Oscar Piastri led a one-two for McLaren in the Spanish Grand Prix as the team covered off the threat from Max Verstappen.
But the race ended in acrimony as the stewards announced they would investigate Verstappen for colliding with George Russell at turn five.Verstappen had chased the McLaren drivers all afternoon, but came under attack following a late Safety Car period. He split the two McLarens at the start of the race, taking up second place behind Piastri. But Verstappen couldn’t hold on to second place ahead of Lando Norris, who passed him late in the first stint.
Red Bull chose to attack McLaren by switching Verstappen to a three-stop strategy. He closed on the tail of the McLaren drivers then made his final planned stop before the two orange cars made their second. But McLaren were able to keep Piastri and Norris ahead by making pit stops on the next two consecutive laps.
That would have been the end of the contest at the front, but on lap 55 Andrea Kimi Antonelli skated into the gravel trap at turn 10 after suffering a power unit failure. The Safety Car was deployed and the drivers scrambled into the pits for fresh rubber. The McLaren drivers switched to used soft rubber, but Verstappen had depleted his stack of tyres so much that Red Bull chose to put him on a fresh set of hards.
As the field reached the pit straight at the restart, Verstappen almost lost control of his car, which gave Charles Leclerc a clear run to pass. The Ferrari driver squeezed him and they made contact, an incident the stewards are investigating.
George Russell pounced to dive down the inside of Verstappen at turn one. The Red Bull driver dived off the track and kept the Mercedes behind.
When Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told him to let Russell past, the Red Bull driver reacted furiously. He initially let Russell by approaching turn five, then accelerated and collided with the Mercedes driver. Verstappen initially regained the place, then handed it back again. The stewards handed him a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, which dropped him from fifth place to 10th.
The big winner from the late Safety Car deployment was Nico Hulkenberg, who passed Lewis Hamilton for sixth, before being promoted to fifth. Isack Hadjar took seventh ahead of Pierre Gasly, while Fernando Alonso claimed his first points of the season for ninth.
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
- Russell’s radio comments influenced Red Bull’s decision to let him past Verstappen
- Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
- ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
- Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
- Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years
TFLB (@tflb)
1st June 2025, 15:52
Verstappen needs a race ban immediately. Of course it’s not going to happen as the powers that be will always find a way to protect him, but by rights it’s what he should get. He’s always been a raging man-child and is never going to change.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2025, 15:53
Spot-on.
Potsie (@potsie159)
1st June 2025, 15:58
yeah.. I thought a 10 second for what was clearly a deliberate crash into George was a bit weak.. 10 sec. stop go (or the time added on equivalent) I think is the harshest the stewards could have imposed. Lando’s comment in the cool down room was priceless though ..” I’ve done that before …. …. in Mario kart!”
Red Andy (@red-andy)
1st June 2025, 16:00
I think Vettel got a 10sec stop/go for a similarly impetuous move on Hamilton once, so that would probably have been the appropriate penalty.
TFLB (@tflb)
1st June 2025, 16:04
@red-andy The difference I think between this and the Vettel incident was that Vettel’s move was at very low speed. Verstappen’s was at high speed in a racing context. Deserves a harsher penalty.
MichaelN
1st June 2025, 16:14
Eh, no. Vettel slammed into Hamilton under safety car conditions.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
1st June 2025, 16:14
It also comes so soon after his similar move in Mexico last year. He’ll keep doing it for as long as he’s only getting 10 second penalties…
TFLB (@tflb)
1st June 2025, 16:25
@MichaelN Yes, I know it was under safety car conditions. It doesn’t mean it was more dangerous though. They were doing, what, 30mph at most at the time.
anon
1st June 2025, 16:27
@red-andy yes, Vettel was given a 10 second stop-go penalty when he deliberately drove into Hamilton in Baku back in 2017.
@potsie159 under the relevant clause in the sporting regulations (section 54.3), the stewards do, in principle, have the option of imposing even harsher penalties.
The range of penalties that can be imposed on a driver for an on track incident do go all the way up to include disqualification from the race, with the option of also being able to impose a one race ban on the driver (although the regulations do state that, unlike the other penalties, the team would have the right to protest against receiving those penalties, whereas a time penalty cannot be protested).
