Summary

  • Oscar Piastri takes pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix

  • McLaren team-mate Lando Norris second, Max Verstappen third

  • Carlos Sainz knocked out in Q1 at his home grand prix

  • Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda also fails to make Q2

  • F1 introduces stiffer tests on front wing flexibility this weekend

  • Get involved #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Into the last couple of minutes and the McLarens are back at base, but Charles Lecerc and Max Verstappen are among the drivers still out on track.

  2. 'Sauber could be benefitting from rule change'

    Olli Caldwell
    Former F2, F3 and Alpine development driver on Sports Extra 3

    Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg are doing some nice lap times.

    This is potentially a team [Sauber] that could be benefitting from this rule change.

  3. Charles Leclerc during the third practices sessionPA Media

    Charles Leclerc also produced a strong lap that sent him up to P3, but he is eight tenths off Oscar Piastri.

  4. Team radio - McLaren to Norris

    After Lando Norris ran wide before his much-improved lap:

    Engineer: "In Turn nine, we think it wasn't touching, but we saw porpoising. If we want to fix that, we would have to box now to lift the rear."

  5. Lando Norris is much improved after that scrappy lap as he does a 1:12.9 and he knocks Max Verstappen off top spot.

    But here comes Oscar Piastri. He's purple through sectors one and two and goes quickest of all with 1:12.3, more than half a second quicker than his McLaren team-mate.

    Some statement laps from McLaren there.

  6. Lando Norris' McLaren bottoms out and he runs wide at Turn Nine on fresh softs, scuppering the fast lap he was on.

  7. 'Wind condition is not consistent'

    Olli Caldwell
    Former F2, F3 and Alpine development driver on Sports Extra 3

    Wind condition here is moving around quite a bit, it doesn't seem to be stable in one direction.

    It's flopping around between a headwind into Turn 10 and then a side wind and gusty as well. It's not very consistent like it was yesterday.

  8. Max Verstappen during the third practice sessionPA Media

    Oh hello.

    Max Verstappen has arrived at the party as he goes fastest of all with 1:13.375s. That's just 0.021s quicker than George Russell.

  9. No improvements through sectors one and two by Kimi Antonelli so this isn't going to be a pace-setting lap.

  10. Both Mercedes are back out on the track with soft tyres on, so some quick laps coming up.

  11. A lull in activity on the track once again with most drivers back in the pits.

  12. We're into the second half of the session and this is the top five as things stand with sixth tenths between them.

    1) Russell

    2) Antonelli

    3) Norris

    4) Leclerc

    5) Hamilton

    Max Verstappen is currently seventh quickest.

  13. 'Weird and slow start'

    Olli Caldwell
    Former F2, F3 and Alpine development driver on Sports Extra 3

    It's been a weird and slow start to this FP3, we were nearly 20 minutes into the beginning of it, seeing people stood outside the car.

    Teams are not really rushing to head out on track and a lot of split strategies between people on the medium tyre and on the soft.

  14. A bit of a messy lap by Liam Lawson as he runs wide at Turn 10 and then finds himself sliding about a bit. In he goes to check for any damage to his car.

  15. Kimi Antonelli, also on softs, leaps into P2 behind team-mate George Russell. Four tenths of a second separates the pair.

  16. 'McLaren have dealt with Norris-Piastri in sensible way'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent in Barcelona

    Historically, when two team-mates are fighting for a championship it always ends in tears. I don't want to sound naive, but the personalities of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and the way McLaren have handled it so far makes me think that if there's any team or any pair of drivers that could stop that going nuclear then this might be it.

    I think the team have dealt with it in a sensible way. Zak Brown has said we know they are going to crash together at some point. It's going to happen, we accept that. They've been very straight forward and up front about it. They've got the drivers to buy into the philosophy that you race for McLaren primarily and your interest come second.

  17. Lando Norris is getting plenty of laps in. He's one of two drivers into double figures as he completes his 10th lap.

  18. 'Antonelli taking rookie pressure well'

    Olli Caldwell
    Former F2, F3 and Alpine development driver on Sports Extra 3

    Kimi Antonelli is doing a great job. He's had very big shoes to fill and no-one's expecting him to fill the shoes of Lewis Hamilton.

    He's staying [close] with Russell, who is no slouch this season. As rookies go there is a lot of pressure being piled on him but he seems to be taking it well.

  19. Everyone has a time on the board apart from Kimi Antonelli. He's on his out lap now.

  20. Lando Norris goes back to the top of the pile with a time that's a tenth quicker than the Ferraris.

    But George Russell is flying round now and he takes a big chunk out of the fastest times with a 1:13.396 on softs. That's almost half a second quicker than anyone else.

    George RussellPA Media