Red Bull locked out the third row of the grid for Sunday’s Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix. Max Verstappen appeared to be in contention for pole position after two sectors, but saw his grip disappear in the last part of the lap – an issue many drivers struggled with due to tyres overheating.

“I think it was a decent qualifying session for us,” Verstappen reflected afterwards when speaking to Dutch media. “It's just a shame that in that final lap, the last sector didn't come together. Somehow, I simply had no grip anymore from Turn 10 onwards. Unfortunately, that cost us third place today.”

Besides the loss of grip in the final corners, Verstappen identified one other factor that made qualifying more complicated: the red flag caused by Charles Leclerc.

The Dutchman appeared to be on the right side of things together with Oscar Piastri, as both drivers had already set a lap time while most rivals had not. The rest of the field had to complete a banker lap on used tyres, but those softs were already past their peak due to the high track temperatures.

Nevertheless, Verstappen also saw a downside for himself: the interruption broke the rhythm of completing two runs in quick succession.

“Most of the guys ahead of me obviously went back out after that red flag because they hadn't really set a lap yet. I missed that rhythm a little bit in Q3, which is normally quite nice. You go out, do the lap, come back in, add a bit of fuel and go straight back out again. Oscar and I had that 10-minute break. Maybe that didn't work out for us, unfortunately.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Red Bull has “the real picture” after qualifying in Barcelona

In the end, Verstappen finished qualifying three and a half tenths away from pole, which represents more than a halving of Red Bull's deficit compared to Friday. The progress appears encouraging, but Verstappen himself cannot fully explain it.

“Well, it's still three and a half tenths too much,” Verstappen replied when asked by Autosport. “But it was definitely better than in practice. On the other hand, I don't really understand how that happened.

“Of course, we changed a few things, but we didn't completely overhaul the setup or anything like that. So I don't really understand how that gap suddenly became half of what it was.”

Ahead of the weekend, Verstappen described Barcelona as the real test for Red Bull after the Miami upgrades, mainly because this all-round circuit also features several high-speed corners.

With a deficit of three and a half tenths, Red Bull may have passed that test better than expected, although Verstappen is not satisfied yet. He still sees the current situation as a sign that there is work to be done in Milton Keynes.

“We've already got the real picture today. We can see that we're still lacking a little bit, so we just need to keep working.

“It's not one particular corner where we're losing it, and it's not as if we're only losing time in the high-speed corners. It's small things where I think we're losing out today. So yes, we just have to keep working on that.”

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Surprising Hadjar calls missing out on third place “depressing”

Team-mate Isack Hadjar also found Red Bull's relatively small deficit surprising, especially because his feeling in the RB22 was far from ideal.

“On top of this being a tough track, it's also tough track temperatures. That makes everything exaggerated. And I must say, we did good progress throughout the weekend. But to be honest, I still feel like we don't deserve to be on pole with what we have.

“I'm surprised by the gap to pole-position, it's not that big considering the feeling I have in the car, but there's still a lot of work to be done.”

Precisely because the deficit was not enormous, Hadjar – like Verstappen – believes third place was achievable.

“I think it was a very good lap, except for my turn 1. I look back at the gaps with P3 and it's quite depressing. I could have been up there, but if, if, if… It doesn't work like that.”

Alonso 'exhausted' by Aston Martin woes after qualifying last in Barcelona

Asked what exactly went wrong in the opening corner, Hadjar explained:

“It's the most important corner, I sent it and did that too hard. I was this [far] from the apex, compromised turns 2 and 3, so I had quite a poor sector 1. And then from there, the rest was very good. No regrets, but it's a bit, it's a shame.”

Toyota continues to lead the Le Mans 24 Hours at the end of the fourth hour, cementing its advantage over Cadillac and BMW in the Hypercar class.

After an undercut catapulted the #8 Toyota TR010 at the head of the pack in the opening hour, Sebastien Buemi quickly pulled away from the chasing pack, building an advantage of nearly half a minute through his triple stint.

Hartley took over the driving duties at the beginning of the third hour and carried on the work of his team-mate Buemi, with the gap continuing to hover around the 30s mark as the clock struck 8pm in France. However, the #8 Toyota remains on a different strategy to most of the Hypercar field.

Jack Aitken propelled Jota’s #38 Cadillac V.Series.R to second, passing the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde at the second Mulsanne chicane halfway through the fourth hour. However, the #20 BMW surged back ahead during the final pitstop before the hour.

The other Jota Cadillac driven by Louis Deletraz remains fourth, despite having briefly got ahead of the sister car in the second hour.

All three cars behind the leading Toyota were caught out by the timing of a virtual safety car at the beginning of the fourth hour. After coming in for emergency service, the trio were forced to bring their cars back to the pits for full service. The two Jota cars, along with the other Caddy entered by Wayne Taylor Racing, remain under investigation for the emergency stop.

Behind, Charles Milesi ran fifth in the #35 Alpine A424, while Antonio Fuoco remained fifth despite suffering a spin in the #50 Ferrari 499P.

Rafaelle Marciello held seventh in the #15 BMW ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #101 WTR Cadillac and Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine.

The #51 Ferrari dropped to 10th place after Alessandro Pier Guidi picked up a drive-through penalty for causing a collision with the #9 Proton LMP2 car of Jonas Reid. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari copped up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in a tough start to Scuderia’s title defence.

In LMP2, Duqueine moved to the front when Richard Verschoor took over the driving duties in the third hour. As the designated gold-rated driver in the #30 Oreca 07, Verschoor extended his advantage at the front, before handing over the car with a comfortable advantage to Doriane Pin.

Bijoy Garg propelled the #343 InterEuropol car to second, with the Polish team able to go a lap longer on fuel than most of its rivals. 

Meanwhile, Manthey snatched the LMGT3 lead from ASP as reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Guven stormed through the field on an offset strategy in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Guven has built a significant lead over the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Jose Maria Lopez, while Mattia Drudi propelled the polesitting #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 back to second place after the car dropped down the order in the hands of gentleman driver and team owner Ian James.

The #92 Porsche suffered an early setback, losing three laps due to a broken tie rod in the second hour.

Le Mans order after four hours

Aston Martin's abject performance in Barcelona comes as no surprise to Fernando Alonso as he qualified last for his home race - but having to keep explaining the team's many woes is starting to wear on him.

The world champion took 22nd, which ended a 42-race streak of outqualifying team-mate Lance Stroll, who was 21st and a second behind next slowest Cadillac and four seconds off pole.

Not discounting the start of 2026 when Aston Martin and its struggling engine partner Honda had no hope of completing a race distance, performance wise Barcelona is the team's worst outing yet.

The challenging downforce demands and high temperatures are presenting a huge stress test, especially for teams lacking aerodynamic performance. But while the circuit layout tore open the lap time gaps between the top and midfield, Alonso waved away questions on whether Aston had been further exposed in Spain.

"No, no, no. Nothing has been exposed," Alonso sighed. "We knew we have the worst car and the worst engine and we've been very clear in every race so far that we have to work."

Expanding on his downshift issues on Saturday, which is a recurring problem between the in-house gearbox and the integration with the power unit, he said: "In some corners it felt like pulling a handbrake, complete rear locking with both rear wheels fully locked.

“In other corners I had what felt like half-throttle while braking, and then you just go straight on. So every lap is a bit of a lottery at the moment."

Watch: The George Russell and Lewis Hamilton Reset | 2026 Barcelona GP Saturday

Aston has decided to focus all its development efforts on one larger upgrade package that should arrive in the summer, as wasting resources on smaller, incremental upgrades won't be enough to bring it into Q2 contention.

Honda, meanwhile, is also working to deploy an engine upgrade around the same time, without publicly committing to an exact timeline. Until Aston's package arrives though, there is no hope of progress for the team, so repeating the same tune every week is starting to weigh on the two-time F1 champion.