That said, a stop/go penalty, or an equivalent time penalty, is probably the harshest penalty that they would apply in practice. I suspect that the stewards might have only gone for a 10 second penalty because of the fact that Russell didn’t sustain too much damage as a result of Verstappen’s actions.
David BR (@david-br)
1st June 2025, 17:39
Though Hamilton sustained none at all from Vettel and they were under the SC at the time. Just standard FIA leniency for Verstappen. Is this even debatable any more?
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2025, 16:02
@potsie159 The equivalent of a drive-through is also an option.
Potsie (@potsie159)
1st June 2025, 16:26
yep .. same as what George got at Monaco when he admitted he broke the rules, re. the chicane
japioooo
1st June 2025, 16:47
I think it was a misjudgement and not intentional. Russell was in his blind spot and Max wanted to follow Russel as close as he possibly could. Max was to quick on the throttle and this was clearly too close. Penalty worthy and a stupid mistake.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 16:55
hahaha. now open your eyes and have another look
Parte
1st June 2025, 16:59
You must be having a laugh. That was delibet. He saw the red mist. Whe. He had a, snap and almost crashed he complained that Leclerc hit him from behind. Why wax he even raging. He could have decide not to pit. The only tyres available were the hards. Had he not do a, 3 stopper he would not have been in this position. 10sec penalty is weak
Jojo
1st June 2025, 22:00
I actually assumed it was a misjudgement from Verstappen when I watched it, like he thought Russell would get through quicker and accelerated to get in behind him, but he didn’t say so himself afterwards so maybe not the case. If deliberate it seems a bit unnecessary for the sake of a couple of points.
Steve (@scbriml)
2nd June 2025, 8:22
Blind spot? Russell was completely ahead.
The only way Russell was in a blind spot would be if Verstappen’s eyes were closed.
japioooo
2nd June 2025, 9:15
Russel came from a far right position which is a blind spot. But you are right he was fully in front at the moment Max choose to let the brake go/ accelerated shortly. I thought he was more behind. No blind spot excuse at that moment.
Craig
2nd June 2025, 9:59
You’re making an extremely poor excuse that holds no water no matter how you try to justify it.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2025, 15:54
A great drive by Hulkenberg, with Hadjar’s drive also note-worthy, & Alonso finally got his first 2025 points.
Craig
1st June 2025, 16:16
In all the chaos of the end I think they got unjustly overlooked.
Riccard
1st June 2025, 16:25
Lots of people are celebrating Hulk, but mostly in the ‘driver of the weekend’ article.
Alonso was a bit of a mixed bag: it was great to see his overtaking at the end, but the safety car spared his blushes after literally driving off the road earlier in the race. Fun to watch the overtakes, though!
LosD (@losd)
2nd June 2025, 20:12
That’s a LOT of points for 9th :p
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
1st June 2025, 15:55
Somewhere I get the feeling that Max does not like George very much lol.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st June 2025, 17:50
Max races people differently. I doubt he’d have done that against Piastri for example.
Doggy
1st June 2025, 18:26
Fer 65: This is a very interesting take. Yet what Max did is not acceptable, it helps to provide more context to this
David BR (@david-br)
1st June 2025, 22:12
@spafrancorchamps Afterwards Russell said something like ‘there are children watching.’ Verstappen hearing about this said ‘next time I’ll bring the tissues.’ I think you’re probably right.
Carsten Nielsen (@carstenb)
1st June 2025, 15:56
How can this only give 10 sec?!?!
Disqualification plus race an should be minimum.
Ramming into Russell on purpose!!!
Jonathan Parkin
1st June 2025, 16:01
Lest we forget Takuma Sato got disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix one year for a deliberate collision
Cdfemke
2nd June 2025, 9:53
Yet max is dtiver of the dat.. how
SteveP
2nd June 2025, 18:30
As @tonymansell pointed out, people can vote before the race finishes.
From which you can easily guess they were just voting for their personal favourite.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd June 2025, 4:30
And rebellious\protest votes are a thing, unless you seriously think canada 2019 deserved an average rating of 3 and it didn’t have to do with the stewards’ decision ruining the battle for the lead.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 16:56
They are investigating it, expect some more penalties for that
Ferdi
2nd June 2025, 12:53
Well, at least race control was consistent with Silverstone ’21 this time
SteveP
2nd June 2025, 18:31
Not really, they gave the right guy a penalty this time.
