Barcelona FP3 report: Charles Leclerc best of the rest but McLaren gap remains worrying. Ferrari showed a mixed performance in FP3 at the Spanish GP.

McLaren sends a strong message to all rivals: anyone wanting to take pole at the Spanish Grand Prix will really have to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Actually, maybe even more than that.

Oscar Piastri set the fastest time in the last free practice session held at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona with a 1:12.387. In a session complicated by high temperatures, the Australian repeated himself, delivering another exceptional lap equal to the one set yesterday afternoon.

It’s not just about the half-second gap over Lando Norris, who was second but set his fastest lap on used tires, but also the full seven-tenths gap over Charles Leclerc, the best of the rest driving the highest-ranked Ferrari.

Also notable were the porpoising issues noticed on Norris’s MCL39, a sign of a very low car that, in certain situations, comes at a cost. It will be interesting to see if the team raises the car or if Norris will continue with the same setup for the rest of the weekend.

For Ferrari, it was an overall decent session, although the gap to the McLarens is large and worrying. Behind the Monegasque driver is George Russell’s Mercedes, just nine thousandths behind, while the other W16, driven by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, is seventh, three tenths slower than his teammate.

Max Verstappen completes the top five but is almost a second behind Oscar Piastri. The Dutch driver, on his best lap set with new Soft tires, made a mistake, and the gap to the Papaya cars doesn’t seem accurate. On the other hand, Isack Hadjar continues to perform well, being the second-best Red Bull family driver thanks to his sixth place.

Speaking of Kimi Antonelli in seventh, Fernando Alonso places the first Aston Martin in eighth ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion is still struggling to get the Soft tires working perfectly, showing over four tenths behind Charles Leclerc on the same tires (new Soft set). The top ten is completed by the second Red Bull, Liam Lawson, ahead of the surprising Sauber cars of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, respectively eleventh and twelfth. The updates brought by the Hinwil team this weekend seem to be working.