Spanish Grand Prix briefing: Piastri wins, Verstappen misery, surprise Ferrari podium

New York Times

2 days ago

Oscar Pisatri dominated Formula One's 2025 Spanish Grand Prix to win ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen had long threatened the leaders by unleashing a three-stop strategy to their two pit stops, before a late safety car period shook up the race and the world champion became embroiled in a controversy with Mercedes driver George Russell.
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At the start, polesitter Piastri easily survived the long run down to Barcelona's Turn 1, where Verstappen passed Norris, who had made the slowest reaction to the lights going out of the leaders.
Piastri then romped clear after Verstappen dropped back and Norris repassed, after which Red Bull soon pitted its leader earlier to signal Verstappen would be on an attacking three-stop race that meant he could push on with his full pace while the McLarens had to manage their tires to avoid an extra stop.
Verstappen led the middle phase of the race after the McLaren drivers had completed their first stops, but just as they were homing back in on the Dutchman, he pitted again. Verstappen then again closed back up on the leaders, which forced McLaren to issue instructions to their drivers to up their pace.
Piastri and Norris exchanged phases of the contest where one hand the upper hand and so the gap between them contracted and expanded, but just as the race appeared settled after the final round of pit stops — kicked off by Verstappen's third when he was just a few seconds adrift of Norris —a safety car period intervened.
The leaders all piled in to stop again during the race neutralisation that had been caused by Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes engine expiring smokily, after which Piastri led the pack for a five-lap shootout to the finish.
Piastri nailed the restart and pulled clear to win by 2.4s, while Verstappen — who had been fitted with slower hard tires compared the softs on the other leaders — made a mistake and Leclerc pounced.
Verstappen then clashed with Russell at Turn 1, with the Red Bull driver taking to the runoff and staying ahead. Red Bull then ordered Verstappen to let Russell by, but second after he did so, Verstappen hit Russell at the next corner. He was handed a 10-second time addition over the incident that dropped him to 10th in the final standings.
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Russell ended up fourth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar. Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso were the other points scorers, with Williams driver Alex Albon the other retiree.
The Athletic's experts Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman analyze the key talking points from Barcelona.
There was a moment when Verstappen and Red Bull seemed to have at least a small chance of upsetting McLaren's domination and winning the Spanish Grand Prix.
The team had been aggressive with its strategy, committing Verstappen to a three-stop strategy that meant he could push the tires hard through the race, instead of trying to conserve his rubber on a very warm day in Barcelona. After making his final pit stop, and seeing the two McLarens react by coming in on consecutive laps, Verstappen was only a couple of seconds off Piastri in the lead and hot on Norris's tail.
The safety car called with 12 laps to go worked against Red Bull. As Verstappen had used up all his available tires, Red Bull had no choice but to fit Verstappen with a set of hards for the last charge to the line. Against the McLarens, who had only pitted twice and had a set of softs available, he was powerless to put up any kind of fight on hards. The risk of keeping Verstappen out to inherit the lead and then try to fend off the McLarens on worn tires was he'd be easily gobbled-up.
The hards still left Verstappen exposed for the restart. He nearly lost his car at the final corner when the race return to green before being overtaken by Charles Leclerc, and almost George Russell, going off the track to stay ahead.
When Verstappen was told to give the position to Russell, he responded firstly by fuming on the radio, then letting the Mercedes through, before ramming into him at Turn 5 — resulting in a 10-second time penalty for Verstappen, dropping him all the way down to P10.
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Red Bull knew it couldn't beat McLaren in a direct battle, making the strategy gamble an admirable one that at least gave Verstappen a chance. But we again saw just how good the McLaren is as an all-round package, giving Piastri the chance to return to the top step.
In a championship of fine margins, this was one where the weekend swung ever-so-slightly to Piastri instead of Norris, being that little bit quicker in qualifying and then making the better start when the lights went out.
Luke Smith
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Isack Hadjar's debut is best described as rocky, as his early exit from the Australian Grand Prix dominated headlines when Lewis Hamilton's father embraced him in the paddock. But since then, the rookie driver has quietly — and quickly — become arguably the second-strongest driver within the Red Bull family, albeit in the Racing Bulls car rather than the notoriously tricky RB21.
He has had his moments, like triggering red flags during practice sessions in Imola and Monaco. But heading into the Spanish GP weekend, Hadjar sat 10th in the driver standings with 15 points, coming off of a season-best sixth-place finish in Monaco last time out. He qualified ninth, marking it the Racing Bulls driver's fourth top 10 start in nine race weekends.
The rookie driver had a clean start and ran in the top 10 for a majority of the race. By the halfway mark, Hadjar comfortably ran eighth with a healthy gap ahead of him to Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and behind him to Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg.
Recognizing these are two entirely different cars, races like Sunday's and Hadjar's recent form may make one wonder what would happen if he was put in the second Red Bull seat.
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Yuki Tsunoda qualified plum last, and the team made set-up changes (and changed the rear wing specification), resulting in a pit lane start for the Japanese driver. Tsunoda got within points distance, navigating his way to 12th by Lap 45 after undergoing two pit stops.
By race end, Tsunoda finished 13th after four stops, while Hadjar, who is evidently becoming more comfortable with the Racing Bulls car, ended the day seventh after a three-stop race.
Madeline Coleman
While acknowledging there are other factors that impacted the competitive order, like how the hotter temperatures give McLaren an edge with its tire management, the front wing technical directive hasn't had a massive impact on the competitive order like some had hoped heading into the Spanish GP.
As teams monitored how the TD looked in the simulator, some only saw minor differences. McLaren team boss Andrea Stella told Sky Sports after qualifying Saturday, 'When you look at the numbers associated to the TD, it was always going to be minor. So yeah, it entertained to have this kind of debate. But in our numbers, in our simulation, it was everything very small. So we weren't concerned from this point of view.'
Some drivers reported that the cars felt different in the high- and low-speed corners, but on the whole, McLaren still has a dominant edge, and the race looked set to end similarly to how it started. Any changes from the starting to the ending grid can be chalked up to racing elements, like a solid start or a better strategy, or a mistake, or the timing of Antonelli's safety car. It doesn't appear to be a revolutionary technical change.
Madeline Coleman