News / 2 June 2025 / Staff Writer

2025 Spanish Grand Prix – McLaren wins big while Verstappen implodes

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Oscar Piastri put in a masterclass performance en route to victory at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.

The Australian started on pole position, and got off to a perfect start, before maintaining net pole position for the entire race.

His teammate, Lando Norris, finished in second place, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the final spot on the podium after a dramatic late-race safety car restart.

Championship contender Max Verstappen had a highly eventful race, but eventually ended in 10th place after a poor restart and a 10-second penalty for a dramatic collision with George Russell.

The key highlights of the race are detailed, below.

Pit stop strategy keeps things interesting

While the McLaren was clearly the fastest car on the day, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen gave the team some nervous moments after switching to a three-stop strategy – at odds with most of the field, who stuck to a two-stopper.

With Verstappen making up major ground on his fresh tires during the middle part of the race, McLaren sent a nervous message through to their drivers that Verstappen was “in their race.”

However, at the next set of pitstops, Verstappen’s attempt to undercut McLaren failed, and the race seemed destined to end in a Piastri/Norris/Verstappen podium order.

Safety car chaos

Just as the race at the top appeared to be neutralised, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli was forced to pull into the gravel at Turn 10 after suffering a loss of oil pressure.

This resulted in the safety car being brought out, and the leading drivers all entered the pits to change their tyres ahead of the restart.

Unfortunately for Verstappen, the only new tires he had available were a set of hard tyres, which were a poor compound on the weekend.

This was evident at the restart, with Verstappen spectacularly losing control of his vehicle on the main straight before impressively wrestling back control and keeping it on the track.

However, the door was open for Leclerc to overtake Verstappen before turn one, which he did – and Max also took evasive action to avoid a collision with Russell in the middle of turn one.

Verstappen and Russell clash

The tussle with Russell would soon prove disastrous for Verstappen.

He had returned to the track ahead of Russell, but was soon instructed by his team to give back the position.

This led to one of the more bizarre moments in recent Grand Prix history, where Verstappen appeared to be giving the place back to Russell at a corner, before driving straight into the Brit – seemingly with no intension to make the corner.

The seemed to be nothing more or less than a red mist moment for the Dutchman.

While both men were able to keep their cars on the road, and Russell managed to coax his damaged car into fourth place, Verstappen received a ten-second penalty, which resulted in him dropping from fifth to tenth place.

Big days for Hulkenberg and Alonso

Outside of the major teams, the two biggest winners of the day were Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

Hulkenberg drove an excellent race, eventually finishing in fifth place after Verstappen’s penalty took effect.

His success was largely on the back of a stunning first lap, where he climbed from P15 to P10, and the safety car chaos, where he earned even more places.

Alonso, meanwhile, scored his first points of what has been an otherwise miserable year for the Spaniard – and it was fitting that it was at his home Grand Prix.

He started the race poorly in the opening laps when he went off into the gravel and fell out of the points, but a great drive – characterised by multiple overtakes around the outside – saw him eventually slot into 9th place.

The full standings from the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix are detailed, below.