"We opted for this strategy, we repeat every weekend, and we will arrive in Austria in two weeks and we will be last in qualifying, and you will tell me if that exposes some of the weaknesses of the car," he said.

When further quizzed by the Spanish media, Alonso vented: "We repeat the same thing every weekend. It's exhausting. We're last, we know it, and we have no problem admitting it.

“We're waiting for the second half of the season, and hopefully when the new car arrives, we can improve a bit. It's all becoming very repetitive.

“We have a very poor engine, the worst one. We have very poor energy deployment. We have gearbox problems and aerodynamic problems. We're working on all of it, and hopefully in the second half of the season we can give people something to cheer about."

Additional reporting by Livia Veiga and Pol Hermoso

Leclerc left "ashamed" after qualifying crash at F1 Barcelona GP

"At least a two-stop": Why the Barcelona GP could be hard on tyres

High tyre degradation at the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix will create small differences between the three compounds and considerable strategic variation during Sunday's race, according to pole winner George Russell.

Friday's long runs over FP2 demonstrated that the medium compound was dropping off at around three tenths per lap across the opening 10-12 laps of a stint, before dropping off further once beyond that threshold.

Pirelli's decision to opt for a softer grade of tyres at this year's Barcelona race, picking the C2, C3, and C4 compounds, has produced higher-than-expected levels of degradation. The small pace deltas between each grade of tyre also means that there won't be a significant difference between the compounds used.

Barcelona's plethora of high-speed and longer-radius corners has put greater energy into the tyres, making it much more difficult for the drivers to manage their temperatures over a lap, let alone a full stint. Russell says that even the softest of the three, the C4, will likely be used in the race - and that the indications are of a two-stop race at minimum.

"I think closer to a three than a one," Russell responded to a question from Autosport about the expected strategy on Sunday.

"I don’t think a one-stop is going to be possible at all. It’s not clear what the best tyre is; it’s quite interesting, on a track surface like this, all three tyre compounds look quite similar. That was the case last year. 

"Everybody was running the C3s and the C2s last year, and obviously with the C4 this year, it still looks not a bad race tyre. 

"So, there’ll be a lot of variation, but I don’t think a different tyre will make that much of a difference."

Watch: The George Russell and Lewis Hamilton Reset | 2026 Barcelona GP Saturday

Lewis Hamilton, who joined Russell on the front row of Sunday's grid after surprising with his final Q3 effort, said that the level of degradation was double what Ferrari had expected.

It may be that a handful of teams will experiment with a three-stopper if they cannot demonstrate a clear improvement in tyre degradation from Friday's FP2 session; Arvid Lindblad's 16-lap run on the medium tyre demonstrated a seven-second drop off between his first lap on the C3s and his final effort prior to pitting.

It was an easier ride for the top teams during FP2, but there was still a considerable per-lap time loss as none of the tyre compounds could produce repeatable lap times - even over short stints. This will be worse in traffic, as the dirty air from the cars in front will exacerbate the effect of overheating in the tyres.

Thus, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that some teams may prefer to make an extra stop rather than get caught in traffic. 
 
"The deg was like double than what we expected," Hamilton confirmed. We came into the weekend with an expectation of whether what the tyres are going to be, and for us, we had twice the amount of deg. 

"It will be interesting to see if that’s improved going into tomorrow, but yes, it’s going to be at least a two-stop."

F1 Barcelona GP: Russell beats Hamilton to pole as Leclerc crashes

A frustrated Charles Leclerc was left feeling “ashamed” of himself after crashing in qualifying for the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix, leaving him 10th on Sunday’s grid.

The Ferrari driver drifted onto the dustier line at Turn 4, inevitably causing him to lose the back end and spin into the barrier on the first push lap of his Q3 session.

It has continued an underwhelming run for Leclerc, who is without a podium since Japan in March and crashed out from third at his home race in Monaco last weekend.

He blamed last week's crash on his brakes, so switched to a similar configuration as team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but still had little effect as he ended another session in a downbeat mood.

When asked if the brakes had anything to do with his qualifying crash, Leclerc replied: “No, no, there's none of that.

“I adapted very well straight from FP2, I felt very at ease with it, and there's nothing of that - there's no excuses.

“I felt very ashamed after the last three weekends that have been particularly difficult for me to find pace for issues I had.

“Today, and this weekend, I think everything felt really, really good and on these days I need to deliver and I didn't. So I felt very ashamed in general.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

The result is made worse by Hamilton qualifying second, so he is in a good position to extend his points advantage over Leclerc after jumping ahead following his podiums in Canada and Monaco.

So, this weekend is now a case of damage limitation for the Monegasque, who was just trying to over-correct the speed deficit he thinks Ferrari had at Turn 4 in Barcelona.

Leclerc told Sky Sports: “I released the brakes earlier. I think we were close to being the fastest car every corner apart from Turn 4.

“I knew it was a weakness, I knew I had to make everything perfect for that lap. I tried, but I obviously regret it and again I feel very much ashamed.

“The last two races, Canada and Monaco, I was in a very tricky configuration to deal with, that didn't make it easy and Monaco ended the way it ended. That was already very difficult to take and accept, knowing that I could do little with it.

“But this weekend there was none of that. The car was great, the feeling with the car was amazing and I didn't deliver. If anything, it's a lot worse than that, I put it into the wall.

“So there's no excuses, I just feel ashamed. The only positive I can take is that the feeling that I have in the car is back and for tomorrow I feel optimistic. But I need to show that. I just need to do the perfect race.”

F1 Barcelona GP: Russell beats Hamilton to pole as Leclerc crashes

George Russell finally struck back in the 2026 Formula 1 world title fight as he ended Kimi Antonelli’s dominant streak to take pole for the Barcelona Grand Prix.

Russell set a 1m14.679s for his third pole of 2026, 0.064s quicker than second-placed Lewis Hamilton with Antonelli in third and three tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate.

The Briton’s pole this weekend is no surprise after topping two of the three practice sessions, while also going quickest in Q2 following second in the opening qualifying outing.

In Q3, meanwhile, drivers had to overcome an early red flag as Charles Leclerc crashed at the Turn 4 exit after drifting onto the dustier line which suddenly caused him to lose the back end.

By that point only two laps were completed, Oscar Piastri’s 1m15.176s to Max Verstappen’s 1m15.328s, both of which were subsequently beaten to provisional pole by Russell.

Lando Norris is the lead McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

The Mercedes driver set a 1m15.145s, 0.031s quicker than Piastri, while Antonelli could only achieve a provisional fourth after going 0.269s slower than the Briton.

Antonelli improved to a 1m14.998s on his second run though, initially jumping ahead of his team-mate, before Russell took pole back moments later by 0.319s.

The championship leader dropped again after Hamilton’s late time, a 1m14.743s, meaning he will share the second row with Lando Norris who set a 1m15.001s at the end for McLaren.

Verstappen ultimately qualified fifth, improving to a 1m15.021s late on, with his Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar 0.056s behind in sixth to complete the third row.

It was a scrappy end for Piastri who slipped to seventh, having only improved to a 1m15.090s, and his McLaren will be joined on the fourth row by in-form Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi set a 1m16.542s, still some way off the top four teams, but more crucially a tenth ahead of ninth-placed Nico Hulkenberg for Audi with 10th going to Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc ended Q3 in the wall

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

It could have been worse for McLaren though, as both of its cars were at risk at the end of Q2 with Norris eighth and Piastri only 10th, but the pair improved late on to survive the scare.

So 11th went to Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, 0.161s ahead of 12th-placed Gabriel Bortoleto for Audi with 13th going to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.

It means the Argentine has now outqualified team-mate Pierre Gasly in five of the last six sessions - including sprints - as 14th went to the Frenchman, a day after his Monaco podium was reinstated.

Oliver Bearman ultimately took 15th for Haas with 16th going to Carlos Sainz in a Q2 session topped by Russell, who was second to former Mercedes team-mate Hamilton in Q1.

