#F1 Aramco #SpanishGP 2025 Preview.
Formula 1 Aramco Grande Premio De Espana 2024 Race Start, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Image credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images. 2025 Spanish GP Preview, Spanish Grand Prix Preview, F1 Spanish GP 2025 Preview, Formula 1 Barcelona Preview.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – After Lando Norris won his first Monaco Grand Prix and closed the gap to McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the World Driver’s Championship standings, round nine of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona, Montmelo, Catalonia, Spain for the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2025. This will be the 35th time that the Spanish Grand Prix will be held at the Montmelo circuit. This is the last of a triple header of race weekends with the Emilia Romagna and Monaco Grands Prix.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – A look at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a permanent racing circuit in Barcelona, Montmelo, Catalonia, Spain.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was built in 1991 and began hosting the Spanish Grand Prix that same year and has been running there ever since. This year also marks the 50th running of the Spanish Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is also used for the FIM MotoGP World Championship.
The Barcelona circuit is famed as a bellwether circuit as the cars that race well here are expected to race well in any and all conditions. The logic behind this is that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya provides a well-rounded examination of every aspect of car design, requiring maximum downforce, stronger delivery of power, excellent traction and handling. The Spanish Grand Prix also traditionally is where teams bring their first major upgrades of the season and could see the potential for movement around the field.
The wind direction at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya can change at any-time during the day and can upset the balance of the car due to the major importance of aerodynamics that modern Formula One cars have. It is then a challenge to find a well-balanced setup since cars can suffer massive drag and understeer on one part of the track in the morning session but suffer oversteer at the same section in the afternoon. An allocated tyre compound can work well during testing, but not as well a few months later as changeable conditions can provide unexpected performances from some teams during the Grand Prix.
From this year’s Spanish Grand Prix, Formula 1 will use the layout used by MotoGP since 2021 removing the chicane in sector three of the lap that Formula One had used every year since it was introduced in 2007 reverting to the two double-sweeping fast right-hand corner configuration that Formula 1 last used back in 2006 campaign.
The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 4.657km (2.894mi) in length with 14 corners.
The race distance is 307.236km (190.907mi) with 66 laps in total.
Seven-time World Champion’s Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton hold the most victories at the circuit with six each to their respective names.
Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful constructor winning the Spanish Grand Prix 12 times respectively.
Max Verstappen holds the fastest lap record set at the 2023 event with a 1:16.330 in his Oracle Red Bull Racing Honda-RBPT RB19 racer.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2024: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – Onboard Lap of the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya at last year’s event, set by Lando Norris in his McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes MCL38. The Briton posted a 1:11.383. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY0XNHVU-b0
2025 Spanish GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Barcelona, the C1 white side-walled Hard compounds, the C2 yellow-marked Medium tyres and the C3 red-branded Soft rubber. F1’s sole tyre supplier will also take along the green-branded Intermediates and the blue-branded Wet tyres in case of rain.
All drivers will have eight sets of the C3 softs, three sets of the C2 mediums and two of the C1 hards.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS zones at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The first detection point is 86 metres before turn nine and with the activation point 40 metres after. The second detection point is at the safety car line with second activation zone 57 metres after turn 14.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Norris clinches fifth-career victory at Monaco GP
Norris Monaco GP Victory – McLaren’s Lando Norris took his fifth-victory of his Formula 1-career at the Monaco GP ahead of home favourite Charles Leclerc who crossed the line second whilst Oscar Piastri completed the top three in the other MCL39 entry.
The victory for Norris sees his gap to team-mate and World Driver’s Championship leader Piastri close down to just three points as the sport heads to Barcelona next weekend for the final race of the European triple header and the second triple header of the 2025 campaign comes to a close.
When the 78-lap Monaco GP began, pole-sitter Norris got an equal good away with Leclerc into St. Devote but suffered a massive lock-up and managed to keep the lead.
Behind them Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a crash into the wall just after Portier.
A VSC was deployed as a result of Bortoleto’s shunt as a handful of drivers came in to box including Tsunoda, Gasly, Bearman and Bortoleto.
Replays showed Bortoleto was pushed into the wall by Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the latter made his way past the Brazilian.
When the VSC ended, Norris lead the field away and by the beginning of the sixth tour, the Briton’s gap was at 0.853 seconds over Leclerc with Piastri third, Verstappen fourth, Hadjar fifth, Alonso sixth, Hamilton seventh, Ocon eighth, Lawson ninth as Albon completed the top ten runners.
On the seventh tour, Leclerc was starting to cool his tyres as his gap to race leader Norris with the lead up to 1.672 seconds.
On the ninth tour the yellow flags were brought out after Alpine’s Pierre Gasly suffered a crash at the Nouvelle Chicane after running into the back of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda as the Frenchman’s A525 just had front left wheel hanging on and almost collided with team-mate Franco Colapinto.
The Frenchman was the first retiree of the Grand Prix.
The pit-lane was closed as the Alpine team were trying to clear the A525 out of the way and it was cleared by the 12th tour.
