Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rued an “unlucky” 2025 Spanish Grand Prix which left him staring at a race ban.
Verstappen had initially climbed to second at the start but was passed on lap 13 by McLaren’s Lando Norris as he prepared for his first pit stop in a three-stop strategy, which looked the faster option over McLaren’s two-stop strategy but Oscar Piastri and Norris covered him off well.
A late safety car however caused Verstappen’s race to implode as he only had the hard tyres whilst the majority of the field opted for soft tyres for the restart at the end of lap 60, during which a snap on the rear of his Red Bull caused him to slide out of the final corner.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc duly took advantage to pass Verstappen who then ran wide at Turn 1 on the next lap after Mercedes’ George Russell slid into him with understeer, which led Red Bull on lap 64 to request that he conceded position much to his ire.
He nevertheless followed their instruction on the inside of Turn 5 and forced Russell round the outside only to drive straight into the Brit, although both drivers continued to the checkered flag as Verstappen consequently received a ten-second time penalty to drop him from fifth to tenth.
Verstappen also picked up three penalty points for his troubles which took his rolling 12-month tally to 11 points, just one point short of a race ban with two points yet to be removed until 30 June following his incident with Norris at the 2024 Austrian GP.
In a post-race interview with Red Bull, the 27-year-old felt that he was “unlucky” with the safety car’s timing which forced him onto the hard tyre, which had “very low grip,” and made his finish “frustrating” whilst he wasn’t drawn on the incidents which he casually described as “tricky” situations.
“When we went into the restart, we got into a tricky situation and gave the place back. What happened there happened and we got a ten second penalty.”
The four-time champion instead chose to focus largely on the positives but felt that McLaren proved too fast for him, as he defended the strategy.
“In the race we maximised what we had, did everything we could and didn’t quite have the pace to match the McLarens.
“Ultimately, we just have to take the positives from today, there are always things that can be improved and we know that the three stop was the right way to go, especially with the tyre degradation.”
CEO and Team Principal, Christian Horner also wasn’t keen to discuss the incidents publicly as he added; “It’s something we will discuss internally and look at further. It’s a frustrating result as it was looking to be an easy podium for Max today.”
Leave a Reply