Five Things to Know About the 2025 Spanish GP

Our European tripleheader of races concludes on Sunday with the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.

It's been a fruitful few weeks for Atlassian Williams Racing; we're heading to Barcelona with 17 more points than we had before Imola two rounds ago – that's the entirety of our 2024 haul.

There's plenty to be excited about as we head to the Catalonian capital. Here are five things to prepare you.

It's not the first time Carlos has raced at his home Grand Prix, but our #55 has never driven in front of the Spanish fans while wearing the W.

Any driver's home race is a special time for them, and Carlos will get to enjoy his time in Spain more than usual with multiple planned events in the country.

Our Fan Zone, presented by Kraken, is already open, with a Q&A appearance from the home hero on Wednesday 28 May, and of course, he'll be greeting fans at the track over the Grand Prix weekend.

The activities don't stop there, though. He also has more driving planned after Sunday with a run of the FW45 in the Homecoming Roadshow on a section of the MADRING on Saturday 7 June.

Being a Madrid native, this is Carlos' first time racing on his home streets ahead of the city's future of hosting the Spanish GP. Find out more here!

It's back to familiar tyres after two rounds where Pirelli's new C6 rubber caused teams some consternation about how to maximise the softest compound.

The tyre manufacturer has swung the other way for the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya's abrasive track surface.

We'll be running the C1, C2, and C3 compounds over our three days of action this weekend. The C1 is the most durable tyre in Pirelli's slick-compound range, so we could see some long-range running with strategies on Sunday.

Equally, the C2 (Medium) and C3 (Soft) are both harder than Monaco's Soft tyre (C4) last weekend, so teams can find benefits from all the Spanish compounds on offer.

We've brought the Barcelona Fan Zone, presented by Kraken, back after its exciting debut last year for our supporters to enjoy everything Williams.

There are prizes to be won, simulators to race, merchandise to get your hands on, an FW47 show car to check out, and so much more.

Even with so much going on, there's no doubt that the main event for 2025's Fan Zone edition is Carlos Sainz's appearance.

We'll be livestreaming his Wednesday Q&A on the app and website, as well as James Vowles' time meeting you all on Thursday. Click here for more information.

FP1 will see a new name on the Formula 1 timesheets as Alex Albon steps out of the FW47 for the first hour of Friday's running.

Victor Martins, our latest Williams Racing Driver Academy recruit, will step into the cockpit for the very first time at a circuit he already has fond memories of.

It's not the first time our F2 Frenchman has driven an F1 car, with some previous tests in the past, but he's never done so in a Free Practice session with packed grandstands.

With wins in Formula 2, Formula 3, and back-to-back double victories in Formula Renault Eurocup's 2019 and 2020 seasons, Victor certainly has some Spanish speed.

Stay updated on all his FP1 laps with our live coverage on the app and website this Friday to see how he fares.

Every European leg of the F1 season sees each team testing upgrades as the development race reaches its peak.

Improvements will usually come staggered as all constructors have unique performance gains to make and vastly different resources for design and manufacture.

An FIA technical directive coming into force for the Spanish GP will mean all 10 teams will have checked and double-checked their front wing before setting out to Barcelona.

More stringent tests on a front wing's flexibility under load will require every team to ensure their design matches the new rules.

Speculation that the technical directive will see a shakeup of the order has calmed down a little since its January announcement, but we'll only know for sure after Qualifying and the Grand Prix.