In the final practice session leading up to qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri delivered a powerful lap to finish at the top of the timings, ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri`s time was half a second quicker than Norris`, indicating that McLaren`s performance capability appears unaffected by the FIA`s recent measures concerning flexible wings, which some had anticipated might disrupt the competitive hierarchy.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari secured the third position, trailing pace-setter Piastri by 0.743 seconds. Piastri currently holds a three-point lead over Norris in the Drivers` Championship according to the article`s source information.
Norris experienced a moment, running wide on his initial attempt on soft tires at the high-speed Turn 9. Consequently, his best lap was recorded on older tires. Despite this, Piastri`s speed positioned him as the benchmark driver heading into Saturday`s qualifying session.
Assessing McLaren`s performance, 2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg commented, “Putting aside any potential limitations, that was an outstanding display from McLaren.”
“It was truly surprising for us; we hadn`t expected them to be this fast. Genuinely impressive,” he added.
Rosberg further remarked, “It somewhat brought back memories of my time with Mercedes on this circuit, albeit in a different class. The car looked incredibly stable, and Oscar executed another flawless lap. This serves as a significant caution to their competitors.”
George Russell had initially led the session after the first runs but ended up fourth. Max Verstappen finished in fifth place, nearly a second off the leading time, expressing dissatisfaction with his car.
Verstappen has won the last three races held in Barcelona, but he faces a considerable challenge to close the 25-point gap to Piastri in the championship standings as reported.
The Racing Bulls pair, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, secured sixth and tenth positions respectively. Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle, finishing ninth. Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was seventh, and local favourite Fernando Alonso took eighth place.
Elsewhere in the session, which remained free of major incidents similar to Friday`s practice, Alex Albon of Williams was sidelined for the latter part due to a reliability problem.
