F1 Spanish GP 2025 LIVE: Updates and race start time as Oscar Piastri beats Lando Norris for pole

A reminder that this afternoon will mark the end of the Spanish Grant Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – though the track could yet still host a final race next season with the calendar still to be sorted. But this race weekend will be heading elsewhere, with a Madrid street circuit set to provide new tests for the drivers.

Lando Norris insisted he is not in a world championship shootout with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri – and claimed the entire grid is still in title contention.

Norris reignited his stuttering bid to land a first championship by winning from pole position in Monaco to reduce the deficit to Piastri to just three points.

Piastri has four victories to Norris’ two, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen the only driver outside of McLaren to win a grand prix this season.

Lewis Hamilton has dismissed claims he is at odds with Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami, insisting that he is “amazing to work with”.

Lewis Hamilton does not feel that the flexi-wing tweak will make enough of a difference to make the cost of the changes worthwhile.

The FIA has imposed a stiffer load test on front wings in an attempt to limit the amount teams could exploit their movement for aerodynamic benefit, but Hamilton has questioned whether it will actually make a difference at all.

“[They’ve] just wasted everyone’s money,” Hamilton said yesterday. “It’s literally changed nothing.

“Everyone’s wings still bend, it’s just half the bending, and everyone’s had to make new wings and spend more money to make these. It just doesn’t make sense.”

There will be a few eyes on the flexi-wings in Barcelona today, the controversial midseason rule tweak perhaps not affecting McLaren too much in qualifying but maybe more impactful today, as Kieran Jackson explored ahead of race weekend.

From a coastal upbringing in the west Scottish town of Oban and first racing in a go-kart at the age of eight, Susie Wolff has, at 42, just about seen it all in motorsport. A racing CV that includes stints in Formula Renault, Formula Three, the sports car series DTM and a trailblazing F1 test drive at Williams have been bookended post-retirement with executive roles at Mercedes and the Formula E team Venturi.

But her latest venture is her true passion; some might say her life’s work.

Wolff is now managing director at the all-female racing series F1 Academy, a competition tasked with finding the next generation of top-quality female racers. Ultimately, the target – by the end of the decade – is for a woman to land a full-time seat in F1. By next year, a woman will have not started an F1 race for half a century, with the last instance being Lella Lombardi’s appearance at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris admitted mistakes cost him pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix – as championship rival Oscar Piastri secured top spot to deal a blow to the British driver’s bid of winning back-to-back races for the first time.

McLaren were in a class of one in qualifying for the ninth round of a campaign which looks increasingly set to come down to a battle between team-mates Norris and Piastri for the biggest prize in motor racing.

Norris ended a poor run over one lap to take pole in Monaco a week ago before going on to claim his second win of the campaign and reducing Piastri’s championship lead to just three points.

Under the rules, Lance Stroll cannot be replaced, leaving a 19-driver grid for Sunday’s race. His withdrawal means those who qualified 15th to 20th will all move up one spot.

Those affected are Ollie Bearman (Haas), Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull).

Oscar Piastri will start from pole position in Spain after he edged out McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

A statement from the British team said: “Over the course of the past six weeks Lance has been experiencing pain in his hand and wrist, which his medical consultant believes is in relation to the procedure he underwent in 2023.

“As a result his medical team have confirmed that he will not race tomorrow and he will undergo a procedure to rectify these issues before focusing on his recovery.”

Ups and down for the drivers in qualifying on Saturday