Q1 saw Esteban Ocon qualify 17th for the third consecutive race after being pushed into the elimination zone late on by Sainz, whose Williams team-mate Alex Albon took 18th.

It’ll be an all-Cadillac 10th row with Sergio Perez in 19th, again outqualifying Valtteri Bottas in 20th, while Aston Martin was a second behind the American outfit at the back.

For the first time in 2026, Lance Stroll qualified ahead of stablemate Fernando Alonso by taking 21st, whereas 22nd went to the world champion.

Fernando Alonso finished in 22nd in Spain

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

F1 Barcelona GP: Qualifying result

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix

The #8 Toyota leads the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours one hour into the race, despite starting from a lowly 15th position.

’ #12 Cadillac before even the first corner of the race before Rene Rast passed them both in the sister #20 BMW, by the first chicane of the Mulsanne straight.

Nobody has matched the German’s pace in the first half an hour, as he created a gap of up to nine seconds to Stevens, while Magnussen repeatedly got overtaken.

But the Toyotas pitted earlier than their rivals and, surprisingly, the #8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi managed to narrowly emerge from the opening pitstop sequence in the lead.

Buemi doubled down and impressively pulled away, with Rast over seven seconds down at 5pm local time.

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Robin Frijns, Rene Rast, Sheldon Van Der Linde

Photo by: Marc Fleury

(#7 Toyota) and Stevens (#12 Cadillac).

were involved in breathtaking, uncompromising wheel-to-wheel action on lap one, sometimes taking it as far as the run-off area but never making significant contact.

As of 5pm, the winning constructor from the last three years had its cars down in eighth, 10th and 16th.

(#99 AO by TF) and Jack Doohan (#24 Nielsen Racing) in third.

maintain the #27 Aston Martin’s advantage, until it dropped behind the #78 Lexus from Akkodis ASP Team, driven by Jack Hawksworth, after the first round of pitstops.

The only incident from the first hour involved the #61 Iron Lynx-entered Mercedes as Martin Berry spun in Tertre Rouge, sustaining non-terminal damage.

Classification after Hour 1

George Russell was fastest in final practice for the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix after pipping Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc in a frustrating session for Kimi Antonelli.

Russell was two tenths faster than runner-up Piastri, whose McLaren was less than a tenth quicker than the Ferrari of Leclerc leaving what was a wide-open session.

That was after a slow start though, as it often is in FP3, with teams reluctant to head straight out given the unrepresentative lap times and only Cadillac, plus Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, greeted the track early. 

Yet action in the 32C heat ramped up after 20 minutes and FP2 pacesetter Lando Norris went quickest with a 1m16.609s on the softs, before Leclerc came within 0.076s. 

Turn 10 is ultimately where Leclerc lost out and that hairpin is often the difference maker, as soon afterwards Antonelli’s opening lap also tailed off after a purple sector two.

The championship leader eventually went 0.109s quicker than Norris, but 0.242s slower than team-mate Russell who led a Mercedes 1-2 on a 1m16.258s halfway into the one-hour session.

Watch: The George Russell and Lewis Hamilton Reset | 2026 Barcelona GP Saturday

That was only five minutes before Valtteri Bottas also endured trouble at Turn 10 as the Cadillac driver spun into the gravel trap, reporting “I lost my brake pedals” and caused a red flag. 

Green flag conditions returned with 20 minutes remaining but teams were slow in heading out, before a late 10 minute rush as the qualifying runs came into effect. 

FP1 pacesetter Russell was first to improve, cutting his best lap time by 0.579s to a 1m15.679, before Piastri jumped up to second after setting a 1m15.893s, 0.214s slower than the Mercedes. 

Piastri’s team-mate Norris slotted into third, 0.032s slower than the sister McLaren, but soon dropped to fourth as Leclerc put himself between the papaya cars on a 1m15.922s.

Fifth ultimately went to Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.702s off the pace with a 1m16.381s which was 0.053s quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in sixth. 

Trouble struck Antonelli late on, as the 19-year-old aborted his first lap after encountering Lance Stroll at the opening chance before backing out of his second as well. That was due to going wide at Turn 10 with a Haas on the inside, inevitably causing an incredibly frustrated Antonelli, who had to settle for seventh with a 1m16.500s he set earlier. 

Isack Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad respectively rounded out the top 10 with all drivers bar 19th-placed Sergio Perez setting their lap times on soft rubber, mediums for the Cadillac.

How Russell ended up the biggest victim of the Monaco pitlane saga

F1 Barcelona GP - FP3 Results

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix

"I recently watched the Rafa [Nadal] documentary and also the Ronaldinho documentary," George Russell said on Thursday in Barcelona when asked how he was going to 'clear his head' after all the recent setbacks.

"It's not plain sailing every tournament, every match, every season. Ronaldinho was a hero of mine. I didn't realise that he had so many years and matches and competitions of struggle. We always only remember the highlights of all of these greats. [But] everybody goes through these moments, whether it's through personal performance, things out of their control, injury - whatever it is.

"That's where we are now. I'll come through."

The 2026 season, which was supposed to bring Russell the world title on a plate the same colour as his car, has instead delivered one blow after another. And if the unfortunate timing of the safety car in Japan and the engine blow-up in Canada can be put down as a routine part of a complex and technical sport, the punch George took in Monaco was the kind that lands below the waist. Especially given that, a few days later, it became clear that the chain of events which undid his race had been triggered by a completely freak set of circumstances beyond his control.

Mercedes weighs up legal options over Gasly Monaco F1 penalty precedent

Although the Monaco pitlane saga is far from over, with McLaren and Red Bull still weighing up whether to lodge a protest, and Toto Wolff saying he is consulting lawyers to see whether Mercedes has any avenue to seek justice for Russell, whatever happens next is unlikely to change the zero next to George's name in the Monaco points column. Because there is one particular difference between his case and all the others.

Of the five drivers who received penalties, two were able to serve them during the race when Lance Stroll crashed at Anthony Noghes with 18 laps to go and brought out the safety car. Alpine opted not to stop its drivers, a decision that would prove crucial in hindsight. Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton pitted immediately after the safety car was deployed, using the neutralised conditions to clear their five-second penalties. Hamilton effectively lost nothing, but Piastri surrendered a position to Gasly, who stayed out.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Ironically, it was the Frenchman who ultimately became the main beneficiary of the whole chain of events triggered by the incorrectly configured timing loops in the Monaco pitlane, despite initially appearing to be one of its biggest victims. In his emotional post-race interview, Gasly cited the "unfair reasons" that "robbed" him of a podium in Monaco. But in reality, those very same reasons were what made it possible for him to finish P3 on the road, whereas the Alpine driver would never have come close to it had the timing system been working as it should.

The Frenchman not only got ahead of Piastri when the McLaren driver stopped to change tyres and serve his penalty, but also gained a position on Russell moments later, as the real drama for the Mercedes driver unfolded during that same safety car period.

How Russell made it worse himself

Russell earned his penalty after stopping on lap 31 - and at that point it did not yet look particularly suspicious. Hamilton had committed a similar offence three laps earlier, but in George's case one could have assumed he had simply overpushed on pit entry or pressed the button too early on pit exit while trying to undercut Isack Hadjar, whose rear wing he had spent the entire opening stint staring at.

In truth, there were already signs that something wasn't quite right. Both Russell and Hamilton were penalised for the exact same excess - just 0.1km/h - and it was only when the system caught Franco Colapinto, also at 0.1km/h over the limit, that the stewards reached out to race control to ask whether there was an issue. But they were told there wasn't.

Still, by the time Stroll - using the Canadian's own wording - was pushed by his engine into the TecPro barriers at Anthony Noghes, Russell appeared to be out of trouble. Hadjar was 16 seconds behind the Mercedes driver, and had it not been for the safety car, George would have had nothing to worry about as he had more than enough margin to offset his five-second penalty.

