Piastri wins in Spain as Verstappen meltdown steals the spotlight

Oscar Piastri may have cruised to a composed Spanish Grand Prix victory, but Max Verstappen’s chaotic late-race antics — including a deliberate clash with George Russell — stole the headlines from what was a dominant 1–2 finish for McLaren.

Off the line, the championship leader got the dream start as he remained without threat through the opening sequence of corners, leaving his teammate and Max Verstappen to battle it out in his mirrors.

The Red Bull driver swept around the outside of Turn 1 to dispose of Lando Norris, as the Ferrari duo followed suit as they hustled past George Russell and Kimi Antonelli during a chaotic opening lap filled with flying carbon fibre and frantic dives to the escape road.

By the third racing lap, Verstappen had clawed his way within five-tenths of Piastri, having an opportunistic look into the first turn before the Australian responded by setting the fastest lap of the race to add an additional second to his lead margin.

The Ferrari duo soon found themselves in a battle of their own, with both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton slipping out of podium contention due to the #44’s lack of pace—prompting the Scuderia pit wall to intervene and instruct Hamilton to let Leclerc through.

By the time Leclerc was released, however, the gap to Norris had grown, especially after the McLaren driver was given the green light to attack Verstappen.

Struggling with grip in his RB21, the #1 was soon forced to defend against the inevitable as Norris lined him up into Turn 1.

Verstappen was able to delay the move for one more lap, however, when the next Turn 1 braking zone arrived, he didn’t put up a fight as he rolled over to let Norris by.

Picking their battles, the Red Bull pit wall called Verstappen into the pitlane for his first of four stops during the Spanish Grand Prix, releasing him in P8 before he went on to set the then-fastest lap of the race.

By Lap 19, the Dutchman was back within the podium places, inheriting two positions from Ferrari’s strategy and earning a further two thanks to some bold moves on the Mercedes duo.

When McLaren pitted both their drivers shortly after, the race lead was Verstappen’s for the time being, however, it wasn’t a positive moment in Red Bull’s race as the #1 said the car was “so hard to drive” when Piastri began closing in five seconds behind. 

Ten laps after his first stop, Verstappen relinquished the lead to the McLaren driver, leaving Piastri and Norris to sort themselves out in P1 and P2 — but when the halfway point of the race arrived, the pair were separated by five seconds as the pit wall warned of Verstappen’s renewed threat.

The middle stint of the Spanish Grand Prix was a quiet one, however, with the action dying off until the field began making their second and third journeys into the pitlane. 

Verstappen was the first of the front runners to do so, though it wasn’t the smoothest rejoin when he was held up by his struggling teammate Yuki Tsunoda who was battling with a Haas near the pit exit. 

Reacting to that call, McLaren pitted Norris one lap later, allowing him to remain ahead of the reigning world champion, with the same being said for Piastri on Lap 49.

Despite having one less competitor starting and one car retired from the 66-lap race, traffic interference from the back-markers was still a huge issue in Barcelona, with Norris and Verstappen both falling victim to a tense battle between Ollie Bearman and Liam Lawson that ended with the Red Bull driver waving his hands in anger at the unnecessary loss of time. 

That was just the beginning of the four-time world champion’s late-race tantrum, however, with a late Mercedes-derivative Safety Car on Lap 55 completely flipping the momentum of the race on its head.

Having lost power on the run into Turn 10, Kimi Antonelli was forced to abandon his smoking Mercedes in the gravel before the marshals worked to clear the car, doing so under a SC period that lasted for a fair while to allow the lapped cars — headed by Lawson — to catch the pack back up.

The race restarted on Lap 61, with Piastri and Norris launching clear of the rampage that took place in their mirrors. 

Rounding the final corner to start the six-lap sprint to the chequered flag, Verstappen was caught out by the kerbs at Turn 14, wrangling his RB21 from a major moment as he came under threat from Leclerc.

Pulling his Ferrari alongside the Red Bull on the main straight, Leclerc looked to capitalise on the slipstream from the McLaren ahead but veered into Verstappen, making slight contact (which was under post-race investigation) before George Russell compounded the chaos into Turn 1—banging wheels with the #1 car as the Mercedes man defended the ground he’d just gained only moments earlier.

As a result, Verstappen was forced to take evasive action on the escape road, however, holding onto the position ahead of the Mercedes driver which his race engineer cautiously deemed incorrect.

Gianpiero Lambiase, race engineer for the #1 car, advised Verstappen to relinquish the position to Russell to avoid a potential penalty, but the Dutchman refused, standing his ground with the belief that fourth place was rightfully his.

It appeared Verstappen had finally heeded his team’s instruction as he backed off into Turn 5 to let the #63 Mercedes through, however, it was quite the opposite when he sped up, purposely ramming into Russell who was left simmering in disbelief.

The blatant show of emotion earned the Dutchman a race-ruining 10-second penalty for causing the collision, ultimately dropping Verstappen to tenth place at the end of the race.

Verstappen was also handed three penalty points for the incident, bringing his 12-month total to 11 points.

Drivers who accumulate 12 penalty points within a 12-month period will receive a one-race ban as a result, leaving Verstappen vulnerable for the foreseeable future.

Not too far behind that battle, one between Ferrari and its customer team was surprisingly unfolding in the dying moments of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Having already made up eight places across the 66-lap main event, Nico Hulkenberg had his sights firmly locked in on Hamilton ahead.

The Haas driver easily disposed of the struggling #44 with a move down the main straight, promoting himself into an outstanding sixth place. 

When the chequered flag fell in Barcelona, Hulkenberg was promoted one place further thanks to Verstappen’s poor behaviour, seeing the #27 earn 10 points from 10 positions gained on Sunday.

Capitalising on their solid qualifying efforts on Saturday, Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly and home hero Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten on track, with the latter bringing his 2025 points drought to a long-awaited end with an overtake on Lawson during the second-last lap of the race.

All three drivers were also promoted by Verstappen’s penalty, with the Dutchman settling for tenth place as he hurried to the Red Bull motorhome to debrief. 

Not skipping past their celebrations were the McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris who took the chequered flag with an untouchable 1-2 finish over Leclerc.

Piastri crossed the line 2.4 seconds clear of Norris to claim victory in Spain, becoming just the third McLaren driver — alongside Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton — to record eight consecutive podium finishes.

The #81’s win marks his fifth of the season, increasing his championship buffer over his teammate to 10 points as the grid welcomes a well-deserved weekend off following three hectic race weekends in Europe — including the final Grand Prix outing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Round 10 of the Formula 1 World Championship takes place at the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13–15, with the time zone difference setting up some very early starts for Australian fans tuning in live.

Image: Formula 1

Spanish Grand Prix Race Results:

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine