Oscar Piastri finished ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, securing a 1-2 finish for McLaren at the Spanish Grand Prix. The race concluded with a competitive and eventful final stretch, as a late Safety Car prompted an intense finish among several drivers. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was involved in wheel-to-wheel contact with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell. Following a subsequent collision with Russell, Verstappen received a time penalty, which ultimately resulted in him finishing tenth.
“The pace was really good. We could turn it on when we needed to and just very proud of the work we’ve done this weekend,” Piastri said. “It wasn’t the best first practice and then we got our stuff together and, yeah, it’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. So, been a superb weekend.”
At the start, when the lights went out, pole-sitter Piastri successfully launched ahead to assume the lead. However, on the opposite side of the front row, teammate Lando Norris experienced a slower start, enabling Verstappen to overtake Norris around the outside of Turn 1 and secure second position.
Following the top three, Ferrari made a strong start, with both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc overtaking George Russell’s Mercedes to secure fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Russell experienced a slight setback, falling to sixth place ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly held P8, followed by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Nico Hülkenberg in the fast-starting Sauber.
“Oscar drove a very good race today. Didn’t quite have the pace to match him, but we gave it our best shot,” Norris said. “It’s a long race, you know, anything could have happened at the end. We both got pretty sideways with the Safety Car restart. It was a good fun race, you know, and for us as a team to finish one-two is even better.”
Leclerc soon began to exert pressure on Hamilton, who was visibly experiencing grip issues. Although the seven-time champion defended effectively, he was promptly instructed to yield his position to the Monegasque driver, who appeared to be more confident in his tire performance.
At the front, Verstappen expressed concerns about a lack of grip relative to the McLarens. When Norris closed the gap under DRS at the start of lap 13, the Red Bull driver provided minimal resistance as Norris overtook to move into second position.
Red Bull made the strategic decision to bring the defending champion in for the first of three planned stops on lap 14. The Dutch driver was making significant progress and, after overtaking Hadjar and Antonelli, he pursued Russell, who chose to withdraw from the battle and headed into the pit lane. Following his pit stop, the champion re-entered the track in third position, approximately 14.5 seconds behind Norris.
Upon the Briton’s initial pit stop on lap 22 for Medium tires, Verstappen advanced to second position. Piastri subsequently made his first pit stop on the following lap, allowing the Dutch driver to assume the lead for the first time, nearly six seconds ahead of the Australian.
“I’m really happy. Obviously, yesterday I sacrificed quite a bit in qualifying in order to have better tyres for today,” Leclerc said. “I didn’t know whether it would pay off. At the end, it did. I think P4, in a normal race, would have been in our position. With the Safety Car, we got lucky and got a podium. So I’m really happy with that.”
With new tires equipped, the McLaren drivers started closing the gap to Verstappen, who pitted on lap 30 to change to Medium tires. Following their pit stops, the Dutch driver began posting the fastest laps. On lap 36, he overtook Leclerc under DRS in Turn 1, and Norris was advised that the Red Bull was now re-engaged in the race.
Leclerc was the leading driver initially, and after Hamilton also made a pit stop, Verstappen executed his third pit stop on lap 48, switching to used soft tires. This prompted McLaren to pit both of its drivers in quick succession to prevent an undercut. Although Verstappen closed to within half a second of Norris, overtaking appeared unlikely.
On lap 54, all gaps were closed when Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli experienced an engine failure and veered into the gravel trap at Turn 10. The Safety Car was deployed, prompting a number of cars to enter the pit lane promptly. While most competitors opted to fit used Soft tires for the final push to the finish line, Verstappen, facing limited options, was required to choose a set of harder, less warmable Hard tires.
This left the champion vulnerable at the restart, and as Piastri and Norris advanced quickly, Verstappen narrowly avoided losing control when exiting the final corner. Leclerc immediately launched an attack, and as he overtook on the pit straight, there was brief contact. However, Leclerc had already moved ahead and continued to push forward, ultimately securing a well-earned podium finish behind the McLarens.
Russell identified an opportunity and made an overtaking attempt at the end of the pit straight. However, the Mercedes driver appeared to brake slightly later than intended, leading to wheel contact between the two drivers. Verstappen was compelled to take the escape road, and upon re-entering the track, he rejoined ahead of Russell. He was later instructed by his team to yield the position to the Mercedes driver. Upon doing so, contact occurred again, resulting in Verstappen being awarded a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. Consequently, after crossing the finish line, he dropped from fifth to tenth place.
Russell finished the race in fourth place, while Nico Hülkenberg of Kick Sauber overtook Hamilton following the safety car period to secure a notable fifth position. Hamilton ultimately rounded out the top six, followed by Hadjar, Gasly, Alonso, and Verstappen.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Race
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 66 1:32’57.375
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 66 1:32’59.846 2.471
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 66 1:33’07.830 10.455
4 George Russell Mercedes 66 1:33’08.734 11.359
5 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 66 1:33’11.023 13.648
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 66 1:33’12.883 15.508
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 66 1:33’13.397 16.022
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 66 1:33’15.257 17.882
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 66 1:33’18.939 21.564
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 66 1:33’19.201 21.826
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 66 1:33’22.907 25.532
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 66 1:33’23.371 25.996
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 66 1:33’26.197 28.822
14 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 66 1:33’26.684 29.309
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 66 1:33’28.756 31.381
16 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 66 1:33’29.572 32.197
17 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 66 1:33’34.440 37.065
Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 53 – Power Unit
Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 27 – Accident damage
Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 0 – Withdrawn
Photo/OscarPiastri/X