Spanish GP Race Report
A dominant performance from McLaren in the Spanish GP saw Oscar Piastri regain the initiative from team mate Lando Norris – but the big story was a road rage moment for Max Verstappen that saw the Dutchman penalised, and his slim title hopes take a knock.
The main talking point going into the weekend was an FIA clampdown on front wing flexing. Teams had been exploiting the regulations to the full by designing wings that in effect lowered slightly on the straights and in high-speed corners, and popped up again under braking to provide extra downforce for slow corners. The teams that got it right were able to have a consistent balance through the lap.
After an FIA ruling all teams had to ensure that their front wings were compliant with stricter flexing tests introduced in Spain. Some teams thought that the pecking order would be impacted, with McLaren potentially hampered. In the end the change appeared to make no difference, with Lewis Hamilton branding it “a waste of money.”
After a scrappy weekend in Monaco that saw Norris outperform him Piastri bounced back, taking pole and leading his team mate home after what was a near perfect weekend for McLaren. With five wins to his name in 2025 Piastri now has 186 points to the 176 of Norris, and the Monaco blip aside, he is starting to look like a clear title favourite.
Verstappen did his best to upset the formbook, using a three-stop strategy rather than the two of his rivals to keep the pressure on during the race. He was third and in sight of Norris in the closing stages when a safety car bunched up the field. Everyone took the opportunity to pit for tyres and thus have fresh rubber for the restart. However while rivals took the quicker soft tyres, Red Bull put Verstappen on a set of new hards, thanks to his earlier three stop strategy leaving the team with little choice.
Thus instead of being in a position to potentially fight the McLarens once the race resumed, he was a sitting duck for those behind. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc charged past him on the pit straight, and then when George Russell tried to do the same at the first corner Verstappen ran off the road and returned to the track still in front.
His engineer told him to cede the place to Russell in the belief that he would be penalised got gaining by going off track. When he reluctantly did so he banged into the Mercedes in an unnecessary act of aggression.
Russell duly crossed the line in fourth with Verstappen fifth, but the stewards quickly gave the Dutchman a 10-second penalty, which demoted him to 10th, and cost him valuable points.
While Verstappen has always had an aggressive style when battling on track it’s rare for him to show such petulance at the wheel, and in essence it reflected his frustration at fighting rivals with one hand tied behind his back. To add to Red Bull’s woes his team mate Yuki Tsunoda had a poor weekend, qualifying only 20th and finishing 13th.
Third place for Leclerc was another solid result for Ferrari after his runner-up spot in Monaco, and it moved the Italian team into second place in the World Championship. However it was another troubled weekend for Lewis Hamilton, who could manage only sixth place and called it his worst race ever.
Russell’s fourth represented a good comeback after a poor weekend for Mercedes in Monaco, although a PU failure for Kimi Antonelli has raised concerns about reliability.
Against the odds Sauber was best of the rest in the race, with a new floor update improving the car and allowing Nico Hulkenberg to progress up the order. He was sixth at the flag, and gained another spot from Verstappen’s penalty. Rookie team mate Gabriel Bortoleto started and finished 12th to log his best result thus far.
Isack Hadjar continues to impress at Racing Bulls, following up his good Monaco result with a solid run from ninth on the grid to seventh. He continues to outpace team mate Liam Lawson, who had a fraught afternoon and survived contact with three other cars to finish 11th.
Alpine endured a poor weekend in Monaco but the A525 was more competitive in Spain, with Pierre Gasly starting and finishing eighth to bag some useful points. However Franco Colapinto’s poor early run with the team continues as he qualified 19th and finished 15th, putting a renewed focus on the decision to boot out Jack Doohan.
Fernando Alonso finally bagged some points in 2025 with ninth place after a typically feisty race in front of his home crowd. However the focus at Aston Martin was on team mate Lance Stroll, who failed to start the race after what the team said was a hangover from the wrist injury he suffered a couple of years ago, amid reports that he’d lost his temper with the team after a bad qualifying session.
After a strong recent run of four races with both cars in the points Williams slipped back in terms of overall performance, and both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz suffered front wing damage in the race. Albon retired while Sainz finished 14th.
Finally it was a poor weekend for Haas with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman only 16th and 17th at the flag.
Following a hectic run of three races in three weekends there’s now a short break before action resumes in Montreal, where performance in slow corners and over the kerbs is paramount, and Pirelli’s softest C6 tyres – which proved tricky to manage in Imola and to some degree in Monaco – will be back in play.
