Williams\u2019 resurgence was one of the most noteworthy developments of the first third of the 2025 season. <\/p>\n
The team which finished second from bottom in the points last year arrived in Spain fifth in the standings. Carlos Sainz Jnr<\/a> and Alexander Albon have scored points in all of the last four rounds.<\/p>\n However the pair expected the Circuit de Catalunya<\/a> would expose a weakness in their FW47. Friday\u2019s running indicated that concern was well-founded.<\/p>\n Teams\u2019 2024 performance in context<\/p>\n Last year the Barcelona track was one of the weakest for Williams. In qualifying they were half a second off the next-slowest car. Nor was this a particularly strong track for another team that has impressed so far in 2025: Racing Bulls (formerly RB).<\/p>\n Teams\u2019 progress vs 2024<\/p>\n In the hot conditions at the circuit today, no team lapped quicker than they managed in 2024. Racing Bulls and Williams got closest.<\/p>\n As usual, Red Bull were among those furthest from their 2024 pace. It\u2019s striking, then, they were quicker relative to their rivals on Friday, Max Verstappen<\/a> lapping just three tenths of a second off Oscar Piastri. However he was also much further ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda for this stage in the weekend, which appeared to cause some concern on the other side of the Red Bull garage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Teams\u2019 2024 and 2025 times<\/p>\n Despite being closer to the pace than they were last year, Williams\u2019 ranking at the end of Friday is little better: ninth instead of tenth. The gaps are closer than last year, however, so a few tenths of a second could gain them a lot of ground.<\/p>\n On Thursday, before running began, Alexander Albon predicted this would be one of the toughest venues for the team. After Friday\u2019s running Carlos Sainz Jnr<\/a> said their concerns had been realised.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tricky, a bit like we expected,\u201d he told the official Formula 1 channel, \u201ccoming into a track that, looking at the corners, is exactly the kind of corners where we knew we were going to struggle with the characteristics of our car.<\/p>\n \u201cRight from the start in FP1 I felt how tricky it was. We tried to do some set-up changes for FP2 that seemed to go in a good direction but for some reason we still didn\u2019t find much lap time and we are in that battle towards the back of the midfield.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we need to see how to take another step, because clearly we are not looking like a Q3 contender.\u201d<\/p>\n First and second practice times<\/p>\n Besides the Racing Bulls, Pierre Gasly\u2019s<\/a> Alpine and Nico Hulkenberg\u2019s Sauber look best-placed to capitalise on Williams\u2019 challenging weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to see a performance we saw in Miami and Imola, even if we [find] a good direction with the set-up tonight,\u201d Sainz concluded. \u201cWe seem to be one second off the pace every lap that we do here.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot of things to understand and things to work on, but we don\u2019t give up. We will try different things with both cars, Alex and I, for tomorrow and see if we can find something that gives us a bit of an edge.\u201d<\/p>\n P. Miss nothing from RaceFans<\/p>\n Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:<\/p>\n
\n#
\nDriver
\nTeam
\nFP1 time
\nFP2 time
\nGap
\nLaps<\/p>\n\n 1<\/td>\n 81<\/td>\n Oscar Piastri<\/a><\/td>\n McLaren-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201914.294<\/td>\n 1\u201912.760<\/td>\n 56<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n 63<\/td>\n George Russell<\/a><\/td>\n Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201914.751<\/td>\n 1\u201913.046<\/td>\n 0.286<\/td>\n 64<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n Max Verstappen<\/a><\/td>\n Red Bull-Honda RBPT<\/td>\n 1\u201914.085<\/td>\n 1\u201913.070<\/td>\n 0.310<\/td>\n 48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n Lando Norris<\/a><\/td>\n McLaren-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201913.718<\/td>\n 1\u201913.070<\/td>\n 0.310<\/td>\n 60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/td>\n 16<\/td>\n Charles Leclerc<\/a><\/td>\n Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201914.238<\/td>\n 1\u201913.260<\/td>\n 0.500<\/td>\n 64<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 6<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n Andrea Kimi Antonelli<\/a><\/td>\n Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201915.369<\/td>\n 1\u201913.298<\/td>\n 0.538<\/td>\n 62<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 7<\/td>\n 14<\/td>\n Fernando Alonso<\/a><\/td>\n Aston Martin-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201914.798<\/td>\n 1\u201913.301<\/td>\n 0.541<\/td>\n 48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8<\/td>\n 10<\/td>\n Pierre Gasly<\/a><\/td>\n Alpine-Renault<\/td>\n 1\u201914.746<\/td>\n 1\u201913.385<\/td>\n 0.625<\/td>\n 58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 9<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n Isack Hadjar<\/a><\/td>\n Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT<\/td>\n 1\u201914.605<\/td>\n 1\u201913.400<\/td>\n 0.640<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 10<\/td>\n 30<\/td>\n Liam Lawson<\/a><\/td>\n Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT<\/td>\n 1\u201914.339<\/td>\n 1\u201913.494<\/td>\n 0.734<\/td>\n 57<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 11<\/td>\n 44<\/td>\n Lewis Hamilton<\/a><\/td>\n Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201914.096<\/td>\n 1\u201913.533<\/td>\n 0.773<\/td>\n 58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 12<\/td>\n 27<\/td>\n Nico Hulkenberg<\/a><\/td>\n Sauber-Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201914.865<\/td>\n 1\u201913.592<\/td>\n 0.832<\/td>\n 51<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 13<\/td>\n 22<\/td>\n Yuki Tsunoda<\/a><\/td>\n Red Bull-Honda RBPT<\/td>\n 1\u201914.643<\/td>\n 1\u201913.683<\/td>\n 0.923<\/td>\n 58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 14<\/td>\n 55<\/td>\n Carlos Sainz Jnr<\/a><\/td>\n Williams-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201914.935<\/td>\n 1\u201913.721<\/td>\n 0.961<\/td>\n 60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 15<\/td>\n 23<\/td>\n Alexander Albon<\/a><\/td>\n Williams-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201913.839<\/td>\n 1.079<\/td>\n 32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 16<\/td>\n 18<\/td>\n Lance Stroll<\/a><\/td>\n Aston Martin-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201914.786<\/td>\n 1\u201913.839<\/td>\n 1.079<\/td>\n 41<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 17<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a><\/td>\n Sauber-Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201915.155<\/td>\n 1\u201913.959<\/td>\n 1.199<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 18<\/td>\n 31<\/td>\n Esteban Ocon<\/a><\/td>\n Haas-Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201914.005<\/td>\n 1.245<\/td>\n 30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 19<\/td>\n 87<\/td>\n Oliver Bearman<\/a><\/td>\n Haas-Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201914.597<\/td>\n 1\u201914.126<\/td>\n 1.366<\/td>\n 46<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 20<\/td>\n 43<\/td>\n Franco Colapinto<\/a><\/td>\n Alpine-Renault<\/td>\n 1\u201915.530<\/td>\n 1\u201914.303<\/td>\n 1.543<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 21<\/td>\n 50<\/td>\n Ryo Hirakawa<\/td>\n Haas-Ferrari<\/td>\n 1\u201915.298<\/td>\n 2.538<\/td>\n 23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 22<\/td>\n 45<\/td>\n Victor Martins<\/td>\n Williams-Mercedes<\/td>\n 1\u201915.522<\/td>\n 2.762<\/td>\n 26<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n