Race Report: Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri converted his pole position at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix into a convincing win, leading his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Oscar managed race pace, tire wear, and strategy perfectly, making a strong recovery from a disappointing Monaco GP.

The podium looked set until a late engine failure for Kimi Antonelli brought out a Safety Car, creating restart mayhem between Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and George Russell that shook the loose change out of the top five positions.

Win

A big win for McLaren, who managed to maintain their front-row lockout for maximum points in Spain. Oscar Piastri had a terrific drive to victory, while Lando Norris may have hemmed in his race at Turn 1, losing a position to Max Verstappen and costing himself 4–5 seconds overall. That loss may have limited his options for pushing and managing tires. Despite the Safety Car, Lando still couldn’t match Oscar’s pace and settled for P2. Rumors that the flexi-wing regulations would hurt McLaren’s pace appear to have been largely overblown.

A huge win for Sauber and Nico Hülkenberg, who delivered a terrific performance to finish in P5! A big points haul for the team. To be fair, I felt Sauber looked strong all weekend. I was impressed with their long-run pace on Friday, and while Saturday wasn’t stellar, it allowed for more tire strategy flexibility given the significant deltas between compounds—and even between new and used tires. A great result for Nico and perhaps a nod to their recent upgrades.

A win for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for finishing on the podium. From my view, Charles did clout Max at the restart—Max wasn’t moving on the straight, and Charles admitted he was trying to avoid the dirty part of the track. Despite that, Charles made the most of the restart to climb onto the podium, and his result moves Ferrari ahead of Mercedes in the championship.

A win as well for Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly, and Fernando Alonso, finishing in the points in P7, P8, and P9 respectively. Fernando gets the goose egg off his back and finally scores points this season.

Fail

A fail for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Yuki was a no-show this weekend, and it makes you wonder if moving Isack into that seat might make more sense to improve the team’s constructors’ position. As for Max, I believe he was right about Leclerc—Charles did hit him. And I think he was right about George Russell—George hit him when he lost the front end of the car into the corner. I think Red Bull was wrong to tell Max to cede the position, which understandably frustrated him after being mugged twice.

Where it gets foggy is whether Max changed his mind mid-move about letting George pass—or was it deliberate? Did he lift off the brake, lose the front end, and tap George as a message? Did he just drive straight into him? Either way, it wasn’t a smart move, and he was clearly angry. Like Seb deliberately hitting Lewis, Max received a 10-second penalty for the incident. Fair enough—there’s precedent. Still, it all seemed to build up: the Leclerc and Russell incidents worked against Max, and he didn’t cause them. At the time, the stewards were only reviewing the Leclerc incident. Being told to cede the position to George was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

A fail for Lewis Hamilton, who had a tough day after a strong qualifying session. Charles mentioned that Ferrari’s balance completely changed during the race, and I haven’t heard whether that was the case for Lewis as well. As I feared, the dream of Lewis driving for Ferrari may be playing out as I expected—and why I said a couple of years ago that I would’ve kept Carlos instead.

A fail for Liam Lawson, who appeared to have the pace to score points. He had several clashes, but to be fair, of the three I saw, only one was his fault. The other two weren’t on him—much like Max. Still, a shame to finish outside the points, especially when Isack had such a good race.

A fail for both Williams and Haas F1, who also finished out of the points. And the ragged race of the day award goes to Alex Albon—what a mess.

WTH

Not sure why the stewards didn’t immediately review the Leclerc–Russell–Verstappen incident as a whole. Max was one for three: one was his fault, two were not. It might not have changed Max’s race, but it could have for George and Charles—and maybe even given Nico Hülkenberg his first-ever podium!

From the outside looking in, if I had to guess who was more affected by the flexi-wing regulations, I’d suggest midfield teams rather than the front-runners—but that’s just a guess. I could be wrong. Kind of wondering if Williams was impacted, given their lack of pace in Spain. Although that could also just be down to the track not suiting them.

Pirelli Review:

 “A very interesting Sunday in terms of tyre usage. As happened last year at this track, the Soft turned out to be the most competitive tyre, maybe even more so than in 2024. In terms of degradation, the data we saw today is pretty much in line with what we got from Friday free practice, namely that it was significant but manageable. Wear was also significant but there were no surprises, even if in some stints, the limit was reached on the front left, the tyre that comes under the most stress at this track.

“Some drivers did over 20 laps on a set of Softs, even though they started with a full fuel load, while others managed to do 30 or even more on a set of Mediums. Then there was the Red Bull variable, as they tried to mix things up by going for a three-stop strategy, which on paper was clearly slower. They had nothing to lose with Tsunoda, as he was starting from pit lane, but with Verstappen it was a gamble that should have ensured a podium, allowing him to finish not far off the McLarens. However, the Safety Car in the closing stages changed things for Max, who had driven a very aggressive race up to that point, always pushing to the maximum, but then his chances were wiped out.

“Pirelli will stay at this circuit for two days of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be very important for 2026. On this occasion, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls will provide cars and drivers. On Tuesday, George Russell will be on track for Mercedes, while Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson will both drive a Racing Bull. On Wednesday, Kimi Antonelli will be at the wheel of the Mercedes, while Yuki Tsunoda will drive a Red Bull.” MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT 

Spanish GP Results:

The post Race Report: Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix appeared first on The Parc Fermé.