Oscar Piastri just proved Juan Pablo Montoya wrong about Lando Norris with Spanish Grand Prix pole

Oscar Piastri has grabbed his fourth pole position of the 2025 Formula 1 season with a stunning lap at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Aussie was on the pace all weekend, topping the times in FP2 and FP3. McLaren teammate Lando Norris challenged Piastri in qualifying, taking provisional pole with his first lap.

However, the championship leader was on the ball on his second run, producing a time of 1:11:546. Piastri went over two tenths quicker than Norris, marking the largest pole margin of the season.

McLaren have been unaffected by the FIA’s front wing technical directive at the Spanish Grand Prix as they look the class of the field. But it is clear Piastri has established the advantage in Barcelona.

Piastri is making life difficult for Norris in qualifying in 2025, having only outqualified him four times last season. The 24-year-old is in a prime position to collect his fifth win of the season.

Juan Pablo Montoya feels Lando Norris has ‘more speed’ than Oscar Piastri – his Spanish GP pole proves him wrong

With Norris second for the Spanish GP, McLaren have locked out the front row in Barcelona for the first time in 27 years. The team have not won the race since Kimi Raikkonen in 2005.

However, the result was perhaps not what Juan Pablo Montoya was expecting. Speaking via AS Colombia, the former McLaren driver felt the ‘momentum will shift’ to Norris if he beats Piastri in Barcelona, having passed him at Imola and won from pole in Monaco.

Montoya claims Norris ‘has more speed’ than Piastri. The Colombian has been proven wrong as the latter finds that extra pace to take a commanding pole over his teammate.

“Look, for me, the fact that they let Oscar have it, that Lando had passed him at the end the race at Imola hurt him a little psychologically,” said Montoya.

“And this weekend [Monaco], Lando had put the lap together, [it] caused another blow. If you start looking at one blow, two blows, and he had a clean race, didn’t make any mistakes or executed well, psychologically he starts to make a difference.

“So, if he comes here to Barcelona and Lando comes back at beats him, the momentum will shift from Oscar to Lando.

“I still think that, I tell you, I think Oscar is very, very good, but Lando right now has more speed than him. It could be due to more experience in F1 or whatever, but beating Lando isn’t that easy.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Nico Rosberg notices Lando Norris making mistakes ‘over and over’ again after his teammate takes pole in Spain

Franz Tost feels Piastri is mentally stronger than Norris, which could give him the edge in the fight for the title. It seemed to play out that way in Barcelona as the Brit was seen overdriving his car on his final run to grab pole.

Nico Rosberg assessed the McLaren drivers’ laps on Sky Sports F1 (31/5, 4:19 pm) and the 2016 champion was left lauding Piastri’s ‘beautiful’ pole time. He pointed out that mistakes are still ‘creeping in’ for Norris in high-pressure situations.

“Oscar’s lap was beautiful, perfect. Under the highest pressure he always delivers the maximum of his potential,” said Rosberg.

“Lando’s lap from Turn 1 onwards, he overdid it. He went wide, went off line, got extra snaps and that resulted in two snaps down.

“Pole position was in the head today. Unfortunately, we see over and over from Lando, when the pressure is highest, we see these little mistakes creeping in.”