One unfortunate circumstance for Russell was that, while he was stuck behind Hadjar - who was struggling with engine issues - he lost so much time that his lightning-quick team-mate Kimi Antonelli lapped him a dozen laps before Stroll's crash. But it only became an issue because of several other factors.

George Russell was stuck behind Isack Hadjar for 30 laps

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

The crucial moment came when race control decided to send the safety car through the pitlane to allow marshals to clear the Aston Martin, and Russell became unsure whether he needed to pit. Remembering his penalty, he believed he still had enough margin to Hadjar and that it would be the right time to serve it, as the bunched-up field had suddenly turned it into a much bigger problem. But George had simply overestimated the gap.

In theory, the gap was large enough for Russell not only to pit and serve his penalty, but also to rejoin ahead of the Red Bull driver. The problem was that Mercedes decided to pit Antonelli, probably believing that stopping Russell would still be too risky from a track-position perspective.

Everything happened too quickly. Russell was told he would be "staying out" by his engineer, but upon seeing the safety car entering the pitlane, the driver radioed back: "We're going through the pitlane, get tyres."

What didn't help was that Mercedes occupied the first pitbox after pit entry in Monaco, leaving the team with very little time to deliver a clear instruction. Russell reduced his speed almost to walking pace while waiting for confirmation and for Antonelli's stop to be completed first, which - unfortunately for George - also took a couple more seconds than normal.

"What am I doing?" he asked the team when he was already metres from the pitbox. By that stage, Mercedes had around four seconds to tell him not to stop - and that proved insufficient. Crucially, while there was no answer from the team, Russell could see that a second set of fresh tyres was ready. And given his own request just seconds earlier, he took that as confirmation that he was expected to stop as well.

How Russell aims to save his spiralling 2026 F1 season

"It was at a very complicated point of the race because Kimi had just overtaken George, so George was a lapped car," Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained after the race. "Now, when the safety car came out, the plan was to bring Kimi in - and we were just doing the calculations, working out that George, with his pitstop, with the penalty, and now the added fact that he had to wait for Kimi's car to be serviced, to understand whether he would still be ahead of Hadjar. We concluded he would not.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

"So we told George to stay out. Now, having missed Kimi's stop the first time [as he was already past the pit entry] we still had an opportunity the second time around. So we called him in and at that point the message came up that the safety car will go through the pitlane. So Kimi was being serviced as planned. What we failed to do was get the message to George to stay in the fast lane. And both sets of tyres were there. That's normal, because you do that in a safety car [period] because your plans can change depending on what the other teams do.

"Although we told George to stay out, when they came through the pitlane, he saw his tyres. We didn't have time to get a message to him to stay in the fast lane. And because he assumed that they were for him, he pulled into the box."

That came as a surprise to the mechanics, who were clearly caught out. While some appeared to hesitate, presumably remembering George's penalty, others immediately started working on the car. Not only did it cause delay and confusion, but the penalty was not served correctly, as Russell did not spend five seconds stationary in the pitbox with nobody working on the car. The fact that Hadjar simply drove past the stationary Mercedes was no longer the biggest issue.

The drive-through

As the stewards noticed the penalty had not been served as prescribed by the regulations, they had no choice but to issue Russell another one, this time a more severe sanction.

The drive-through penalty, which the stewards deemed the appropriate punishment for a driver who had failed to serve an existing penalty correctly, seemed a logical choice. But it effectively dropped Russell out of contention for points, as he only had to serve it after the final restart. He tried to back the field up as soon as the race resumed and then use Mercedes' pace advantage to salvage at least some points, but there simply wasn't enough time to build a sufficient gap. As a result, he emerged from the pits outside the top 10 after serving the drive-through.

Russell was running third after the last restart in Monaco

Photo by: Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images

Ultimately, a split-second decision to pit when the team expected him to stay out undid Russell's race.

Mercedes' call to keep Russell on track and not risk losing a position to Hadjar simply to serve the penalty was entirely logical. Yes, the Frenchman would have lined up right behind him for the restart, but George would still have had enough laps to try to build a five-second gap. It would still have been a challenge, but ending up stuck behind the Red Bull again was a far less attractive prospect.

Alpine, meanwhile, opted not to pit Gasly during the race, choosing instead to keep track position ahead of Piastri. But while the Australian had already rid himself of his five-second penalty, Pierre was still carrying his, with the sanction due to be added to his race time after the chequered flag. It was a far riskier approach - not least because track position alone was unlikely to count for much in such circumstances. To believe that the Frenchman, on 15-lap-old hard tyres, would simply pull away from a McLaren on fresh softs was highly optimistic. Some might argue it would have been wiser to give up track position to Piastri in order to create a buffer to the cars behind, many of which had also switched to fresh softs.

Speaking to the media on Friday in Barcelona, Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen was asked whether his experience working for both the FIA and FOM had helped in any way in securing the successful Right of Review. His answer was straightforward: "To be honest, no."

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Gasly's Monaco penalty

Yet could a team led by someone with 40 years of Formula 1 experience across a variety of roles at least have considered during the race that there might be another way to keep Piastri behind in the final Monaco classification? For example, by asking the FIA to investigate what was causing all these speeding offences in the first place...

Either way, avoiding serving the penalty during the race certainly proved very convenient and undoubtedly helped Alpine overturn Gasly's penalties a few days later. Those who served their penalties during the race effectively never had the same opportunity.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

What Nielsen did acknowledge, however, was that some suspicions about the system being slightly off had already emerged earlier in the weekend. Across practice and qualifying there had already been five speeding fines, four of them for marginal offences of less than 0.5km/h.

He also confirmed that "there was a meeting that was attended by some teams" where the still "undiagnosed" issue had been discussed before the race.

Staying out and avoiding serving the penalty would potentially have been useful for Mercedes as well, at least in terms of challenging it in the same way Alpine eventually did. And in Mercedes' case, the team definitely knew about a possible timing-system issue earlier in the weekend, as both Russell and Antonelli had been caught "speeding" on Friday by 0.1km/h and 0.3km/h respectively.

How many points Russell really lost?

The most bitter aspect of all this for Russell is probably the fact that there is no realistic way to recover the lost points, despite all the talk of Mercedes exploring possible legal options.

George wasn't particularly quick in Monaco, to say the least. Nevertheless, it's relatively easy to conclude that he could have still finished third in the race, following Verstappen's early retirement and Leclerc's crash. At least Russell got ahead of Hadjar, so essentially he did the minimum required. And if there is anything he can blame himself for, it's the decision to dive into a pitstop when nobody was expecting him.

What that effectively means is that the Monaco weekend - and that particular issue with the official timing system - cost Russell another 15 (or at least 12) points in the championship battle. And that is perhaps the biggest consequence of the entire pitlane saga.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images

There may yet be further developments, but it is still difficult to see how any of them would change anything for Russell.

It was a freak incident, one that is unlikely ever to happen again. Ultimately, it stemmed from a completely random human error, with no malice involved. Yet Russell's 2026 season has become significantly harder because of it.

Instead of what could have been a 53-point gap to Antonelli in the standings, the deficit is now one point short of one of Verstappen's favourite number. And it is hard to escape the conclusion that, should the championship battle remain alive and Russell manage to close the gap later in the year, Monaco will be brought up again and again.

And if he finishes the season fewer than 15 points behind Antonelli, there will be no shortage of people pointing to the Monaco pitlane as the place where the title slipped away.

On the bright side, though, if Russell still manages to pull it off despite all the setbacks, it is going to make one hell of a documentary.

McLaren, Red Bull lodge intention to appeal Gasly's Monaco penalty review win

Perhaps Lewis Hamilton hadn't quite realised what he'd let himself in for upon joining Ferrari last year. For all of the hype around his move to Formula 1's longest-serving team, his first year fell flat.

His form so far in 2026, however, has illustrated a night-and-day difference in his demeanour. Many of his frustrations had been borne from Ferrari's decision to call quits on developing its 2025 car early, having put the bulk of its focus into 2026 as early as April.

The 2025 car had been in some regards an evolution of its 2024 car, albeit with a significant change to its front suspension package that perhaps would have benefitted from a greater run-up in terms of development. Furthermore, it was already in production when Hamilton had joined the team, and the seven-time champion was effectively forced into adapting to a car in which he'd had no input.

Furthermore, Hamilton struggled to gel with his team. Although the team had played it down slightly over the course of last year, it was apparent that his side of the garage needed a reshuffle - Riccardo Adami since stepped down as his race engineer, and Carlo Santi now fulfils the role.

Hamilton had earlier dubbed Santi as the "Italian Bono" - referring to his long-time Mercedes race engineer Pete Bonnington - and noted that the two had a great working relationship. This extends to the team as a whole, and Hamilton feels that he and Ferrari are on the same wavelength.

"It's been a great first part of the season, it could of course be better, but I think it's been a real positive feeling, the harmony between myself and my personal team and the racing team is better than it's ever been," he said.

"It's taken us a good year to get to know each other and we're more aligned than ever and I think this is a good foundation for us to then build on moving forwards.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

"There's still a huge amount of work to do, there's still improvements we need to make. In terms of galvanising the troops, they're all so passionate, you go back to the factory I've never seen a love for a team like it and a passion for the team. It's just about directing that, steering it in the right direction, that's what I try to do."

Discussing his much stronger start to 2026, Hamilton explained that he had spent last year suggesting changes to Ferrari's processes and in asking for certain changes to be made to the car, which were not possible when development closed down on 2025.

Fully ingratiated in the team for 2026, however, Hamilton says his feedback has now been listened to and acted upon by the Ferrari design team - and that he spurred the team on to be innovative with its 2026 developments. 

Ferrari has indeed taken the initiative with some of its developments, most notably with its rotating "Macarena" wing - which turns upside down to dump drag when the straight-mode active aerodynamics system is applied. The team has also explored winglets mounted within the exhaust exit, which almost all of the 2026 grid has since built into their designs.

"When you're in a scenario where you know what's needed to improve and you shout it from the top of the mountain, and it doesn't get done necessarily because it can't be done immediately - or it takes months to develop, or it can't happen to the next year because of the regulations, whatever it may be, it's like banging your head against the wall and it's tough," he continued.

"So, it's nice to be in a [different] period. For example, last year, one of the things I was [asking was] 'Where is our innovation? Ferrari should be the innovators; they should be the ones that all the teams are trying to copy.' 

"This year you see us arrive with innovative things that other people have followed, and there is a lot more innovation coming which is really exciting. 

Rear wing comparison, Ferrari SF-26

"I think probably the fact that I'm now starting to see some of those things happen, and Fred has really been great with working with me and helping make certain changes that I've wanted, that it just kind of releases you to get up and do what you do best."

Hamilton feels that Ferrari still needs to find more overall downforce to start challenging Mercedes on a more regular basis. Ferrari has also been granted two upgrades through the ADUO system, but it is expected that any developments to the powertrain will have a much longer lead time. 

The team introduced a new aero package for Barcelona, featuring an updated front wing and a series of new floor components.

Ferrari unleashes major F1 car upgrades as it chases down Mercedes at Barcelona GP

Pierre Gasly started the day in seventh place at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix before ending it with a podium, officially the sixth of his Formula 1 career.

Indeed, almost five days after the finish of the Monte Carlo race, which had seen him relegated to seventh place due to two penalties for speeding in the pitlane, the stewards of the Monaco GP – having reviewed the case following a right of review by Alpine – ruled in favour of his team and concluded that the Frenchman had not committed any offence.

FIA stewards overturn Pierre Gasly's penalties, restore Monaco GP podium

The removal of these two penalties therefore restored Gasly to his third-place finish on track, whilst removing Isack Hadjar from the podium. This came as a relief to Gasly, who had described last Sunday as the “hardest” day of his career.

“I'm extremely happy for the whole team, very proud of the whole team, the way they have fought for all of us for that result,” he told Sky Sports on Friday in Barcelona.

“I must say, Sunday night I felt very low. A lot of mixed emotions, proud of the performance, extremely sad about the whole decision, the whole situation. Some injustice in all that situation, and I wasn't sure how things would move forward. But the team did an amazing job.

“I'm very proud of F1, FIA for the transparency and everybody recognising their responsibilities in that situation. We all know that with everything at stake, when you look at the world championship in all different sports, you know how complicated things can be. I think for today, it's a massive step forward for our sport.”

Watch: Wolff reacts to Red Bull's engine news, Gasly gets Monaco podium back | 2026 Barcelona GP Friday

It is clear, however, that what also makes such a result so special – namely, experiencing the unique atmosphere of the Monaco podium and the collective celebrations – cannot be replaced, despite the sense of justice felt by the 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner.

“It won't give me back what I lost,” he added. “I've accepted that already. As much as I would have liked to see how it looks, just stopping there, being on the podium with the prince, celebrating with the guys.

“These moments are what makes a career so special. It's not going to happen, it didn't happen, that's how it is. We'll have to do it another time.

“But for now, I'm just very proud of how the team handled the situation. How much they backed me up and brought our case forward and really fought for it. Very good news, a bit strange to celebrate on a Friday morning, but it is what it is and I'm just happy.”

Gasly is therefore taking a fatalistic view, but remains pleased with what this podium finish means for the Alpine team, which is recovering from a particularly long and difficult 2025 season, having chosen to focus on 2026 and its regulatory changes.

“Points are important as well,” Gasly pointed out, as the haul for third place secures Alpine’s fifth position in the constructors' championship. “We should not forget that 12 months ago, even 6 months ago we were in a very different position in Abu Dhabi.

“Last year was a very long year. The car wasn't competitive and the team worked very hard to turn things around with that new regulation. So far this year we've managed to score points in every round.

“It's a good time, there's good momentum. I'm sure it's going to bring a lot of positivity and the right mood in the team. It can only be good for the future.”

Toto Wolff speaking to Mercedes lawyers over Monaco F1 penalty precedent

McLaren, Red Bull lodge intention to appeal Pierre Gasly's right of review win

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Pierre Gasly's Monaco penalty

While Gasly has reason to celebrate on Friday evening in Barcelona, his rivals are considering their next moves. Following the stewards’ verdict on the Monaco race, both Red Bull and McLaren highlighted their intention to appeal the result. They now have 96 hours in which they can decide whether to lodge a formal protest over the decision.

Mercedes is also considering its options following the verdict, and team boss Toto Wolff warned that he had spoken with team lawyers over its options.

Lando Norris snatched the fastest time of the Barcelona Grand Prix's second practice session from George Russell by just 0.009s, as Oscar Piastri also got within 0.06s of his McLaren Formula 1 team-mate's benchmark.

Norris, who missed FP1 as McLaren reserve Leonardo Fornaroli drove in an F1 session for the first time, concluded the customary FP2 soft-tyre running with a 1m15.426s, a lap that was defined by a handful of slides and corrections as the Briton attempted to coax his car through the Barcelona circuit.

Before Norris' lap, Russell, who had headlined FP1, managed to overturn the pace set by Piastri at the start of the session on mediums. The Australian had put together a 1m15.724s to sit at the top of the order - where he remained by the end of the opening 30 minutes before Russell eclipsed the McLaren driver with a switch to softs.

Yet, Russell's effort was beaten by less than one hundredth of a second when Norris put his soft-tyre effort together, which preceded the longer runs as the teams gravitated towards exploring their potential race pace.

Piastri's own effort on softs brought him into the same postcode as Norris and Russell, demonstrating that McLaren appears to have made a significant step forward at a more conventional circuit after a tough weekend in Monaco.