MikeD (@nanotech)
1st June 2025, 15:56
This should be a good Lollipopman episode!
BlasterMaster
1st June 2025, 16:42
+1 Absolutely. I can’t wait.
Doggy
1st June 2025, 15:57
This happens to every team sooner or later. Redbull and now Max are getting silly and changes is now is must.
Redbull needs a full complete reset/refresh ASAP:
* Horner should take the “offer” from Ferrari or Alpine worst case.
* Max should take the offer from Mercedes/Toto. Or take a year doing other motor racing he likes
* Marco should retire
* GP is amazing engineer, perhaps let him progress to something higher or leave the team
Jmlabareda
1st June 2025, 16:06
Verstappen 10 seconds penalty for a deliberate collision
Where is the alleged British bias now ????
Osnola
1st June 2025, 17:53
Just read the reactions here…lynching still an option according to some..
Doggy
1st June 2025, 18:39
Osnola: I absolutely do not condone abuse/lynching behavior. It’s no acceptable at all.
The thing is that Max today crossed the line and if you pair that with typical social media behavior this is what we get. Same applies to what happened to that F2 kid who literally cried yesterday on TV because people abusing him. Same has happened to Lewis, etc etc.
grat
1st June 2025, 19:51
You’re the only one who’s mentioned it.
Ferdi
2nd June 2025, 12:54
It is consistent with Silverstone ’21,so you are right.. Little bias
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
1st June 2025, 16:06
If that doesn’t get you a race ban then nothing will, reminded me a bit like the ‘Jerez 97’ incident…
Ferdi
2nd June 2025, 12:55
Or Lewis Silverstone ’21. Or Vettel in Baku on Lewis.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd June 2025, 4:33
That was a championship-battle collision, verstappen is not battling russell for the championship, if he’s battling anyone it’s one of the mclaren drivers, and also that was the last race, not comparable.
Jorge Jaime
1st June 2025, 16:07
I wonder why Red Bull didn’t leave Max out of the pits if they knew they didn’t have the right tires for him. His performance would have been better than on the hard tires.
Steve (@scbriml)
2nd June 2025, 8:24
Verstappen called for new tyres, so that’s what the team gave him. I would have thought a driver of his alleged brilliance would have known he only had new hards available.
SteveP
2nd June 2025, 18:40
Speaking as a not Max fan – I would have thought that RBR would have reminded him that the only new option was new Hard tyres. They are the ones with a direct view of what is sitting on the tyre warming racks, Max had a great view of two of the four attached to his car.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
1st June 2025, 16:12
Important reminder that Vettel got a 10-second stop-go for swerving into Hamilton at safety car speeds.
Max got the minimum penalty given out these days by deliberately hitting Russell under green flag speeds.
erikje (@erikje)
1st June 2025, 16:18
Golden boy. He’s not been correctly punished his whole career. Why would the FIA start now?
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2025, 16:33
@wsrgo Even though a 20-second post-race time penalty is also an option & I’d also note that Nico Rosberg’s deliberate act in the 2016 Austrian GP is even more comparable.
Prab
1st June 2025, 16:16
As much as I feel sad that Max lost his cool and rammed George, he was still the class of the field today almost making a 3 stopper work and fightining the Mclarens.
I am so thankful for him kind of upping a senna vs prost kind of season in the making.
Edvaldo
1st June 2025, 16:22
That depends on what “almost” means for you. To keep the position or to win the race? That was the quicker strategy for them, it kept him closer than what a 2 stopper would, but he was not even close to winning this race as he was never closer than 6,5 seconds to Piastri nursing his tyres. By the end of the stint he was faster than Max on older tyres.
And then the strategy showed its ugly side when the Safety Car came in.
Edvaldo
1st June 2025, 16:19
Very mature race from Piastri. That’s how easy it is when you get the fastest car, but somehow it took a whole season for Norris to understand it last year and i’m not even sure he did understand it.
It’s curious how the Safety Car made Red Bull’s strategy from good into a disaster, they went from above expectations to weekend to forget in a couple of laps.