Norris’s lead over Leclerc was at 1.025 seconds with fourth-placed Verstappen right on the tail of third-placed Piastri.
The incident involving Tsunoda and Gasly was under investigation by the stewards.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was the next to pit and put on his fresh set of hards to emerged at the rear behind team-mate Bortoleto.
Colapinto was next to pit for his set of the C4 harder compounds and came out behind Hulkenberg.
In the battle for third, Verstappen had a look on the inside of Piastri after the exit of the Nouvelle chicane but the Australian covered the Red Bull as they ran down towards Tabac.
Hadjar was next to stop from fifth for a fresh set of softs and came out in eighth place behind Ocon.
On lap 16, Norris’s lead over Leclerc was sitting at 2.920 seconds with Piastri third, Verstappen fourth and Hamilton up into fifth as Alonso and Ocon both pitted and the two emerged in seventh and eighth respectively.
Alonso put on another set of hards as Ocon switched to mediums.
On lap 19, fifth-placed Hamilton was told to box and the Briton put on another set of the hards and the Ferrari overcut both Hadjar and Alonso to be back into fifth.
The next tour, Norris was told to box, and the race leader came in for a fresh set of the mediums as Hadjar was told to box after his short soft tyre stint. Norris emerged in fourth as Hadjar rejoined in eighth.
Piastri was told to box next to undercut Leclerc who remained out and the Australian came out on his fresh set of hards and behind his team-mate who was in a net first place.
On the 22nd tour Leclerc was ordered to box and came in for a fresh set of hards and got a solid two second stop and emerged in second behind net-leader Norris (second) with Verstappen who was out in-front still yet to stop.
Verstappen’s gap to Norris was at 10:640 seconds with Norris second, Leclerc third, Piastri fourth as the latter was told to try and keep up with Leclerc if he can.
Further down the field on the 27th lap, Russell was frustrated, as Sainz slowed – he was creating a gap for Albon ahead. More team shenanigans being played out there.
Out-front, Verstappen had put his foot down and was now just 18 second ahead of Piastri – virtually ahead then, unless the McLaren driver can close the gap before Verstappen pits.
Both Bortoleto and Colapinto pitted for their second stop and emerged at the rear.
Verstappen then finally made his stop on the 29th tour and came out in fourth place behind Piastri as the former emerged on medium rubber.
Ocon then made his second stop from seventh and came out in tenth behind Albon.
On lap 30, Norris’s lead over Leclerc was at 4.597 seconds with Piastri third, Verstappen fourth, Hamilton fifth, Alonso sixth, both RB’s of Hadjar and Lawson seventh and eighth respectively whilst Albon and Ocon rounded out the top ten runners.
Race leader Norris and Leclerc were trying to manage their way through traffic as the latter said over the radio that this was a joke.
On lap 33, Albon pitted for a set of used mediums and came out in tenth place behind Lawson.
Fifth-placed Hamilton had a free pit-stop during this stage of proceedings with Alonso 29 seconds behind in sixth place.
On lap 38, Alonso suffered a power-unit failure and parked at La Rascasse as the Spaniard became the second retiree of the race.
At half race distance, Norris’s lead over Leclerc was sitting at 5.465 seconds with Piastri third, Verstappen fourth, Hamilton fifth, Hadjar sixth, Ocon seventh, Lawson eighth, Albon ninth as Sainz completed the top ten.
On lap 42, both Lawson and Albon pitted and came out in-front of Sainz who had a massive train of cars behind including Russell, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Bearman.
On the 44th lap, Williams switched Albon who pitted for fresh tyres with Sainz who was still yet to pit to build a big enough gap for the Spaniard to make his pit-stop.
Replays showed third-placed Piastri make a huge slide out of St. Devote and tapped the wall with his rear-left tyre and was lucky to not receive any damage.
No rest for the drivers up front – Norris needed to keep pushing to ensure he had a gap to pit into. The Briton was on the hard tyre at this stage of proceedings, which was working well for him. He was about to catch the train lead by Albon, so the McLaren driver was going to have to start weaving his way through the traffic.
On the 49th tour, third placed Piastri pitted for another set of hard and came out in fourth place behind Verstappen as the latter was told over the radio to push to the max.
Second placed Leclerc then pitted on the 50th lap and came out in third place behind Verstappen who was still needed to pit to fulfil the mandatory second pit-stop.
Race leader Norris then pitted for another set of hards and came out in second behind Verstappen.
On lap 51, Russell overtook Albon at the Nouvelle Chicane, but the Mercedes driver done so by cutting across the chicane. Which was under investigation by the stewards. Russell was told to give the pace back – and he retorts, saying he will take the penalty.
Russell was then given a drive through penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage a lap later as a result of the incident.
His team-mate Antonelli also done the same thing to Albon as Russell done at the Nouvelle Chicane, but the Italian handed the place back to the Williams driver.
Ninth-placed Sainz pitted on lap 56 as Russell served his drive through penalty and both remained in ninth and tenth respectively.
