McLaren’s Oscar Piastri extended his 2025 F1 championship lead after winning the Spanish GP. A late Safety Car resulted in a dramatic end to the race, with Max Verstappen making contact with both, Charles Leclerc and George Russell while battling for a podium result. The Red Bull driver ended up P10 after being penalised for making contact with Russell.
Lando Norris finished second to hand McLaren its first 1-2 finish in Spain in 25 years, while Leclerc completed the podium.
- Piastri wins, 2.471 secs ahead of Norris
- Verstappen drops to P10 after penalty
Piastri leads McLaren 1-2
Late Safety Car leads to dramatic Spanish GP finish
Several senior figures in the F1 paddock suggested the new flexi-wing crackdown (introduced at the Spanish GP) could shake up the pecking order. But it remained status quo at the very top, with McLaren dominating the weekend.
Piastri made a flying start from pole position and built an early lead ahead of his teammate Norris. McLaren was briefly concerned that Verstappen could challenge its two drivers using the alternative three-stop strategy, that would put the Red Bull driver on fresher tyres towards the end. But a late-race Safety Car, triggered by Kimi Antonelli’s engine failure, flipped the script.
As most of the frontrunners pitted again for soft tyres, Red Bull fitted hard tyres on to Verstappen’s car – a movie that would eventually derail his podium bid. Out at front, Piastri aced the re-start to take victory ahead of Norris.
“It’s been a great year so far and this weekend’s been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for,” said Piastri. “We executed everything we needed to when it counted and that’s all you can ask for. The team gave me a great car once again, and I’m very proud of the work we’ve done.”
Verstappen one penalty point away from race ban
Red Bull driver drops to P10 after penalty
Lacking grip on the hard tyres, Verstappen lost a place to Leclerc down the main straight, banging wheels along the way. Russell then joined in, tapping the front of the Red Bull. Verstappen went down the escape road to stay ahead, prompting Red Bull to ask him to let Russell through. Though it initially looked like Verstappen slowed down to comply, he then made contact with Russell.
Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty for the incident, which dropped him to P10 in the final classification. Crucially, though, he was also handed three license penalty points. Verstappen has so far accrued 11 penalty points for the current one-year period, and he’s just one point away from a race ban. Two of these penalty points will expire on June 30, but it still leaves the reigning world champion dangerously close to a suspension.
Strong result for Sauber, Hulkenberg
Alonso scores first points of the season
Sauber picked up its best result since the 2022 Imola GP, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing P5. “Right from the beginning, we were in the mix — a strong start, a clean first lap, and we were immediately able to fight for points. Ironically, not having the best Saturday and saving a set of softs gave us a strategic edge with the tyre allocation,” Hulkenberg explained.
“The Safety Car mixed things up a bit, and having those fresh compounds turned out to be a golden ticket. There was a significant delta between used and new tyres today, so that really paid off.”
Lewis Hamilton finished P6 in the second Ferrari car, followed by Isack Hadjar, who scored another strong result for Racing Bulls, and Pierre Gasly. Fernando Alonso finally scored his first points of the season, finishing P9.
2025 F1 championship standings
Piastri has extended his championship lead to 10 points over Norris. Despite his poor Spanish GP result, Verstappen remains third overall, but he’s now 49 points off the lead.
After a brief break, F1 will head to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the Canadian GP on June 13-15.
2025 Spanish GP results
