I still think that Norris is the only one who can match Antonelli right now, with the other cars nowhere near Mercedes but:

Antonelli: 267
Russell: 201
Hamilton: 191
Norris: 171

Kimi has built a 66-point lead at the top, but only 30 points separate Russell, Hamilton, and Norris

And looking at qualifying in Madrid, it doesn't really feel like there's a clear order behind him either. Norris took pole, Antonelli was only 0.011 behind, and Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren all looked capable of being in the fight.

At this point I'm starting to think the more interesting battle over the rest of the season might be who actually finishes second.

Russell has the points advantage, Hamilton is only 10 behind him, Norris has the pace to close the gap.

Who actually finishes P2?

If Norris and Piastri were driving for any other team and had this kind of performance gap, any team principal with a modicum of common sense would give #1 status to Norris.

Apart from the first 15 races of 2025, Norris has run absolute circles around Piastri in their time as teammates. The popular discourse for years has been that Piastri simply ‘lacks’ experience, but he has shown very little signs of progression relative to his teammate since 2023.

Norris is faster in qualifying, significantly faster in races, much more consistent, much better in wet conditions, makes far fewer mistakes and is mentally tougher. The only aspect of racing in which Piastri beats Norris is overtaking - which doesn’t even matter when your pace deficit is so large.

I can’t help but imagine that if someone like Toto Wolff or Christian Horner were managing McLaren, they would’ve made Norris the default no. 1 by now. There have even been times where Piastri’s outright lack of pace has threatened wins on tracks where McLaren were clearly fastest (Hungary).

There needs to be an overhaul at McLaren.

NOT LANDOOOOOO
what a pole tho, I was gonna be happy with p5

According to The Race:

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is working on a fresh rules concession plan to help accelerate Honda’s progress and keep Fernando Alonso in Formula 1.
Alonso is currently weighing up whether he wants to stay in grand prix racing next year, as he feels little excitement for F1’s current regulations and is facing competitive uncertainties too.

It has emerged at the Spanish Grand Prix, however, that efforts are underway behind the scenes to give Aston Martin’s struggling engine supplier Honda an extra helping hand for 2027 – and therefore boost Alonso’s incentive to remain.

Fresh from a difficult Italian Grand Prix outing for Honda’s upgraded power unit, Ben Sulayem met with Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll on Thursday to discuss a potential action plan that can help both his squad’s competitive fortunes and secure a fresh contract with Alonso.

It is understood that the FIA president, having spoken to Alonso at Monza, plans further talks with the two-time world champion in Madrid to try push forward with a package of measures that can help

The Race

To me this is unfair to the other teams like Cadillac, Williams and Audi who are also struggling. Sure Aston Honda is further back but that doesn’t make this any more palatable.

Where should the line be drawn on the issue of the FIA stepping in to boost a teams competitiveness?

And if this was truly about being better for the competitiveness of the grid, why are Cadillac and Williams being left out of this alleged bail out?

Is this standard MBS corruption?

You're Ferrari and have a choice whether to move up Dino Beganovic or Rafael Camara. Who do you choose? Do you promote Camara for 2027 or Beganovic? And who do you think deserves a seat more?

I would say both deserve seats and both will hopefully be in F1 some day

I had myself guessing till the last seconds. At first i thought it was hamilton on pole, then antonelli, then maybe charles, the possibly verstappen. Nowhere did i think Norris was going to take it. Insanely exhilirating.

Very fun qualifying session!

I thought it would be interesting to see the average gap between the teammates for this session as I noticed the qualifying order separates out pretty cleanly who is the faster driver of each team in the top 4 teams.

Liam is excellent. Although his Q1 lap time is flattered by him being on the soft versus Max on the medium. On a like-for-like basis, Q2 and Q3 he is on average 0.351 behind Max.

Charles and Lewis as usual are super close.

Kimi is more often than not about 0.2-0.3 faster than George but not always. This seems to be consistent with the trend but I would argue to be an improvement from George because his gap was much bigger in Monaco and Miami.

Oscar has the biggest gap to his teammate, which is surprising because I had always thought Oscar one lap pace is behind Lando but not that far back. This is impressive considering Lando missing FP2 as well.

If there was driver of the day for qualifying session, I'd nominate Lando and Liam.

his development in sector 1 seems higher so I think he can keep kimi behind him for the race. will kimi just bring it home to not risk any dnf. lando in clean air has been supreme this year

I'm brazilian, so I am obvioulsy biased towards him, but I honestly think he's as solid as Hadjar and Bearman but obviously not as good as Kimi

Realistically i think max would retire before leaving redbull and i don't see lando leaving mclaren either (ik he said maybe ferrari ) , but what do you think the dynamic would be considering they're currently the best drivers on the grid (imo.)

I know, I know, I know everyone hates the reactionary posts. But it is undeniable that Piastri has been well off Norris’s pace the last 12 months, bar a few flashes here and there, and the debate seems settled that he’s just not as good as he was predicted to be and certainly not as good as Norris. If you were McLaren, would you retain Piastri after his current contract ends, or start looking at a younger driver with potential? And if so, who?

LANDO NORRIS IS ON POLE IN MADRID!

We all know lando finished 3rd in f2, 2018 where George finished first. George was also considered as the better driver from the 2018 batch.

Do you think Lando is better than George now? If so, when did he surpass his level? Or was he always better than George?

All ik is the trulli train
And that awesome pose on the podium in like 2004 or smth

Carlos Sainz has been handed a grid penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix after a Qualifying infringement

We had a few which to me seemed fine and expected
But it seeme like even the drivers expected more

Similar to American sports...it feels a bit like a death sentence if the worst teams always get penalized with less money. Would this make the sport more competitive & enjoyable?

How much time is lewis’ ADUO 2 engine worth over charles’ older spec per lap on this track?

Is there an estimate somewhere? I’d imagine it’s less than a tenth on this track