The Free Practice session in Barcelona took place under sunny weather conditions. The first driver to go out on track was Franco Colapinto. For the first five minutes of the session, there was little activity, with only a few drivers beginning to prepare for their runs.

Ten minutes into the session, only two drivers were on track: Gabriel Bortoleto and Colapinto. Soon after, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hülkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda, and Esteban Ocon joined them. Most of the other drivers were still in the garage.

At that point, the session was being led by Yuki Tsunoda. With 20 minutes gone, Carlos Sainz took the lead for the moment, and about half of the drivers were now on track. In second place was Lando Norris, followed by Liam Lawson in third. More drivers began taking to the circuit, signaling that FP3 was starting to heat up.

The fastest time at this point was 1:13.941 by Charles Leclerc, while the rest of the field posted times in the 1:14 or 1:15 range. George Russell then moved into the lead, with Norris in second, pushing Leclerc down to third. The only driver without a time was Kimi Antonelli.

Most of the grid opted for medium tyres, with only a few choosing the soft compound. Max Verstappen improved to fifth place, dropping Sainz to sixth. As the session reached its halfway point, the action intensified. Kimi Antonelli climbed up to second place, just behind his teammate Russell.

A surprise came when Fernando Alonso moved into sixth place, ahead of Verstappen. The Williams duo were in eighth and ninth places. With 20 minutes left, the positions remained largely unchanged. Oscar Piastri was in 12th place behind Lance Stroll. Tsunoda had fallen to 15th, just behind Lawson. The Haas pair, Ocon and Oliver Bearman, were 17th and 18th respectively. Max Verstappen then took the lead of the session.

Lando Norris made a mistake on his push lap, running wide and briefly going off track. With 15 minutes remaining, drivers changed tyres and prepared for their final laps. Alonso was now in third place, with Bortoleto and Hülkenberg behind him. Piastri began a promising lap, setting the fastest first sector. Meanwhile, Norris reclaimed the lead with the only time in the 1:12s.

That didn’t last long, as his teammate quickly beat it to take the top spot. Leclerc improved to third place, while Isack Hadjar moved into fifth. Carlos Sainz had a decent lap but ran slightly wide, costing him a few tenths and leaving him in 13th place.

In the final five minutes of the session, everything was on the line. Alex Albon was down in 19th and needed to improve. Verstappen attempted another push but couldn’t better his time, remaining in fifth. Hadjar was one of the first to cross the checkered flag and stayed in sixth place. Many drivers failed to improve, leaving the top three as Piastri, Norris, and Leclerc.