Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix saw yet another McLaren front-row lock-out — but it wasn’t exactly straightforward thanks to a hint of a tow.

Eventual polesitter Oscar Piastri quickly ducked out of the way as teammate Lando Norris embarked on his first flyer, with both drivers joking about it in the post-session press conference.

Oscar Piastri jokes about Norris tow ‘master plan’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

With a flying lap of 1:11.546, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri snatched his fourth pole position in nine Grands Prix to kick off the F1 2025 season.

As Piastri came to the end of his first flying lap in Q3 ahead of Spain, he found his Lando Norris on track in the final sector, hoping to catch a tow from a fellow driver. That driver turned out to be his teammate.

Tom Stallard, Piastri’s race engineer, informed the Aussie driver that Norris was just behind him, looking to kick off his first flyer of the session. That prompted Piastri to pull over and slow dramatically, saying, “Cheeky.”

Norris snatched provisional pole with that lap, but the session had only just started. When the field returned to the track late in Q3, Piastri proved to be unstoppable, snatching pole by two-tenths — the largest gap from P1 to P2 all year long.

His teammate will line up just beside the Australian racer for the first McLaren 1-2 in Spain since 1998.

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After the session, Norris was asked if he felt any difference in his lap with the “tow” from Piastri.

“Hard to say,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com.com. “It was short-lived, but rightly so.”

Piastri was subsequently asked if the team had planned the move, or if it was merely happenstance.

“I went out very early for the first run of Q3, and I think it was just coincidence that Lando ended up behind me opening the lap,” the Aussie driver said.

“Of course, when you cross the line to start your lap, it’s maybe not the nicest feeling, but we’ll discuss it.”

He did, however, make sure to add that “nothing untoward” was going on.

“Unless Lando is going to spill his master plan that him and Will [Joseph, race engineer] had!” Piastri joked.

“But I think it was just a coincidence.”

Continuing the joke, Norris added, “We planned it the whole weekend!”

Norris then clarified the moment, stating: “I didn’t know Oscar was going out first, to be honest.

“I tried to get a slipstream from someone; I think I was unlucky that it was Oscar. Just a coincidence.

“I mean, I was 10th or something in the queue; I don’t know who I’m going to get a slipstream from, because you’re waiting like two minutes in the pit lane.

“So, yeah. Just coincidence.”

Read next: Spanish GP: Piastri beats ‘cheeky’ Norris to pole position in McLaren qualy battle