Formula 1’s triple header in Europe comes to an end with an exciting race in Spain. The Spanish GP had a great start, but a late safety car upped the ante, bringing about some spicy moments.
McLaren ended the weekend on a high, extending their championship lead by a huge margin. Ferrari ended up on the podium, but it was a tough day for Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
McLaren takes 1-2 with late drama at Spanish GP
McLaren has been phenomenal the whole season, and they were coming to Spain after winning Monaco with a 1-3. During the free practices, McLaren showed pace and were consistently at the top.
At the qualifying for the Grand Prix, the Papaya saw even better results as Oscar Piastri took Pole Position with Lando Norris at P2. However, they were both under threat from Verstappen, who was starting just behind them at P3.
OSCAR PIASTRI WINS IN SPAIN!
Lando Norris goes P2 and Charles Leclerc ends the top 3#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/h7R8vOWAZI
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 1, 2025
When the race started, Verstappen managed to overtake Norris immediately with a better launch. Piastri, however, also had a scintillating launch and managed to increase his lead over the drivers behind. We also saw both Ferraris gain one position each by overtaking the Mercs.
Lando Norris managed to regain his position at Lap 13 at turn 1 with DRS. Verstappen pit the next lap to try and undercut the McLarens, and it seemed like it worked, however, Red Bull was forced to go for a 3-stop for Verstappen. The McLarens ended up overtaking Verstappen and took 1-2 even after a late safety car, with Leclerc finishing in third.
Max Verstappen’s struggle after the late safety car restart
Max Verstappen’s race went from fighting for the top to struggling to stay in the top 10. At lap 55, Kimi Antonelli’s car suffered an engine failure, bringing out the only but deciding safety car of the race.
Most of the cars sought to take advantage of the safety car and pit, with McLarens going with softs and Verstappen on hards. Red Bull was out of options for tyres for Max, since they had already hit the three stops before the safety car.
🚨| Max Verstappen receives THREE PENALTY POINTS for his collision with George Russell in turn 5!
This puts him on 11 out of 12 for a race ban!#F1 #SpanishGP https://t.co/2OEZR5Na5L
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 1, 2025
Verstappen, who voiced his opinion on the hard, started to struggle immediately after the restart, as he lost his rear coming into the final turn. In the DRS zone, Verstappen had contact with Leclerc, which was chalked off as a racing incident, with neither side to blame.
Coming into turn 1, Verstappen had another contact, this time with Russell. He was asked by his race engineer to give the position back, which confused Verstappen. Immediately after, Verstappen slowed down, and it looked like he was giving up the position, but as soon as Russell tried to overtake him, there was another contact between the drivers.
⚪| Max Verstappen on his Safety car restart on hard tyres:
“Yeah, I had a big moment there in the last corner. Unfortunately, the hard tyres had very low grip, so yeah, that was quite painful. But yeah, basically we just ran out of tyres. I mean, hindsight, was it better to…
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 1, 2025
Verstappen was blamed for the second contact, and he was given a 10-second time penalty, which pushed him down from P3 to P10. He was also handed 3 penalty points, pushing his balance to 11 points, 1 away from a race ban.
On the other hand, we saw Hulkenberg finish at P5, outputting an amazing result for the Sauber.
F1 will head to Montreal on the 12th of June for the Canadian Grand Prix and then to Austria on the 27th.
