RACE REPORT | F1 Spain 2025

Oscar Piastri took a commanding win at the Spanish Grand Prix, strengthening his lead in the championship. Lando Norris secured second place, with Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium in third.

The race began with a strong start from Oscar Piastri, who stayed in the lead into the first corner. But while Piastri got away cleanly, Lando Norris struggled off the line and lost a position to Max Verstappen, who moved into second place. At the end of the second lap, the order at the front was Piastri leading Verstappen, followed by Norris in third, Lewis Hamilton in fourth, and Charles Leclerc in fifth.

George Russell dropped positions early on and wasn’t happy with Leclerc, complaining on the  that he was moving under breaking. However, he was immediately told by Toto Wolff perdonally to focus and keep going. Meanwhile, at the front, Verstappen was pressuring Piastri and got within DRS range on lap three, but couldn’t make a move stick. Norris was falling slightly behind and came under pressure from Hamilton, who was trying to take third place.

As the laps went by, Leclerc began to attack Hamilton. On lap nine, he attempted a bold move into turn one but couldn’t complete the pass. Hamilton managed to hold the position for the moment, but the pressure continued. Just one lap later, Hamilton received a team order to let Leclerc through, and he did so cleanly at the start of lap ten.

Norris, meanwhile, closed the gap to Verstappen and began pushing hard. On lap thirteen, he made a successful pass to take second place, with Verstappen choosing not to defend too aggressively. That put Norris in a strong position behind his teammate Piastri, who remained in the lead. By lap fourteen, the gap between them was around 4.4 seconds.

The race order at this stage was Piastri first, Norris second, Verstappen third, Leclerc fourth, and Hamilton in fifth.

As strategy came into play, Verstappen his pit stop on lap 14 for a new set of soft tyres, while Hamilton came in three laps later, switching to medium tyres. He rejoined the race in ninth after stopping from fourth place. Alonso also came into the pits shortly after and dropped to last. He then had a bit of a moment in Turn 5.

As the race reached the halfway point, the strategic battle between McLaren and Red Bull intensified. On lap 22, Norris came into the pits for his second stop, switching to another set of soft tyres. His stop was slightly slow, at three seconds, and he rejoined the race in third place, behind Verstappen.

A lap later, Piastri followed in from the lead and had a very quick stop of just 2.2 seconds, switching to medium tyres. Verstappen now led, but both McLarens had fresher tyres and were planning to stop one more time, unlike Verstappen, who was on a three-stop strategy.

After all the first stops had been completed, Verstappen led from Piastri and Norris, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, and Russell. Gasly, Antonelli, Hulkenberg, and Hadjar rounded out the top ten.

Piastri quickly began reducing the gap to Verstappen. By lap 33, he had cut the lead to just over three seconds. Verstappen was struggling with grip in the slower corners and complained over the radio. Meanwhile, there was drama further down the field as Albon was given a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Lawson. He later retired from the race, becoming the first DNF.

Verstappen made his second stop on lap 29, switching to another set of medium tyres and rejoining just ahead of Hamilton in fourth. McLaren, now back in control, saw both Piastri and Norris running strongly in first and second at the halfway mark of the race.

Back in the pack, there was a clash between Lawson and Bearman at Turn 1, with minor contact but no serious damage. Russell was also making progress and put pressure on Hamilton, especially after his own stop for soft tyres on lap 42. Hamilton didn’t respond by pitting immediately, which allowed Russell to gain time with the undercut.

On lap 48, Verstappen stopped for the third time, this time for soft tyres. He lost a little time as Tsunoda momentarily got in the way during the pit exit. To cover the undercut, McLaren responded by bringing Norris in on lap 49.

As the race entered its closing stages, Norris' engineer told the Briton that Verstappen “will be in our race,” suggesting the final battle was still to come. At the front, Piastri continued to lead, with Norris steadily catching up. Both drivers were trying to make their two-stop strategies work, while Verstappen pushed hard behind them on a three-stop plan.

However, with just over ten laps remaining, the race was turned on its head when Antonelli stopped in the gravel at Turn 10 with smoke coming from his car. It was later confirmed that a power unit failure caused the issue. The Safety Car was brought out, bunching up the field and giving everyone a chance to make a final pit stop.

Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and Max Verstappen all headed into the pits. Verstappen took on a brand-new set of hard tyres, while Piastri and Norris both fitted used softs. Leclerc also stopped for used soft tyres. After the pit stops, the order was Piastri in the lead, followed by Norris in second and Verstappen in third. Leclerc, Russell, and Hamilton followed behind.

As the Safety Car prepared to come in at the end of lap 60, the field was tightly packed. There were six laps of racing left to decide the winner. At the restart, Piastri accelerated cleanly out of Turn 13 and kept the lead. Behind him, Verstappen struggled to get his hard tyres up to temperature and was quickly overtaken by both Leclerc and Russell.

Verstappen went off track trying to defend and dropped to fourth. A few seconds later, Russell made a bold move at Turn 1 and forced Verstappen wide. That incident was placed under investigation.

Things escalated further when Verstappen was instructed to give the position back to Russell. Instead, he drove into the side of the Mercedes. The stewards responded quickly and handed Verstappen a ten-second time penalty for dangerous driving. This dropped him down to tenth place in the final results.

At the front, Piastri kept his cool and managed the gap to Norris. Behind them, Hulkenberg overtook Hamilton to claim sixth place, finishing one of his best races in recent years.

Oscar Piastri crossed the line to win the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix in style. Lando Norris finished second, completing a one-two for McLaren. Charles Leclerc took third after a clean and aggressive final stint. George Russell was fourth, and Nico Hulkenberg was classified fifth after Verstappen’s penalty was applied.

2025 Spanish Grand Prix results: