Having crunched the numbers from the long runs in FP2 yesterday, it was as you’d expect — McLaren leads the way on race pace, but it’s much closer behind than it appears.
That’s for everyone except Red Bull.
Oscar Piastri put in an average of 1:20.042s over eight laps and that led the way, much as the Australian championship leader did in FP2 overall.
Behind him by just 0.147 seconds and completing over seven laps, was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. That was surprising given how much of a struggle the Ferrari appeared over one lap.
Third — and we’re just looking at the typical 2025 frontrunners here — was Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, 0.23s slower than Piastri.
But then Max Verstappen’s best of 1:20.896s was a massive 0.854s slower than McLaren’s leading pace. The Dutchman’s stint was completed over 10 laps before a late FP2 red flag.
Red Bull will surely turn it around. It’s so good at improving as a weekend progresses, and Verstappen is always a pole threat.
But that’s a big margin to close based on Friday’s running.