Charles Leclerc was fourth on the timesheets, albeit 0.373s off as Ferrari continued to explore its raft of updates introduced for the Barcelona weekend. The team took a new front wing to Spain, but this has been subject to several adjustments; Lewis Hamilton reported "dragging" on the straights, prompting a flurry of action as Ferrari's mechanics made some quick tweaks.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was 0.589s off Norris' pace, albeit was one of the earlier drivers to gravitate towards the soft-tyre runs.

The Italian teen reported that he was struggling with a long brake pedal, demonstrating his discomfort into the corners; Antonelli was another of seven drivers to give up his seat for FP1 as Frederik Vesti drove for Mercedes in the early session.

Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad were the only remaining drivers within a second of Norris' soft-tyre effort, with Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto another two tenths behind the Briton. Hamilton, who reported heavy tyre degradation late on in the session, was ninth fastest. Many of the drivers experienced tyre wear during their longer runs, suggesting that the race might not necessarily produce a customary one-stop scenario seen so far this season.

Ferrari unleashes major F1 car upgrades as it chases down Mercedes at Barcelona GP

Isack Hadjar was 10th fastest, narrowly avoiding contact with Sergio Perez during the session as the Cadillac driver turned in on him, with Nico Hulkenberg and Ollie Bearman just outside of the top 10. 

Liam Lawson was 13th despite his engine having "died" after the first 15 minutes, resulting in his stoppage on the exit of the pitlane. There was no red flag to recover the car, however, as a virtual safety car covered off the removal of his stranded Racing Bulls chassis. His time from the early stages of the session was enough to sit clear of the Williams and Alpine drivers, plus Esteban Ocon.

F1 Barcelona GP - FP2 Results

McLaren, Red Bull lodge intention to appeal Gasly's Monaco penalty review win

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Gasly's Monaco penalty

The surprising ADUO outcome that teams received in Monaco remains one of the main talking points in the Barcelona paddock. Rather than Mercedes, it was Red Bull-Ford Powertrains that was placed at the top of the rankings, meaning the newcomer is the only manufacturer not entitled to Formula 1's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities.

A public confirmation from the FIA is still pending, as Red Bull has asked the governing body to review the results once again.

Red Bull requests FIA review of ADUO results after emerging as F1 engine benchmark

That process is a factual check of the data and sensors, although the outcome appears to expose some more fundamental issues as well. Only the power of the internal combustion engine is measured, yet the permitted upgrades extend beyond that. Manufacturers are allowed to use an ADUO token to improve components such as the battery and MGU-K as well.

For Mercedes, qualifying for ADUO is naturally a welcome opportunity, although team principal Toto Wolff joked in Barcelona: “The first thing I heard was Flavio [Briatore, Alpine] calling me, saying the deal was that he's buying the strongest engine, and he's found out that it's not the strongest engine! So what can I say?

“But a new homologation is definitely something that is helpful. Because if you don't get that, there is quite a possibility of being leapfrogged by somebody else who is able to do this.”

That raises an important question: is ADUO working as intended? While Wolff speaks about the risk “of being leapfrogged”, he said during the April break that this was precisely what ADUO should not be about.

At the time, Wolff said that only one manufacturer – Honda – needed assistance, when the consensus in the paddock was still that Mercedes would be ranked at the top by the FIA.

Mercedes was expected to have the benchmark power unit, but the FIA ruled Red Bull's is better

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

In Barcelona, Wolff argued that the system – despite this surprising outcome – is still doing exactly what it was designed to do.

“I think it was a protection mechanism, how it was intended to be, to avoid the 2014 situation that one engine manufacturer was having such an advantage and was running away with engine, with testing mileage and race results,” Wolff said when asked by Autosport.

“We were on the good end of that, but this is what we wanted to avoid, especially newcomers coming in like Audi and to a certain degree Honda with Aston Martin, and Red Bull of course. That's what it is, and that's how it should be.”

Should the FIA consider more than just ICE power?

There still appears to be a discrepancy between the measurement method and the upgrade opportunities linked to it. Wolff stresses, however, that basing it purely on data is the most objective way of doing it.

“In my opinion, when you speak to Nikolas [Tombazis], it's data that they have measured and collected,” Wolff said. “There is no political background, there are no favours, but it's the outcome of their analysis of their torque sensors. That’s the way it's being done and that is the result.”

Tombazis acknowledged in April that the FIA is open to considering additional parameters, but that the teams and manufacturers themselves agreed last year to keep the system as simple as possible.

Ferrari uses a smaller turbocharger, which gives it an advantage off the line

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The downside, however, is that factors such as Ferrari’s smaller turbo are not taken into account. The Scuderia benefits from that choice at the start, but it also affects the overall power output. Does that justify receiving ADUO, or should the FIA take such factors into account?

Tombazis was willing to include factors such as turbo size in the calculations, but Wolff defended the decision to keep the system simple and base it purely on data. According to the Mercedes boss, F1 should stay away from subjective factors – or, in the worst case, a Balance of Performance system.

“This is something that we should stay far away from in Formula 1. It's a political mess in all the other series, it makes manufacturers go out of the sport also,” he warned.

“And I've been very close to that as you can imagine in DTM, in GTs, in Le Mans, and we should never be tempted to have someone agree on how the Balance of Performance should fall out.

“If there is a mechanism that consists of fine-tuning in order to make sure that nobody is embarrassed on the power unit side, I think that's the right way to go.”

Is Red Bull a victim of F1's ADUO system? The surprising results explained

What is ADUO? How F1's engine catch-up system works

Hamilton details ADUO order as Mercedes and Ferrari get F1 engine help

Toto Wolff says Mercedes is "looking what it can do" for George Russell after FIA stewards overturned Pierre Gasly's Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix penalty.

Gasly was one of five drivers penalised for pitlane speeding, with it emerging after the race that there had been an error with the measurement system.

On Sunday night, Gasly's Alpine team launched a right of review procedure against his double five-second penalty, which dropped him from third to seventh after the flag. After hearings over the Barcelona race weekend, the FIA stewards deemed Gasly hadn't been guilty of speeding and took the unprecedented decision to rescind his penalties and reinstate the Frenchman in third.

Gasly regains Monaco GP podium after FIA stewards rescind pitlane speeding penalties

Alpine was the only competitor to launch a right of review, and the stewards detailed that because the other drivers involved had all served their five-second penalties during the race, there was no regulatory framework to undo them.

The penalty errors were particularly costly for Mercedes driver Russell, as he was later slapped with a drive-through penalty for failing to serve his initial five-second hit. It dumped the Briton out of the top 10 and increased his title deficit to team-mate Kimi Antonelli to 68 points, when he was otherwise in podium contention.

When asked for his view on Russell's costly penalty and Gasly being reinstated, Mercedes team boss Wolff said his legal team is investigating if there's anything it can do to help Russell. An actual legal challenge appears extremely unlikely, but given the unprecedented nature of the stewards' decision the team is at least exploring any options at its disposal.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"I [was just] on the phone with our lawyers to look at what we can do for George," Wolff said.

"We are assessing as we speak what the Gasly situation does for George. We wouldn't appeal the Gasly result, certainly, but we would like the FIA to look at what could be the remedies for George's race.

"I think we are having some timing limitations and some other legal constraints, but definitely something we have a reason to be annoyed."

Alongside the potentially disastrous title implications for Russell, another source of annoyance is that a potential issue with the pitlane timing system had already emerged before the race but wasn't fully discovered until after the race. That's when FOM timekeepers found that the first timing loop in pit entry was shorter than originally calibrated, causing the system to overestimate car speeds.

Wolff hopes the parties involved can learn from the Monaco situation to avoid a repeat in the future, with timekeeper provider FOM vowing to review its procedures for Monte Carlo's peculiar pitlane.

