McLaren’s opening day at the F1 Spanish GP left Oscar Piastri and technical director Mark Temple answering questions about the new circuit, Madring. This track has already punished drivers in unexpected ways. The Madring track made its debut on the calendar, and the 5.416 kilometre layout combined street sections with permanent surface in a way that caught out nearly everyone.
Piastri on learning the Madring layout
Piastri gave a blunt assessment of the new track, placing it among the more difficult venues he has encountered.
“I would say, honestly, more difficult than some tracks. There’s a lot of sections here where you’re not really brushing up against the walls, you’re kind of turning or heading at them and then you need to avoid them. So, it makes things quite challenging and definitely, yeah, I think everyone is still getting up to speed.”
The Australian’s Friday running was split between learning the layout and fighting the car underneath him. He completed his sessions without the kind of disruption that hit his teammate, Lando Norris. This gave McLaren a full set of data to work with from his side of the garage.
He went on to say, “But when you get into a decent rhythm over one lap, it’s pretty enjoyable. In the race running, yeah, it’s been a nightmare to try and manage the tyres with graining. So, a lot of corners have been very difficult, but it’s been an interesting day.”
That graining issue shaped McLaren’s Friday sessions. Piastri had his own moment of trouble in FP2. He ran wide at Turn 5 and took to the chicane over the kerbs, before complaining about rear grip through the final sector.
The Australian still managed to finish P7. However, the incident underlined how unforgiving the Madring surface was for McLaren’s package. Piastri admitted the graining problem hit his car harder than some rivals, a concern given the high temperature in Madrid.
“I think we are struggling a little bit for pace, but yeah, hopefully we can find a bit more tomorrow.”
Piastri on tyre graining and set-up limits at the F1 Spanish GP
Asked whether track evolution would naturally ease the graining, Piastri stayed cautious.
“Hopefully, I mean, it is normally the case that it gets better through the weekend, but we’ll have to wait and see how much better. So, yeah, at the moment, I’m not sure. I think also for us it’s worse than for some others, which is not a great thing obviously.”
The set-up window looks narrow. Piastri confirmed adjustments are possible, but the scope is limited. “But in terms of set-up, there’s a few things you can do, but not a huge amount, unfortunately. So, we’ll see what we get.”
McLaren’s Mark Temple on track demands and Norris setback
McLaren’s Technical Director for Performance backed up Piastri’ read on the circuit. He especially agreed regarding overtaking and tyre stress. “Certainly overtaking [is] as difficult as we expected. Very challenging tracks and really tough corners.”
Temple flagged the walls and kerbs that define the Madring layout, noting how front lock-ups and oversteer moments already caugh drivers out in the junior series running.
“We’ve seen that from the support races, front lock-ups, oversteer, obviously there’s a lot of walls close by as well, some big kerbs. So, definitely a really interesting and challenging track for the drivers, as you say, qualifying will be important, and as well, kind of as we expected, the tyres really get quite a tough time here with the high temperatures and so on.”
The reigning World Champion’s FP2 ended after just two laps due to a gearbox issue, leaving the team with a serious data deficit on a track where track time matters more than usual.
“I mean, of course, it definitely puts Lando on a back foot going into FP3, so we’ll be trying to do everything we can to give him as much track time as possible, but yeah, it was definitely quite a big loss on his first push lap to then have a problem and have to sit out the rest of the session.”
What Norris had to say about Friday at the F1 Spanish GP
Norris shared his thoughts on the same as well. He stated, “A tricky day, it was good to get the laps in this morning, where we identified a few changes we needed to make to the car, but ultimately we didn’t get the chance to make any progress in FP2 due to a gearbox issue.
“Whenever you come to a new circuit, track time is very important, so we’re clearly on the back foot having missed FP2. We’ll work hard overnight looking at the data from FP1, from Oscar’s car and the teams around us, and make sure we get as much learning as we can in FP3. Otherwise, it was good to get the first laps done here in Madrid, it’s an interesting circuit and I’m looking forward to getting some more laps in ahead of Qualifying tomorrow.”
The rotating wing decision and Friday lessons for McLaren
Temple also confirmed that McLaren skipped bringing the rotating wing here, choosing to only use it in Monza for now.
“No, so we basically chose to prioritise that for Monza and then prioritise other things for this track.”
The opening day at the Madring delivered exactly what Temple predicted before the weekend: a track that rewards adaptation and punishes complacency. For F1 McLaren, the priority for the Spanish GP now shifts to finding a set-up that tames the graining without compromising the car’s stronger qualities through the circuit’s high-speed sections.
Norris faces the steepest climb. With only two laps of data in FP2 and a gearbox change behind him, FP3 becomes critical preparation for a qualifying session that Temple already identified as the weekend’s decisive moment. Whether McLaren can turn Friday’s struggle into Saturday pace remains the open question heading into the rest of the F1 Spanish GP weekend.
