Kimi Antonelli had a difficult Friday at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, saying overheating soft tires, balance problems, traffic on his quickest lap and brake issues hurt his one-lap pace. He finished fifth in FP2, nearly six-tenths behind Lando Norris, after Fred Vesti drove his Mercedes in FP1 as the team used one of its mandated rookie-running slots.

Antonelli said the brake pedal felt “horrible” on a used Friday set and that the car was tricky over one lap in Barcelona’s hot conditions. With limited running, he said he had “a lot of catching up to do,” but he was more optimistic about the car’s long-run pace and remained confident heading into Saturday.

Mercedes still enjoyed a strong opening day, with George Russell leading FP1 and finishing second in FP2, just 0.009 seconds off Norris. Russell said the car felt consistent, while Antonelli said the team planned overnight changes to improve the W17. Bradley Lord said qualifying could hinge on which team manages tire temperatures best, with McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull also in the mix.

Kim Kardashian ended a bizarre F1 Monaco Grand Prix towel dispute by sending Kimi Antonelli a personalized replacement during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend. The embroidered towel, marked “To Kimi from Kim,” came after a viral Monaco moment in which Kardashian, attending the podium ceremony and supporting Lewis Hamilton, picked up Antonelli’s designated white towel and used it to wipe champagne, her hands and face after the race.

Antonelli said he was surprised the towel really came from Kardashian and joked about whether it was actually from her. Mercedes later documented the handoff in the garage, and Antonelli thanked Kardashian on camera for the gesture. The episode, nicknamed “Towelgate,” drew online mockery and became a wider talking point, while also highlighting Kardashian’s growing presence in the F1 paddock. Entering Barcelona, Antonelli led the standings by 66 points over Hamilton, with Mercedes driver George Russell third, two points behind Hamilton.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is pushing a major reset for Formula 1’s future, calling for cars to be cut to about 630kg and for the sport to move back to V8 engines by 2030 or 2031. The current minimum weight for the new-generation cars is 768kg, and the target would leave future machines more than 100kg lighter than today’s cars and nearly 150kg lighter than the direction set by the 2026 regulations.

Ben Sulayem said the lighter, simpler package would reduce costs, improve the sound for spectators and make the cars safer. He argued that Formula 1 cars have become too heavy, too complex and too expensive, with safety systems and hybrid components among the reasons for the weight gain. He also said the FIA could impose the engine change even if power unit manufacturers do not approve it.

Under his vision, the V8 concept would include about 10% electrification, sustainable fuels and an internal combustion engine producing roughly 760 horsepower. Ben Sulayem said the proposal would require major engineering changes and a redesign of much of the current approach, but he said it would simplify the regulations and lower research and development costs. Formula 1 is already planning a 30kg weight reduction for 2026, and drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have criticized the current cars as still too heavy.

George Russell took pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix with a late lap of 1:14.679, his first pole since Australia. Russell had also topped both Friday practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton qualified second, 0.064 seconds behind, and Kimi Antonelli took third. Lando Norris lined up on the second row, Max Verstappen was fifth, and Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg filled the next spots in the top 10. Mercedes left qualifying with a strong result after Russell’s pole and Hamilton’s front-row place.

Charles Leclerc was in the pole fight before he lost control and hit the barrier in Q3, triggering a red flag and ending his challenge. He walked away unharmed, but the crash left him 10th on the grid. Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman were among those knocked out, while Arvid Lindblad narrowly missed Q3 in 11th and Carlos Sainz qualified 16th after getting through Q1.

At Aston Martin, Lance Stroll outqualified Fernando Alonso for the first time in 42 qualifying sessions, by 0.057 seconds in Q1. Both cars failed to get out of the opening segment, leaving Stroll and Alonso on the last row for Sunday’s race, with Alonso 22nd and last at his home circuit. Alonso had said before qualifying that this could be his final F1 appearance at Barcelona, which is not scheduled to return to the calendar until 2028.