Great race for Hulk as well, one of the greatest never beens this sport ever had. And whatever was the reason for that awful last stint for Hamilton, it was not a good look for him.
MichaelN
1st June 2025, 16:23
Indeed, Piastri is having a very solid go at it. That’s how drivers who might not be the class of the field but who do have the best car make the best use of their opportunity. Stay out of trouble, don’t do anything silly, and collect every point they can get their hands on. It’s a winning strategy, and Piastri is doing a great job.
Hamilton’s race seemed to unravel when Mercedes undercut them, he lost so much time there. Getting overtaken there by a Sauber just makes it look all the worse, but it had already gotten pretty bad before that.
BlasterMaster
1st June 2025, 17:04
I’m of the opinion that, in complete contrast to your statement, that Oscar is absolutely the class of the field. A fast driver in a fast car will stand out. Remember, this is very early in his F1 career and he is racking up the poles and wins. Next year everything changes. We shall see if he continues this trajectory or if Mclaren drop the ball with their fast drivers.
Markos
1st June 2025, 20:14
I agree Piastri is indeed class of the field. Plus he has the best car.
Norris blew his only chance to win the title last year. He is just not badass enough to beat Piastri over a year.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
1st June 2025, 16:19
After Imola, I had a glimmer of hope that Verstappen might be able to challenge McLaren if they were to falter later in the season but it’s clear that it won’t be the case and after the European rounds they’ll be even more unbeatable.
I hope the duel between Norris and Piastri heats up after the winter break, this peace cannot last.
MichaelN
1st June 2025, 16:19
So no ‘Russell turned in on him’ this time? Interesting.
Both cars were on track, nobody ran the other off. Seems a classic case of an opportunistic move that went slightly awry but without any lasting damage to either car. Unless more context comes out that suggests nefarious intent, I’m not sure F1 needs to give fairly substantial (in the context of a bunched up field) penalties for this.
Riccard
1st June 2025, 16:20
I often defend Max – I love his will to go racing – but he was in the wrong here, and deserved more than 10 seconds.
In his head in sure it was a deliberate ‘tap’ rather than anything else – but at F1 speeds all it takes is a twitch of oversteer and it becomes an ugly collision.
Now the moment is past and the stewards have time to think, I would like to see them upgrade the penalty.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd June 2025, 4:36
God forbid that the driver who’s 4th on the road (didn’t have to let russell by, as later pointed out) gets a point, that was too lenient (sarcasm).
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
1st June 2025, 16:32
The thing that surprised me is that they came to the 10s decision so quickly. Surely having both drivers PoV in the stewards room after the race would have been possible? Especially since the Verstappen Leclerc incident is being given that treatment.
Seems a bit of a stitch up as I can see the FIA saying a penalty has been awarded so they can’t reopen the case. Sets an awkward precedent that will be weaponised down the line unless the FIA make a further intervention.
For what’s its worth, 10s was very lenient but not sure it was black flag material. It looked very intentional, but not with the specific intent of taking Russell out the race. However, you can argue it is about the inputs into the incident and potential outcomes, not the actual outcomes.
Edvaldo
1st June 2025, 16:36
This was Jeddah 2021 levels of intimidation by Max. He knew what he was doing and he did it because it was Russell, with who he has a history already.
Then they rushed the decision for a standard 10 secs just to ruin his race, but it was more serious than that, so the least they can do is give him penalty points or whatever, not leave it as it is.
Renm
1st June 2025, 17:02
Nobody wants a result change after the race. Its better to make a quick decision. You wont have all people agree on the decision anyways.
LosD (@losd)
2nd June 2025, 20:16
Don’t decide what people want for them.
Correct is always better than quick.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 16:38
Both sides of Max there. One of THE great saves on the restart and then the bozobullyboy. If a lesser driver had done that there would be calls for him to be chucked out the sport. Should be a slam dunk race ban
SteveP
1st June 2025, 16:48
Apparently, the voters on the F1. site think what Max did is fine, and voted him Driver of the Day.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 16:54
He drove great until he weaponised his car, you can vote during the race. Pretty obvious how that happened no?
SteveP
1st June 2025, 17:16
Voting on the best in a contest before seeing the full contest isn’t the brightest idea.
