2025 Spanish Grand Prix Recap

By Ryan Wu

Dominance from McLaren once again

For all the talk about wing flexing and rules clarifications, McLaren silenced the speculation with a dominant performance, securing another 1-2 finish. Oscar Piastri led the way, beating his teammate and main championship rival to claim his fifth victory of the season. With this result, Piastri now holds a 10-point lead in the championship standings after nine races.

The closest non-McLaren driver was Charles Leclerc, who completed the podium but finished 10 seconds behind Piastri. Meanwhile, McLaren extended their Constructors’ Championship lead to a commanding 197 points.

Piastri’s weekend started strong as he claimed pole position, dominating Norris and beating him by 0.209 seconds. He controlled the race from the start and was never seriously threatened, only temporarily relinquishing the lead to Verstappen during the pit stop phase.

On lap 52, while running second, Norris got caught up behind a scrap between Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman—both a lap down and battling for 11th. This allowed Verstappen to close the gap.

A safety car on lap 56, triggered by Kimi Antonelli’s retirement due to engine failure, prompted all three race leaders to pit for fresh tires. McLaren executed a flawless double stack. Unfortunately for Verstappen, his only remaining fresh set was a set of hard tires. Red Bull may have anticipated the safety car would come out earlier, leaving them at a disadvantage when racing resumed on lap 61.

Under pressure from Charles Leclerc, Verstappen lost control exiting the final corner and ran wide, allowing Leclerc to overtake. Shortly after, Verstappen gained a position on George Russell by going off track. While being instructed to return the place, he caused a collision and received a 10-second penalty, ultimately demoting him to P10 after the checkered flag.

Great Weekend for Hulkenberg

Having not scored any points since his P7 finish in the season opener in Australia, it looked like another tough weekend for Hülkenberg and the Stake team after he qualified 15th and teammate Gabriel Bortoleto started 12th. However, to much surprise, Hülkenberg delivered an impressive performance and fought his way to a strong P5 finish. The German driver got off to an amazing start including making up 5 places in the opening two laps and some great duels with the home favorite Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull’s Self-Inflicted Wound and Tsunoda’s Struggles Continues

After nine races, Red Bull finds itself fourth in the Constructors' Championship, trailing Mercedes by 15 points and McLaren by a staggering 218. While the car is clearly lacking pace, Verstappen continues to extract strong results. The same can't be said for Yuki Tsunoda, whose best finish since his promotion to the senior team has been a solitary P9. He has failed to score points in four of the nine races so far. While not all of the blame falls squarely on Tsunoda’s shoulders, results need to start coming soon—as the team’s hopes in the Constructors' standings are quickly fading.

Verstappen also could have challenged for a fourth-place finish in a weekend where he qualified third, but a collision while he was being told to return his position to George Russell resulted in him being punished by a 10-second penalty added on to the end of his race.

Rookie Report

It was a rough weekend for rookies, but Isack Hadjar managed to finish seventh, marking his third consecutive points-scoring race. The French driver now sits ninth in the drivers' standings, with twice as many points as Red Bull-promoted Yuki Tsunoda and four times as many as his teammate, Liam Lawson. He leads all rookies—except for Kimi Antonelli—by a comfortable margin.

Speaking of the Italian wunderkind, Antonelli appeared set for a solid weekend after qualifying sixth, but was forced to retire due to engine issues. It was his second DNF in the last three races.

Racing Refresh Driver of the Day

Nico Hulkenberg, Stake F1

Final Points Finishing Positions

1st: Oscar Piastri

2nd: Lando Norris

3rd: Charles Leclerc

4th: George Russell

5th: Nico Hulkenberg

6th: Lewis Hamilton

7th: Isack Hadjar

8th: Pierre Gasly

9th: Fernando Alonso

10th: Max Verstappen

Next on the F1 Schedule:

Canadian Grand Prix: June 13-15