F1
Oscar Piastri wins the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen loses his nerve
Photo Charly Lopez / DPPI
Oscar piastri put on a show of strength in Barcelona. Starting from pole position, the championship leader led the Spanish Grand Prix from start to finish to secure another commanding victory, ahead of his teammate Lando Norris et Charles Leclerc. Behind this domination McLaren, the Grand Prix had its share of tensions, overtaking and controversies, with a Max Verstappen losing control in the finale.
A clean start, Piastri keeps the upper hand
Alone Yuki tsunoda, who started from the pits, had opted for medium tyres at the start, with everyone else starting on softs. Piastri retained the lead at the first corner, while behind him, Verstappen overtook Norris, and Hamilton overtook Russell. Leclerc, incisive, also took fifth place.
In ambush, Nico Hulkenberg made an excellent start and moved into the points after two laps. While Piastri began to open up the gap to Verstappen, Norris was conserving his tires. The first incident occurred on lap 6, with Alexander albon forced to stop due to a damaged front wing.
Further up the field, Leclerc was putting pressure on Hamilton. Ferrari reversed positions on lap 10. Verstappen stopped at the end of lap 13 after being passed by Norris for second place. The Englishman extended his stint until lap 21, but came out behind his rival Red Bull, returned to the game.
On lap 23, Piastri also stopped, allowing Verstappen to briefly lead, albeit on a shifted strategy. McLaren relied on the mediums for both drivers, while Verstappen remained aggressive with two stints on the softs.
Red Bull's bet on the three-stop strategy
A collision between Lawson and Albon on lap 25 sent the Thai driver into retirement. The debris left on the track, however, did not lead to a caution period. Verstappen, in an aggressive sequence, overtook Leclerc and then stopped for the third time on lap 47, switching to medium tires. McLaren responded with Norris, then Piastri, who held onto the lead. The Grand Prix seemed decided... until Andrea Kimi Antonelli's retirement due to a mechanical failure with 11 laps to go.
The caution offered the leaders a final opportunity to put on new tires: soft for McLaren and Leclerc, hard for Verstappen, who was short on options. The restart on lap 61 turned into a disaster for the Dutchman: struggling in the final corner, he lost third place to Leclerc, before getting angry on the radio, demanding his position be restored, accusing the Monegasque of having hit him on the straight.
The Dutchman, also under pressure from Russell, shorted the first corner and his engineer asked him to give the position back to the Briton. The leader of the Austrian team then made a bad move by closing the door on the Mercedes after opening the door for him. The stewards reacted firmly, imposing a ten-second penalty on the four-time world champion, who was demoted to tenth place.
Untouchable, Oscar Piastri brilliantly won ahead of Lando Norris for a McLaren one-two. Charles Leclerc completed the podium after a solid race. George Russell finished fourth, just ahead of an impressive Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber). Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who scored his first points of the season in front of his home crowd, and therefore Max Verstappen finished in the points zone.
F1 – Barcelona
The Spanish Grand Prix classification
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Valentin GLO
Journalist. Endurance reporter (WEC, IMSA, ELMS, ALMS) and sometimes F1 or IndyCar.
coco67
01/06/2025 at 08:20 a.m.
Of course Verstappen didn't have to attack Russel to show his frustration BUT, in all objectivity, we can clearly see on the onboard cameras that it was Leclerc who pushed him to his left in the straight, he said after the race "I was looking for Norris's vacuum", he made a mistake, nothing more, nothing less. Then it was Russel who hit Verstappen's wheel in the following corner, who suffered a second contact in a few seconds... His team then asked him to give the position back to Russel while he was rightly waiting for Leclerc to give him 3rd. That's how I see things, without being a fan of one or the other. All this is factual, look at the cameras in all objectivity please
Alain Féguenne (Luxembourg)
01/06/2025 at 08:06 a.m.
Great Piastri, Leclerc almost won his bet, but the safety car arrived too late, Hülkenberg fabulous with a single-seater of m . . . . Isack, incredible !!!!! Gasly in the points, it's good for Alpine, and Fernando, finally in the points….. As for Max, whom I love as a driver, today zero points…… 👎 But he will have his revenge!!!!! 😎👀👍
Yves-Henri RANDIER
01/06/2025 at 07:01 a.m.
A McLaren double that seemed written in advance after the tests with a Piastri in full control like Piastri who certainly realized that he would not be going after his Aussie teammate in the regular way this weekend. As for the Dutchman, behavior unworthy of his rank (beyond having thrown Leclerc) and worthy of an F4 or F3 driver who has retained his kartman reflexes ... luckily he was penalized!
stone korzec
01/06/2025 at 05:47 a.m.
Max's son was raised by a hot-blooded and violent father.
vincent moyet
01/06/2025 at 05:46 a.m.
5 wins already for Piastri... In 9 races, he beat Norris 5 times, who finished ahead of him 4 times. It's still close between them. Last year, I said that Verstappen would pay dearly for his mood swings if the championship was close... here we are. He refuses to control himself, the axe falls, he finds himself largely behind in the standings by the two papaya boys... Nice podium for Leclerc, always combative. Hamilton much less. Can we still believe that he would be with a car that competes to win?? Superb performance from the mercenary Hulkenberg. Hadjar still solidly in the points, more and more impressive... We can't say the same for Tsunoda, we almost miss Perez at RBR, right? Gasly was looking for points, Colapinto is in the lurch, no better than Doohan so far. Alonso saved his season, but hey, 2 points and a 9th place in 9 GPs, nothing to crow about. A weekend without Williams, to forget.
dedeHJ37
01/06/2025 at 05:18 a.m.
Verstappen's bad days: you can't change your nature! Four-time world champion doesn't excuse everything
Lucas Paul
01/06/2025 at 05:16 a.m.
Definitely Max, when things don't go your way, you can't change your nature, it comes back at a gallop....it's all sad, and well done for Charles...on the other hand Hamilton is still "learning" :):)