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aston martin
WHAT KEEPS ALONSO RACING?
Fernando Alonso looked to be back at his best in Monaco, qualifying a superb seventh for Aston Martin in his second successive Q3 appearance of 2025.
The Spaniard, who started sixth courtesy of a penalty for Lewis Hamilton, ran comfortably in the top-six until an engine issue forced him to grind to a halt at Rascasse, leaving him point-less after eight races - his worst start to a Formula 1 campaign in 10 years.
Despite the tough start, Alonso elaborated during the Barcelona press conference on what keeps him racing - for now at least.
"You need to feel it, when it is time, and I don't feel it yet," he said. "I enjoy it... If you stay healthy, the time watch will tell me when I'm not fast enough.
"When I finish on a Sunday, even if the results are not good enough at the moment, I am so motivated for the next race. But there is no guarantee that is forever.
"I stopped Formula 1 once in 2018, and I came back because I needed [to] so the next time I stop I have to be sure."
fERRARI
UNCERTAINTY AT FERRARI AFTER A POSITIVE MONACO GRAND PRIX
Lewis Hamilton was one of very few drivers to progress in Monaco last weekend, winding up fifth - albeit some way off the top four. He sounded pleased to be back in Barcelona though, with another chance to put in a strong drive.
"The weather is always great, I love the city and the track is cool as well," he said. The seven-time champion wouldn't be pushed on where he thinks Ferrari might be in the pecking order though, so we'll have to wait for the track action to start to work that one out.
Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc had said pre-Monaco that the team's weakness was the slow-speed corners, and with Barcelona being a more high-speed track, that could bode well for the Scuderia. It's unclear though whether the Monegasque has now changed his mind or just doesn't want to get his hopes too high.
"[Monaco] was good and on a difficult season like this you want to take as much positivity whenever it is possible, and Monaco was definitely a positive weekend for us," said Leclerc on media day.
"Unfortunately for here, the picture is most likely going to be very different."
RED BULL
NO CONFIDENCE LOST FOR TSUNODA DESPITE DIFFICULT START AT RED BULL
It's been a bumpy start to Yuki Tsunoda's time at Red Bull. The Japanese driver crashed out in Imola Qualifying, then dropped out in Q2 in Monaco, and wound up finishing outside the points.
"Understanding about the car is getting there," said Tsunoda during media day in Spain, having now driven the Red Bull machine for six race weekends.
"It comes to experience - last four years at [Racing Bulls] I know exactly what will happen, I can naturally react and drive fast. Those things will come, Imola made me realise how little understanding I had. It's not that I lost confidence, I just need to slowly build up."
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen hopes to bounce back this weekend after disappointing pace in Monaco.
"Hopefully we can be a bit more competitive here, from my side at least I hope it will be more similar to Imola," said the Dutchman. "For us, we need to see if we can balance the car, put it in a nice window and be less hard on the tyres so you can push it a bit more and be on the limit."
williams
ALBON AND SAINZ EXPECTING FORM TO DIP ON CHALLENGING SPANISH CIRCUIT
During the press conference in Barcelona, Carlos Sainz suggested that last year Williams would have been thrilled with a double points finish in Monaco - but this year they are a little disappointed finishing ninth and 10th.
But by contrast, he said that they would be far happier with those positions this weekend as he really doesn't expect the track to suit the car.
Alex Albon explained why this could be the case, saying: "This track is long corners, and we’ve realised over the years that we’ve generally struggled a little bit more with longer corners. You look at the short tracks, simply, and we’re always competitive at them. It’s been a trend… for the last four, five years with our car.
"This year it’s made a huge step, so I don’t think we’re going to be like we were in previous years, but we still see it. It’s the area that we’ve changed the most from last year to this year, and it’s where we’ve made the most lap time."
TYRES
WHAT TYRES WILL THE TEAMS HAVE FOR THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX?
Pirelli have confirmed the tyre selection for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The last two races have seen the softest Pirelli compounds in use, but this weekend the Italian manufacturer has opted to give the teams the hardest tyres in their range – the C1 as the hard, the C2 as the medium and the C3 acting as the soft.
Drivers will get two sets of the hard tyre (marked white), three sets of the medium tyre (marked yellow), and eight sets of the soft tyre (marked red), as well as access to the green intermediate tyre and the blue full wets, should they be required.
An extra set of softs is reserved for those who reach Q3 in Qualifying, while all drivers must use at least two different slick compounds during the race, providing the track is dry.