F1 to review pitlane procedures after Gasly's Monaco GP podium reinstated

"It was a very unfortunate situation, and clearly we can all learn from that," the Austrian added. "That wasn't something that just came up on Sunday, that suddenly 10 cars that were in breach of pitlane speeding. It's something that was flagged before. I wish we could have had those conversations before the race on Sunday."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

It is understood there are no real avenues Mercedes can pursue to address Monaco specifically, as Russell's served time penalty cannot be unwound at this stage. The only thing it could have done is appeal against the right of review outcome, which Wolff has already ruled out and which would not have had any effect on Russell's result.

McLaren and Red Bull did notify the FIA of their intention to appeal, a move which can be made up to one hour after the stewards' verdict and starts a 96-hour window for both teams to study the verdict, the FIA rulebook and decide if they want to proceed with an actual appeal.

Both teams were affected by Gasly's reinstatement, with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar losing his podium and dropping to fourth, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri was demoted from fourth to fifth.

McLaren, Red Bull lodge intention to appeal Gasly's Monaco penalty review win

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Gasly's Monaco penalty

McLaren and Red Bull are understood to have notified their intention to appeal against the FIA stewards reinstating Pierre Gasly's Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix podium.

On Friday, FIA stewards reinstated Gasly's podium after the Alpine driver was handed two five-second time penalties at the end of last Sunday's race for two separate speeding violations.

Based on evidence provided by FOM, which is in charge of F1 timekeeping, a discrepancy in how pitlane speeds were measured at the entry of Monaco's unique pitlane meant Gasly and four other drivers were found to have been incorrectly penalised.

Gasly regains Monaco GP podium after FIA stewards rescind pitlane speeding penalties

However, some teams feel it was their own responsibility to take enough margin through the pitlane based on their data from free practice, with Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu pointing out that the large majority of F1's 22-car grid managed to get through the race without alleged speeding violations.

In the FIA hearing, McLaren and Red Bull also offered a different view. Red Bull sporting director Stephen Knowles argued the pitlane timing process was consistent all weekend and that teams adjusted their own systems accordingly, in the knowledge that the speed calculation isn't perfect. Knowles represents Isack Hadjar, the driver who has now lost third place to Gasly.

McLaren's Will Courtenay argued against amending the results for similar reasons, even if his driver Oscar Piastri was one of the drivers falling foul of the speed limit, as the Australian was also moved down one place in the results as Gasly was reinstated.

Watch: Wolff reacts to Red Bull's engine news, Gasly gets Monaco podium back | 2026 Barcelona GP Friday

Per article 15.4 of the FIA's International Sporting Code, competitors had one hour after the stewards' decision to notify their intention to appeal.

That does not mean McLaren and Red Bull are actually appealing against the verdict just yet. But it gives them an additional 96-hour time window to further study the decision and the rulebook to see if there is an element to appeal against before following through on it.

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Gasly's Monaco penalty

F1 to review pitlane procedures after Gasly's Monaco GP podium reinstated

Gasly’s Monaco GP penalty rescinded: FIA stewards report in full

Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell has topped first practice at the Barcelona Grand Prix, heading McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc at Montmelo.

On a hot Friday afternoon, Russell set a best time of 1m16.363s to head Piastri by two tenths. In a heavily upgraded Ferrari SF-26, Leclerc was 0.520s behind in third, followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren FP1 driver Leonardo Fornaroli.

A third through the one-hour session, Russell upped the ante with a 1m17.353s lap on Pirelli's medium-tyres, which was soon bested by Verstappen's 1m17.047s, on softs.

Around the halfway mark Russell took a significant bite out of his time to set a 1m16.363s lap, a benchmark which would remain untouched for the remainder of the session.

Piastri was a strong second on mediums, just two tenths behind, ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen, who initially complained about the unpredictable mix of understeer and oversteer in his Red Bull RB22.

Standing in for world champion Lando Norris, Fornaroli was the first of a sizeable rookie crop in Barcelona, a safe proving ground for teams to satisfy one of their four rookie outing requirements.

Leonardo Fornaroli, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Paul Aron took sixth for Audi in Nico Hulkenberg's car, ahead of Liam Lawson and Dino Beganovic, who took the reins of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10.

Elsewhere, Ayumu Iwasa was in Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull ended the session in 14th, while 15th-placed Frederik Vesti deputised for championship leader Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes.

F2 driver and former IndyCar ace Colton Herta received his first FP1 outing with Cadillac as he prepares for a possible F1 future, with the Californian 21st and last of the drivers establishing a lap time.

That's because Williams reserve Luke Browning was not able to run due to suspected electrical issues on Alex Albon's FW48. The Super Formula driver is set for another outing in two weeks at the Austrian Grand Prix.

How Alpine presented its case to overturn Gasly's Monaco penalty

F1 Barcelona GP - FP1 results

Gasly’s Monaco GP penalty rescinded: FIA stewards report in full

Ferrari unleashes major F1 car upgrades as it chases down Mercedes at Barcelona GP

Ford has signed Matt Campbell, Nick Yelloly and Tom Blomqvist for its entry into the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship in 2027.

They join the previously announced trio of Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastian Priaulx and Logan Sargeant, with the entire six-strong driver line-up present for the official announcement on Friday at the eve of this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

All three of the American brand’s newest signings bring a wealth of experience in prototype machinery. Both Campbell and Blomqvist have won overall titles in IMSA, while Yelloly’s CV includes GTP race wins with both BMW and Acura and an LMP2 victory at Le Mans.

Ford was able to poach the trio from rival manufacturers amid structural changes to their motorsport programmes.

Both Yelloly and Blomqvist make the switch from Honda’s luxury brand Acura, whose GTP project in the IMSA SportsCar Championship will be “paused” at the end of the year. 

Campbell, meanwhile, will move across from Porsche, which pulled out of Hypercar at the end of 2025 but continues to race in the GTP class. The reigning champion was demoted to an endurance-only role this year as Porsche re-accommodated Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor from its former WEC team into IMSA.

Matt Campbell, Nick Yelloly and Tom Blomqvist, Ford Racing

Photo by: Ford

“Having Matt, Nick and Tom on board early is a massive boost,” said Ford’s Hypercar chief Dan Sayers.

“Their combined feedback in the simulator and during our upcoming testing phases across Europe will be vital as we transition from the virtual world to the track. They all have a proven track record of extracting performance from brand-new platforms and providing the precise technical feedback needed to refine our in-house developed control systems.” 

Ford is expected to roll out its as-yet-unnamed LMDh prototype in August, ahead of the start of next season in March 2027.

The Blue Oval has partnered with ORECA, one of the four licensed LMP2 manufacturers, for the development of the chassis, following in the footsteps of Acura, Alpine and Genesis.

The car will be powered by a 5.4-litre naturally-aspirated Coyote engine developed by Ford in Dearborn, clubbed with a spec-hybrid system, while the operational side of the team will also be managed in-house by the company.

Ford said further info about the driver pairings and the car’s official name will be revealed at a later date.

Dan Sayers, Ford

Photo by: Ford

Ford already has a presence in the WEC, with Proton Competition entering a pair of Mustang GT3 Evos on a customer basis in the LMGT3 class. 

The LMDh project marks Ford’s first factory attempt at outright Le Mans glory since the ill-fated C100 Group C effort in 1982.

It dominated the French endurance classic in the late 1960s, scoring four consecutive wins with various iterations of the GT40s. 

It scored its most recent class win in 2016, with the factory Chip Ganassi team triumphing in GTE Pro with the then-new Ford GT.

Ford in talks with Verstappen about WEC Hypercar opportunities

Manufacturers will remain free to develop their own chassis and hybrid systems when the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category moves towards the LMDh rulebook for 2030.

New regulations being put in place for after the end of the homologation period of the current cars will outlaw the four-wheel-drive currently allowed under the Le Mans Hypercar rules and mandate that hybrid power can only be retrieved and returned to the track via the rear axle as per LMDh.