Ah, yeah, should expect it, shouldn’t we?
“weaponised his car” – that’s more of a repeat event, which should have been stamped on quite some time back, but that’s just British bias, apparently.
I’ve said before, if he’d been reined in years ago, he’d be a good and widely admired driver by now. Sadly, currently a flawed diamond.
On the unspoken best of the weekend – Piastri (who I pointed out as the main opposition for Norris back in 2023)
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 17:21
Well done, have a gold star. I think unless its RBR your main opposition is nearly always your team mate first but would be great to know what is going to happen in 2027
David BR (@david-br)
1st June 2025, 16:59
A dominant weekend from Piastri over Norris. The pendulum switches again.
Verstappen should have been left out on the soft tyres I think. Sure the McLaren would have got past eventually but he had a much better chance of third. Hard tyres versus Leclerc’s new mediums? Never going to work.
Good race with some nice overtaking, excellent battles for those last point positions.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
1st June 2025, 17:05
I agree with leaving MV out during safety car…
Can anybody calculate if that would have indeed be the better choice?
Tom
1st June 2025, 17:25
I agree, was surprised seeing him pit when they had knowledge of no more tires. Also very surprised that the McLarens managed to double stack and keep Norris ahead of max. Anyone know how that happened?
SteveP
1st June 2025, 17:43
IIRC there was a clear gap between OP and LN, and also LN and MV before they went into the pit – tight but not impossible.
SteveP
1st June 2025, 17:39
He’d have had track position at the SC in restart, might have dropped to P3 in the remaining 7 laps.
Wouldn’t have been in a place where Leclerc or Russell could get the jump on him with massively different tyre grip.
Wouldn’t have been “pre-wound up” because he was on the worst possible tyres.
All things considered, with a good dose of hindsight,* he’d have got more points that way.
* I say “hindsight” but Max doing a “toy’s out” is almost expected, the degree varies.
greasemonkey
1st June 2025, 19:27
Monaco was not a race. There is not really a pendulum anymore. It is pretty much one way now, and the more complete and balanced F1 driver looks to mostly win out.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
1st June 2025, 19:29
Still loads to play for despite your half hearted attempt to say its all over
greasemonkey
1st June 2025, 20:01
“looks to mostly” is not saying it is all over, and I don’t half heart things. Please stop projecting false assumptions onto other people.
But, yeah, until it is done, it is not done (Kimi 07 for example). Further, humans change, develop, degrade, improve, and many fronts at all times. MV might still make a run. Norris may improve. Piastri may pick up a glitch habit. At this moment, I see no pendulum, but that does not preclude the swinging from starting back up.
JJ (@jjfrazz)
1st June 2025, 17:11
I must have watched a different race?
Didn’t Leclerc drive into Verstappen on the straight?
Didn’t Russel drive into Verstappen forcing him off the track?
Leclerc and Russel should have both been penalised.
Verstappen disagreed about letting Russel pass, having been hit by him earlier. When he did let him past he slid in to him, driving on rubbish “hard” tires with zero grip.
Who could possibly believe that Verstappen would intentionally try to drive into Russel? That is the most ludicrous thing I have ever read on this site, and ever heard Jolyon Palmer say during any race! That is nonsense! Utter drivel. Now we know where the expert stops and the hater starts?
Advice to F1 – Get rid of Pirelli. Make teams make their own tires. And please get rid of blue flags! The joke of all jokes. I thought it was a motor race?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd June 2025, 4:40
Indeed, I’m not sure if the whole comment is serious, but realistically, why would verstappen potentially sacrifice points (forget the penalty, car damage is always a risk when you hit a rival) to take out russell when he knows the mclaren is the best car and he has 2 mclarens ahead? Makes no sense, even taking out a mclaren makes no sense cause the other one goes ahead unscathed then.
Ferdi
2nd June 2025, 12:55
What I find worrying (next to Max losing his temper) is that Leclerc goes unpunished for one of the most dangerous things anyone can do: hit another car while at top speed. FIA seems to be favouring some. That is proper mismanagement and should cost the head of the FIA his job imho.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd June 2025, 4:41
Yes, not proper stewarding in the leclerc-verstappen-russell situation, but then again it’s not like stewards shined in the last few years for consistency or anything.