McLaren's Lando Norris went quickest in the opening practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by almost four tenths of a second. 

In a session that featured two reserve drivers, the first out on track was Williams tester and F2 regular Victor Martin, who took over Alex Albon’s FW47 for the session. However, in the early part of the session, run on Hard tyres, home favourite Fernando Alonso initially set the pace before Norris took over close to the quarter hour mark by posting a lap of 1:15.259s to go 0.221s clear of the Aston Martin driver. 

It wasn’t until the halfway mark that the times began to drop significantly. Mercedes’ George Russell made the switch to C2 Medium tyres and immediately dropped the benchmark to 1:14.751. 

Nico Hulkenberg then put on a set of Soft compound tyres, and he was soon followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took top spot. He was displaced by Verstappen and then Norris, whose time of 1:13.718s eclipsed the defending champion by 0.367s. Hamilton ended the session just 0.011s behind the Red Bull driver. Leclerc was left with P4 ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri who ended up 0.576s off McLaren team-mate Norris. 

Liam Lawson put in a good lap of 1:14.339 to take P6 ahead of Haas driver Oliver Bearman, while Isack Hadjar took the other Racing Bull car to eighth place, a little under three tenths of a second off his team-mate. Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

At the end of the session Haas stand-in Ryo Hirakawa finished in 17th, while Martins took P19, ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.718 29 227.423
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:14.085 0.367 18 226.296
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:14.096 0.378 29 226.263
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.238 0.520 31 225.830
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:14.294 0.576 28 225.660
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:14.339 0.621 28 225.523
7 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:14.597 0.879 26 224.743
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:14.605 0.887 26 224.719
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:14.643 0.925 27 224.605
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:14.746 1.028 28 224.295
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:14.751 1.033 32 224.280
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:14.786 1.068 24 224.175
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:14.798 1.080 20 224.139
14 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.865 1.147 21 223.939
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:14.935 1.217 26 223.729
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:15.155 1.437 23 223.074
17 Ryō Hirakawa Haas/Ferrari 1:15.298 1.580 23 222.651
18 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:15.369 1.651 31 222.441
19 Victor Martins Williams/Mercedes 1:15.522 1.804 26 221.990
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:15.530 1.812 19 221.967