Red Bull spent the Barcelona weekend searching for grip, balance and tyre performance on a hot circuit that made lap time hard to find. Max Verstappen said the car felt sensitive in practice and that nothing worked well on any of the three tyre compounds, with the team looking only midfield-fast on single-lap pace after Friday. He was fourth in FP1 and sixth in FP2, and both he and the team said there was still a lot of work to do before qualifying.

After major setup changes overnight, Verstappen said the car improved in qualifying and Red Bull cut the gap to the front to about three tenths from roughly six or seven tenths in practice. He said a slide and time loss in the final sector of his last lap, along with overheating tyres and a disrupted Q3 session after Charles Leclerc’s red flag, kept him from turning that improvement into a stronger result.

Even with the turnaround, Verstappen said Red Bull was still not quick enough to fight at the very front. He said the race should depend more on tyre degradation, pit stops and strategy than on grid position, with overtaking expected to be difficult at Barcelona. Verstappen also said he had no new hard tyres left after using his allocation in practice, which could make Sunday tougher in the expected heat.

McLaren produced a strong showing in Friday’s second practice at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit as Lando Norris topped FP2 with a 1:15.426 on soft tires, beating Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.009 seconds. Oscar Piastri was third, 0.057 seconds off Norris, giving McLaren two cars in the top three. Norris had skipped first practice earlier in the day and said the car is moving in the right direction but still has “things I’m not happy with,” after entering the weekend following back-to-back retirements in Canada and Monaco caused by reliability problems.

The session took place in hot, windy conditions and used a softer-than-usual Pirelli compound that produced heavy tire degradation and low grip across the field. Teams moved their focus toward long-run work and tyre management after an early Virtual Safety Car when Liam Lawson stopped with an apparent engine or gearbox issue. Piastri showed encouraging long-run pace, particularly on the medium tyre, while Max Verstappen, who ran sixth, reported horrendous grip on his long-run rubber. Mercedes looked closely matched with McLaren on pace in FP2, and several drivers reported grip and degradation concerns.

FP2 underlined that Barcelona could be strategically demanding, with the tyre allocation and conditions pointing toward a possible two-stop race and a weekend where tyre management will matter. McLaren’s pace on both short runs and longer stints suggested the team may have taken a step forward from recent outings, but Norris and the team said further work was needed overnight to refine the setup and address lingering reliability questions ahead of qualifying and the race.

Lando Norris said defending his 2025 title looked “effectively impossible”, blaming McLaren’s inconsistent form and repeated reliability failures for wrecking his defence. Mechanical problems prevented him from starting the Chinese Grand Prix (a DNS) and forced retirements in Canada and Monaco, leaving him sixth in the standings and 98 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Norris warned McLaren may soon face grid penalties after depleting its supply of power‑unit components, but he added the team still had race‑winning pace and that a season‑long turnaround remained possible if McLaren could fix its issues.

McLaren admitted its title challenge had stalled, with team principal Andrea Stella calling recent results an “important reality check” and saying the squad needed a turnaround to stay in contention. Stella blamed a drop in race pace in Canada and Monaco on a lack of grip and insufficient aerodynamic load and detailed reliability problems across the car, including power‑unit issues in Monaco and a gearbox failure that affected Norris in Canada. Those problems produced back‑to‑back non‑finishes for Norris, while teammate Oscar Piastri managed fourth place in Monaco. Stella said technical and reliability fixes were the priority to arrest the points deficit.

Outside observers said Norris’s title chances were increasingly unlikely unless McLaren fixed its technical and reliability problems. On the Up to Speed podcast former driver David Coulthard said, “Norris isn’t going to do back-to-back world championships on the basis of what we’ve seen so far,” while Will Buxton noted Norris appeared calm and was taking rare positives when they came. Early-season trends widened the gap to rivals: Mercedes had more than double McLaren’s points and Aston Martin had completed more Grand Prix laps than McLaren, making performance and reliability the key factors in whether Norris’s defence could be revived.