘Campsa’ sweep, Leclerc topped out at 258 km/h compared to the 254 km/h of the McLarens and the 247 km/h of Russell. This tactical mapping allowed the Monegasque to gain a tenth and a half over Russell and about half that amount over Norris in the section leading up to Turn 10. Ferrari chose, at least in FP2, to sacrifice the two preceding mini-straights to harvest energy, ensuring they had maximum battery deployment available for Turn 9 to secure a net gain of a few hundredths of a second overall.
Concurrently, the total lap time deficit caused by the power unit delta between Ferrari and Mercedes exceeded three-tenths of a second on the fastest single laps of the day. Almost all of Ferrari’s time losses in the first and third sectors were accumulated at speeds above 250 km/h, where the top-speed deficiencies of the SF-26 are now well documented. Between the two afternoon sessions, however, there were solid improvements, particularly on Leclerc’s side of the garage. Having participated in both sessions, his crew managed to completely erase the deficit in pure cornering speed. In the heavy-loading phases of high-speed corners, the Ferrari looked remarkably strong against both Mercedes and McLaren before the power unit’s hybrid de-rates kicked in. The red car behaves beautifully at low speeds, displaying a significant step forward in mid-corner support through the third sector thanks to excellent tire carcass management. Interestingly, Leclerc’s garage offered no notable complaints regarding the newly introduced Carbone Industrie brake discs and pads during the day. “It went well. Of course, it took him a couple of laps to get his references, but he handled it well,” noted Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur regarding the hardware swap.
Ferrari closes in during long runs as Antonelli and Hamilton chase setup direction
During the high-fuel long runs at the end of the session, Leclerc and Norris emerged as the most competitive drivers behind the leading Mercedes duo. In the case of the number 16 Ferrari, tire degradation remained highly positive despite navigating a frustrating amount of backmarker traffic, confirming the positive baseline feelings from the first half of the session. Pirelli’s aggressive compound selection—which is one step softer than last year’s allocation in Barcelona—combined with blazing Montmeló track temperatures triggered severe thermal degradation across all three dry compounds. Should these ambient conditions persist on Sunday, the grand prix will almost certainly dictate a mandatory two-stop strategy. Backed by their historically excellent tire management, Mercedes enters Saturday as the clear favorite; the two strongest long runs came courtesy of Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who managed to match his teammate’s rhythm as the fuel load burned down. Their primary threats will likely be the two McLaren drivers, who have rediscovered a balanced package capable of challenging the Silver Arrows over a single lap, where tire degradation does not mask raw performance boundaries.
“After missing FP1, there was a lot to catch up on; we had some difficulties with overheating and finding the right balance of the car, so it has left us with some work to do throughout the session,” stated the current world championship leader. The six-tenths gap separating the two Mercedes drivers perfectly illustrates Kimi’s Friday struggles, as the Italian looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable during his soft-compound qualifying simulations. Furthermore, the limited life of the soft tires before suffering severe thermal drop-off severely hindered his search for a consistent rhythm, a hurdle mirrored by Hamilton across the paddock: “Since it’s so hot, the tires only last for one lap, so it’s complicated to go out and have essentially only two laps available.” Hamilton’s eight-tenth deficit to Leclerc was dropped almost entirely through medium and high-speed corners, where a mechanical malfunction with his front wing’s Straight Mode caused an immediate loss of front-end downforce. More concerning for the seven-time champion was his lack of competitiveness during the late-session long runs; his high-fuel gap remained static on average even after a wing change resolved the technical gremlins, confirming an underlying lack of feeling with the chassis layout yesterday.
In summary, Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix sets up a fascinating three-way battle at the front between Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari, while leaving championship contenders like Max Verstappen and a compromised Lewis Hamilton searching for immediate setup answers. As McLaren leverages its elite low-speed mechanical grip to counter Mercedes’ high-speed sector dominance, Ferrari must continuously refine its hybrid deployment strategy to minimize its power unit clipping deficits before qualifying begins. With severe thermal tire degradation pointing toward a tactical, multi-stop race on Sunday, maximizing track position during Saturday’s shootout while maintaining a versatile aerodynamic balance will be the deciding factor in conquering the grueling Montmeló circuit.
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