If Max Verstappen cannot claim pole position in Spain, Helmut Marko hopes he can at least split the McLaren team-mates having noticed something “interesting” about their pace in practice.

Despite a revised technical directive that was billed as a gamechanger that could reset the pecking order in F1 2025, McLaren remained the team to beat in Friday’s practice at the Barcelona circuit.

Could McLaren help Max Verstappen win in Spain?

Oscar Piastri set the pace with 1:12.760, beating George Russell, Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Championship leader Piastri was notably quicker as he completed his fastest lap almost three-tenths up on Russell’s best time. The Mercedes driver, Verstappen and Norris were separated by a mere 0.026s, with Verstappen and Norris posting the exact time.

Based on that, Marko reckons McLaren are the favourites to take pole position, although he expects it will be a lot closer in the Grand Prix.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

“We haven’t had such a good Friday for a long time,” Marko told Sky Deutschland. “The four top teams are closer together, but still McLaren is the fastest.

“In the long run we could match with the soft as well as the medium tyre, where we have to improve is in the qualifying modes.

“I think we will be [in] the bunch hopefully who is fighting for the win.”

He believes McLaren could give Red Bull a helping hand in achieving that goal as Verstappen looks to continue his extend his run of Spanish Grand Prix victories to four on the trot, five in total.

“It looks as if Piastri is the quicker in qualifying,” Marko explained. “In the long run, interestingly enough, it was Norris.

“So that plays quite well into our hands if we can get in between.

“But it’s going to be very close, we’ve seen that, it’s going to come down to hundredths again.”

Crunching the data, PlanetF1.com’s Uros Radovanovic can attest to this with Verstappen’s nine-lap run in FP2 the fastest long-run on the soft tyres with Norris second ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

Verstappen will line up on the grid for Sunday’s race, 25 points down on championship leader Piastri and 22 shy of second-placed Norris.

The Dutchman admits he’s feeling more confident than he has done after most of this season’s Friday sessions.

“I think it was an okay Friday, we’ve had worse Fridays!” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“I felt a bit happier with the car, we’re still not where we want to be but it was definitely a bit more positive.

“I mean every track is a bit different but the feeling, I still want a better feeling from the car.

“But I’ve also had Fridays where we were completely out of it, so it’s a bit more I would say in the middle.”

Read next: McLaren ‘clearly slowed down a lot’ as Russell pokes fun at new FIA rule