On Track

1 Jun 2025

The Debrief by Aramco: Spanish Grand Prix

The European triple-header has concluded at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Fernando's home race: the Spanish Grand Prix. Get the thoughts of Lance, Fernando and the team from the weekend.

Fernando secured his first points of the 2025 season after taking P9 at the Spanish Grand Prix whilst Lance did not start after withdrawing from the race through injury.

Sunday round-up and reaction

Lance had to withdraw from the Grand Prix on Saturday evening. Over the course of the past six weeks, he has been experiencing pain in his hand and wrist, which his medical consultant believes is in relation to the procedure he underwent in 2023. He will undergo a procedure to rectify these issues before focusing on his recovery.
Test and Reserve Driver Felipe Drugovich wasn't able to drive in Sunday's race as he didn't complete a session earlier in the weekend, which is required by the Sporting Regulations.
Fernando started his home race in P10, fighting in the early stages with Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg.
Pushing hard, Fernando was on the cusp of the top 10 for the entire race with him pulling off several fine overtakes through the long right-hander of Turn Three, cheered on by thousands of fans supporting their home hero and our team in the grandstands.
In the final stages, a Safety Car period, called after Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to retire his Mercedes, provided Fernando with an opportunity to climb into the points positions.
Fernando pitted for fresh Soft tyres during the Safety Car period and was running in 13th at the restart before beginning his charge up the pecking order.
Come the chequered flag, Fernando had risen to 10th before being promoted to ninth following a 10-second time penalty for Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
P9 marks Fernando's best finish of the season so far and his first inside the points this year.
Earlier in the day, Young Driver Jak Crawford finished in fourth in the F2 Feature Race.

F. Alonso

FL: 1:18.128

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Race

"It's always special racing at home, and it means a lot to score my first points of the season here in Barcelona. The support from the fans was amazing.

"The pace of the car wasn't quite where we wanted it to be, especially after feeling strong yesterday. I struggled to overtake on the straights so I had to get quite creative at Turn Three.

"I'm happy to take the points in the end, and now we'll look to keep the momentum going as we head to Canada. We missed Lance today and I wish him a quick recovery."

Andy Cowell | CEO & Team Principal

"We are pleased to come away from this race with some hard-earned points after great battles on track by Fernando in front of his home crowd.

"We were involved in some early scraps for the top ten and we wanted to extend Fernando's first stint on the Softs, but the tyres didn't quite have enough left in them by the time we pitted. From then on, he fought to get back into the top ten before a well-timed Safety Car bunched up the field for a sprint finish to the end.

"Fernando then showed his racing skill and overtook three cars in the remaining six laps and stayed within 10 seconds of Max [Verstappen] to finish P9.

"We'll digest and analyse everything we've learnt over this busy triple-header and we are all wishing Lance well and a speedy recovery."

Next up

After a long European triple-header, a break from racing for the team next weekend before we cross the Atlantic and return to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Saturday

Track temperature, as it was on Friday, was high as the sun beat down on Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, providing a challenge in terms of tyre management and adding emphasis on executing outlaps carefully.
Lance and Fernando safely navigated Q1, with very tight lap-time margins on display. 10 drivers were less than two-tenths above the elimination line come the end of the first portion of the session.
Lance was unfortunately knocked out at the completion of Q2. He'll start in P14 on Sunday.
Fernando pushed hard in Q3 to give his home fans something to cheer in the grandstands around the circuit. He'll start from P10 for tomorrow's race.
Elsewhere, Young Driver Jak Crawford took P4 in the F2 Sprint Race.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Qualifying

"It's been a tough weekend for us so far – the car hasn't been easy to handle all weekend and it's been challenging to put clean laps together. Nevertheless, we made it through to Q2 and we take any small wins we can get at the moment.

"We have lots of areas of the car that we need to look into and improve, but we'll see what we can do tomorrow starting from P14."

FP3

1:13.904

P15

1:13.038

1:13.058

P14

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Qualifying

"It's been a good weekend so far, and getting into Q3 shows we are in the fight for points. It's the third consecutive Q3 for us so I'm pleased with that.

"We've made some progress since Miami where we were fighting at the back and Barcelona is always a true test. It shows our update package has given us a step forward.

"Hopefully we can finish the job tomorrow, especially here at home in front of this amazing support."

FP3

1:13.414

1:13.102

P14

1:12.523

1:12.284

P10

Andy Cowell | CEO & Team Principal

"It was a mixed Qualifying session for us today. Fernando left nothing out there in front of his home crowd putting in strong laps every session and he worked exceptionally hard to get everything out of the car.

"Lance put in a good Q1 lap but has been struggling to find balance in the car so far this weekend and that is something the team has to improve going forward. The grid is very tight, and we will work hard tomorrow to be in the points."

Friday

All of the teams are now using updated front wings in Spain after the FIA introduced a Technical Directive on flexing, with Friday providing the first opportunity for our team to run the AMR25 with the new wing and analyse how it performs.
The weather is very warm causing high track temperatures, meaning tyre management was one of the key factors the team needed to deal with. This will be one of the consistent themes for the rest of the weekend.
In Free Practice One, Lance and Fernando classified one after the other in 12th and 13th respectively. Fernando then broke into the top 10 at the end of Free Practice Two.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice

"Positive sessions today, we managed to get some good laps in and also learned a couple of things, which we need to look into further tonight to see where we can improve. Our pace looked all right but we still have lots of areas to look into."

FP1

1:14.786

P12

FP2

1:13.839

P16

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice

"The car feels similar to the last few events so I don't think things have changed too much in terms of the new directive on front wings.

"We've been fine-tuning the car setup today and we are having to deal with the warm weather. It's been a normal Friday for us and it was nice to see all of the fans around the circuit."

FP1

1:14.798

P13

FP2

1:13.301