But the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which co-run the WEC, have revealed that entrants in Hypercar will not be forced to develop a car around a chassis spine provided by one of the four licensed LMDh constructors.

Nor will they have to use the spec hybrid system developed by Bosch, Fortescue Zero [formerly WAE Technologies] and Xtrac.

FIA chief technology officer Xavier Mestelan Pinon said: “This is very important for some of our manufacturers who want to promote their own technology for the battery or the hybrid system.

“There will be one platform, but two paths to get there: one way it is to do what is done already in LMDh with common parts and the other track is a fully bespoke design.

“But this would be with the same technological regulatory constraints - the technical specifications would be the same.”

Manufacturers will be free to develop their own hybrid powertrains or use off-the-shelf components

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Mestelen Pinon also revealed that a manufacturer using an off-the-shelf chassis would be allowed to develop its own hybrid system.

But he explained that a manufacturer wouldn’t be able to build its own chassis and use the spec hybrid system.

Mestelan Pinon and ACO technical director Thierry Bouvet hinted that further freedoms could be allowed to Hypercar participants using an off-the-shelf spine.

Further changes to the Hypercar rulebook for 2030 will give more scope to the manufacturers to incorporate styling cues into their cars.

But there will be further aerodynamic constraints on the underside of the cars: the plan is to introduce a common underbody and rear diffuser.

“The most important thing is to offer more flexibility for the external design, the upper body – this is the spirit,” said Mestelan Pinon.

There will also be a 20kW (26bhp) increase in power from the current 520kW (697bhp) maximum. The increase will come via the internal combustion element of the powertrain.

Minimum weight will increase under the new rules

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Minimum weight will be increased from 1030 to 1040kg.

The new Hypercar rules will be in force for five years and no performance evolutions will be allowed in that period except where a significant deficit in speed is demonstrated.

Mestelan Pinon and Bouvet stressed that the new regulations announced on Friday at the tradition pre-Le Mans 24 Hours ACO press conference still have to be worked out in detail.

Bouvet stated that the announcement only represented “guidelines” and that the definitive regulations will be formulated over the second half of the season in technical working groups involving the manufacturers.

The FIA and the ACO have firmed up an intention to have hydrogen-fuelled cars on the grid in Hypercar and challenging for overall victory from 2030 when the new rules come into force.

Liquid hydrogen will be allowed to power both internal combustion engines and fuel cells driving electric motors.

The minimum weight for hydrogen machinery will be 1200kg and an Equivalence of Technology will be employed to equate performance with the conventionally-powered cars.

Rules for hydrogen cars in WEC have been outlined

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

This was the term used when petrol and diesel-powered machinery raced against each other in the WEC under the fuel-formula regulations introduced in 2014.

The FIA and the ACO would not be drawn on whether they expect to have any hydrogen cars on the grid in 2030.

Toyota has been the biggest proponent of the alternative fuel and already has a test car based on its current TR010 HYBRID LMH up and running.

Its TR LH2 ran in public for the first time on Thursday when it took to the Circuit de la Sarthe with Toyota Racing vice-chairman and three-time Le Mans winner Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel.

A drive towards a common set of regulations in Hypercar was announced at Le Mans last year when the life of the Hypercar category was extended by two years from the end of 2029.

The announcement appeared to derail plans to have hydrogen cars racing on equal terms with petrol machinery.

An entirely new rule book had been envisaged for 2030 with hydrogen cars coming to stream running to those regulations one or two years before.

Silverstone added to expanded nine-round 2027 WEC calendar

Formula 1 management has vowed to implement "any improvements or refinements" necessary to avoid a repeat of the Monaco Grand Prix's pitlane speed controversy, with several cars unjustly penalised for speeding.

On Friday FIA stewards reinstated Pierre Gasly's podium after the Alpine driver was handed two five-second time penalties at the end of last Sunday's race for two separate speeding violations.

Based on evidence provided by FOM, which is in charge of F1 timekeeping, a discrepancy in how pitlane speeds were measured at the entry of Monaco's unique pitlane meant Gasly and four other drivers were incorrectly found to be exceeding 60km/h limit, and subsequently incorrectly penalised.

It is understood the various timing loops FOM's timekeepers had installed were placed in the exact same locations as the 2025 edition. However, as noted by the stewards in their verdict, a barrier at pit entry was moved which allowed drivers to take a shorter route into the pitlane. As a result, the average speed of cars was calculated using a distance of up to 77cm shorter than calibrated across the first of nine pitlane timing loops, overestimating their actual speed.

“As part of the right of review process relating to Monaco, we have proactively assisted the FIA in gathering all the relevant information to help inform the steward’s assessments," FOM said in a statement provided to Motorsport.com.

Watch: Wolff reacts to Red Bull's engine news, Gasly gets Monaco podium back | 2026 Barcelona GP Friday

"We measured the relevant areas in the pitlane identically to the 2025 event and followed procedures in the usual way. However, the process has identified a measurement discrepancy. Like everyone in the sport we strive for the best results and, as always, any improvements or refinements that are identified as being required in light of this situation will be implemented.”

George Russell was the biggest victim of the timing issue, with his five-second penalty leading to his podium chase spiralling out of control when he failed to serve it under his next pitstop due to a team communication error. That led to him being handed a drive-through, dropping him out of the points.

On the other hand, some teams feel it was their own responsibility to take enough margin through pitlane based on their data from free practice, with Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu pointing out that the large majority of F1's 22-car grid managed to get through the race without alleged speeding violations.

Alpine thanks FIA and FOM for transparency as Gasly gets Monaco GP podium back

Gasly’s Monaco GP penalty rescinded: FIA stewards report in full

Gasly regains Monaco GP podium after FIA stewards rescind pitlane speeding penalties

Genesis has signalled a desire to enter GT3 racing with the reveal of a concept car at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

On the eve of its debut appearance in the Hypercar class of the French endurance classic, Hyundai’s luxury brand took the covers off the Genesis Magma GT3 Concept at the Circuit de la Sarthe. 

Following in the footsteps of Mercedes and Toyota, Genesis is developing a bespoke model to the GT3 regulations rather than deriving the car from existing road-going machinery. As such, the GT3 car would effectively form the basis of the Magma GT Concept, which was first revealed in November last year.

However, while Toyota and Mercedes have already confirmed plans to enter their upcoming GT3 cars into competition, Genesis described the Concept GT3 as “potential future project” at Le Mans.

It clarified that the two concept cars “highlight one potential pathway for connecting Genesis’ motorsport ambitions” and that it could not “confirm specific production or racing plans” for the time being.

“The Genesis Magma GT3 Concept is one potential future direction for Genesis Magma Racing, alongside our FIA WEC Hypercar entry, as we grow to support the entire Genesis brand,” said Genesis team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

Genesis Magma GT3 Concept

Photo by: Genesis

“Since the very start, we have stated that Genesis Magma Racing is a long-term project, and here we have one possible direction we can take. Like Hypercar, GT3 is another of the recent success stories in motorsport.”  

Genesis has been hinting at plans to expand its involvement in motorsport for some time. Even before the Genesis GMR-001 made its debut in the World Endurance Championship in April, speculation was rife about the Korean manufacturer working on a GT3 car. 

While it remains to be seen when and if the Concept GT3 will enter competitive motorsport, Genesis has been making strong progress in the WEC this season, with its two V8-powered LMDh prototypes qualifying sixth and ninth at Le Mans. 

The GMR-001 is also eligible for competition in IMSA’s GTP, which shares the regulations with Hypercar, but Genesis has pushed back plans to enter the North American championship until 2028 at the earliest.

Hyundai Motorsport, which runs the Genesis LMDh project, continues to compete in the World Rally Championship with the i20 N Rally1.

Silverstone added to expanded nine-round 2027 WEC calendar