On lap 57, fifth placed Hamilton stopped for the last time and for a scrub set of mediums and emerged clear in the same position with a huge gap to sixth-placed Hadjar.
With 20 laps remaining, Verstappen who was yet to stop for the second time had a lead over Norris sitting at 1.109 seconds with Leclerc right behind the McLaren in third, Piastri fourth, Hamilton fifth, Hadjar sixth, Ocon seventh, Lawson eighth, Sainz ninth as Russell who has not pit rounding out the top ten.
The second-time yet-to-pit Verstappen was backing up Norris into Leclerc as the latter had DRS on the McLaren and the former would come out in fourth either way.
On lap 62, from Hadjar down the field has been lapped, Sainz in P9 had been lapped twice. Speaking of Williams, they want to swap their cars back around at the end – but had Russell stuck in between them at this stage of proceedings.
On the 63rd tour, Norris was struggling in the dirty air behind Verstappen, so the McLaren driver dropped back to the tune of two seconds. But Leclerc was hanging on by his finger nails – just seven tenths back on the lead MCL39 entry. And suddenly Piastri who was seven seconds back was just three seconds adrift of the top three.
If Verstappen does not serve his second and final stop, he would be hit with a 30-second time penalty. But he is 51s ahead of Hamilton in fifth, so he is fourth whether he stops or not as Russell boxed for the first time (for a set of mediums) and emerged in 11th place behind Albon.
On the 66th tour, for Verstappen – unless there is a reason you cannot pit, such as the pit entry being closed, you would be disqualified. So Verstappen needed to pit, rather than accept a 30 second penalty. The Dutchman still lead, by 2.5 seconds from Norris and Leclerc was still behind the McLaren in the DRZ zone. Further back, Williams swapped their drivers.
With ten laps remaining, Verstappen’s (yet-to-pit one more time) lead was at 1.322 seconds over Norris (net first) with Leclerc right behind in third, Piastri fourth, Hamilton fifth, Hadjar sixth, Ocon seventh, Lawson eighth, Albon and Sainz rounding out the top ten for Williams.
Verstappen’s mediums were 41 laps old and were graining heavily. The Dutchman was not happy about his front left tyre. But further back, Norris was asking where his team mate was. “Where is Oscar, I need him to put Charles under pressure,” Norris said. Piastri was now 1.9 seconds back.
Russell then made his final stop and came out just in-front of team-mate Antonelli who had not pitted at all yet with six tours remaining.
Antonelli then pitted for a set of mediums and fell to the back of the field with one more stop needed for the Italian.
With five tours remaining, Leclerc was still right on the back of Norris as Piastri gets into DRS range of the Ferrari so Leclerc could not afford to make any mistakes otherwise the second McLaren could find his way through.
Verstappen remained in the lead with four laps left, but the Dutchman would drop to fourth when he pits a second time. Which means Norris is on for the victory – assuming he could keep Leclerc behind. Which he was doing so far, despite the home favourite doing everything he could to get ahead. Antonelli pitted a second time, leaving just the Red Bull boys yet to pit.
Verstappen was told to pit on the final tour as he releases Norris into the lead and the Dutchman emerged in fourth.
Norris crossed the line to take the Monaco GP victory by 3.131 seconds over home favourite Leclerc as Piastri completed the top three.
Verstappen followed in fourth and in-front of Hamilton who settled for fifth, Hadjar who placed sixth and Ocon who reached the chequered flag seventh for Haas.
Lawson was eighth in the other RB as Williams pairing Albon and Sainz completed the top ten.
2025 Spanish GP Preview – The Situation
F1’s European triple header comes to an end this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix, where a regulation change is set to make things interesting.
Lando Norris scored a brilliant victory on the streets of Monte Carlo to be three points behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the top of the World Driver’s Championship as the latter came home third and helped to extend the Woking based-outfit’s lead at the top of the Constructors.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen remains a Grand Prix victory amount of points (25) behind Piastri, but nearest rival, Mercedes’ George Russell has dropped 62 points adrift.
Despite McLaren winning six of eight Grands Prix so far this campaign, there is set to be some hope for the chasing field in Barcelona as a change of rules for flexi-wings threatens to change the competitive image.
The rule change gives a major opportunity, with Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur describing it as a potential “gamechanger” following the Maranello-marque’s difficult start to the 2025 season.
Despite the regulation change, which tests al the characteristics of the car’s performance with a range of different corners, is seen as strong sign for the competitive picture for the rest of the 2025 season.
A car that performs well at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya usually can deliver on all circuits, which sets this weekend up as potentially the most crucial of the campaign thus far.
Piastri returns to Spain sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 161 points and a three-point lead over McLaren team-mate Norris who is second on 158 points whilst Verstappen is a further 25 points behind the Australian in third place on 136 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team heads to Barcelona leading the World Constructor’s Championship with 319 points and a 172-points buffer over nearest rivals Oracle Red Bull Racing who are second on 147 points whilst Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team is third and a further 176 points behind the Woking based-outfit on 143 points.
The Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2025 weekend begins Friday May 30 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday May 31 along with the 66 lap Race Sunday June 01.
