Oscar Piastri headed Lando Norris in a McLaren one-two finish at a tense finish to 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.
Piastri controlled the race from lights to flag aside from laps 24-29 when he lost the lead to Verstappen on alternative pit-stop strategies.
Norris finished second ahead of Charles Leclerc, who benefitted from a late safety car restart to pass Max Verstappen, as the four-time champion eventually lost fourth to Russell after a heated clash on Lap 64 which earned him a ten-second time penalty.
Once Verstappen’s penalty was applied post-race, Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top eight ahead of home hero – Fernando Alonso who claimed his first top-ten finish of the season with ninth.
Verstappen was left to accept tenth and the final point much to his annoyance.
In the drivers’ standings, Piastri extended his title lead over Norris to ten points at the end of the European triple-header.
Speaking post-race, Piastri was surprised that Verstappen gambled on “a three-stop” but was glad to claim a “great” win with excellent pace to cap a dominant weekend for McLaren.
“The overall pace was really good and we could turn it on when we needed to and just very proud of the work we’ve done this weekend.
“It wasn’t the best first practice and then we got our stuff together, it’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco, it’s been a superb weekend.”
Hours after Qualifying took place, Aston Martin withdrew Lance Stroll from the race due to a wrist injury which required surgery which meant that 19 cars took the start as Piastri led from the start.
Norris however lost second through Turn 1 as Verstappen swept round the outside of Turn 1 for second, whilst Russell lost position to Hamilton and Leclerc, although the latter would then swap position on Lap 10 on team orders in their scrap for fourth.
Up front, Piastri built a comfortable lead over Verstappen who exerted too much wear too early on his soft tyres which allowed Norris to pass him on Lap 13, and triggered a strategic reaction at Red Bull to pit the four-time champion at the end of that lap for more soft tyres.
Pirelli predicted a two-stopper strategy for many drivers which suited McLaren who opted to wait and pitted Norris then Piastri on Laps 22 and 23, which gave Verstappen the lead with a near six-second gap.
Verstappen however decided not to allow Piastri a chance to overtake him on track and elected to pit at the end of Lap 29 for medium tyres, which saw he rejoin in fourth but he cleared Leclerc on Lap 36 into Turn 1 unchallenged.
McLaren consequently were left fearful that Verstappen could catch them amidst uncertainty over if he was on a bold two-stop or a more risky three-stop strategy, but the reigning four-time champion found himself soon stuck at a four-second deficit to the McLaren drivers.
Verstappen ended up retorting to an undercut attempt by pitting at the end of Lap 48 for fresh softs but McLaren opted to cover him on the following two laps, and too put Norris plus Piastri on the soft tyre amidst heavy traffic.
Norris however responded quicker to the fresh tyres and cut his deficit to Piastri down to circa 2.5s until Lawson nudged Bearman wide at Turn 1 on Lap 52 in a scrap over 11th position, whilst impeding Norris and Verstappen in the process which gave Piastri some breathing space up front.
The safety car was deployed on Lap 55 after Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered an unexpected power unit failure into Turn 10, which forced him to park up in the gravel trap and triggered a flurry of pit stops.
Verstappen however was left unamused with Red Bull who only had hard tyres available for him to run to the checkered flag whilst Haas’ Esteban Ocon opted for medium tyres, with the rest of the pack on soft tyres for the restart.
Racing resumed on Lap 61 as Piastri cruised to victory whilst Verstappen endured a scary restart as his rear got snappy out of the final corner and allowed Leclerc to pass him for third, before he ran wide at Turn 1 after nudged wide by Russell but still rejoined ahead.
Stewards post-race investigated Verstappen and Leclerc after the pair banged wheels during Leclerc’s overtake but declared that neither driver were at fault.
Verstappen was later told on Lap 64 to let Russell pass and opted to move over at Turn 5 and recklessly drifted across the inside into Russell in a temper tantrum, which earned him a ten-second time penalty post race although Russell cleared him on track anyway for fourth.
In the post-race cooldown room upon watching Verstappen’s temper tantrum, Norris joked that he had pulled similar moves “on Mario Kart.”
Russell echoed his British compatriot’s sentiments in his post-race interview as he added: “I’ve seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1.”
Verstappen meanwhile refused to discuss the incident with Sky Sports as he retorted: “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.”
Hulkenberg meanwhile cleared Hadjar for seventh on the restart and proceeded to pass Hamilton on Lap 65 for sixth on the road, which became fifth once Verstappen’s penalty was applied and gave him his best finish since the 2019 Italian GP.
Hadjar and Gasly finished seventh and eighth ahead of Alonso who got his first points of the season, ahead of Verstappen who fell from fifth to tenth due to his penalty.
F1 now takes a fortnight break before convening in Montreal for the Canadian GP on the weekend of 13-15 June, with Stroll hopefully fit for his home race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 66 | 1h ..m .. |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 66 | + 2.471 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 66 | + 10.455 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 66 | + 11.359 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 66 | + 13.648 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 66 | + 15.508 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 66 | + 16.022 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 66 | + 17.882 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 66 | + 21.564 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 66 | + 21.826 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 66 | + 25.532 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 66 | + 25.996 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 66 | + 28.872 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 66 | + 29.309 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 66 | + 31.381 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 66 | + 32.197 |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 66 | + 37.065 |
| RET | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 54 | Engine |
| RET | Alex Albon | Williams | 27 | Damage |
| DNS | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 0 | Wrist |
Leave a Reply