Piastri cruises to victory amid late-race drama following Safety Car restart

Meghana Sree
2 days ago
6 min read

Written by Meghana Sree

Oscar Piastri takes his fifth win of the season ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, after a curveball Safety Car caught out Max Verstappen on the three-stop strategy — inviting late-race chaos between the Dutchman and George Russell.

Oscar Piastri takes McLaren's first win in Barcelona since 2005 | Credit: Formula One

The 35th running of the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was packed with thrilling overtakes, controversial racing action and a dramatic late-race Safety Car that completely switched up the results.

Heading into the ninth round of the 2025 Formula One season, pundits and fans alike expected a noticeable swing in the pecking order with the FIA’s clampdown on the flexi-wings. However, after Qualifying and now with the Grand Prix complete, it’s clear that McLaren remain the team to beat, and the other teams are competing to be the best of the rest.

Race Report

The race kicked off with 18 cars on the grid following Lance Stroll’s withdrawal and Yuki Tsunoda starting from the pit lane. The entire field bar Tsunoda started on softs, and as the lights went out, Max Verstappen had a great start from third to pass Lando Norris in second. Up ahead, Oscar Piastri was rapidly pulling away past the first few turns.

Piastri, Max Verstappen and both Ferraris had ideal launches off the start | Credit: Formula One

Meanwhile, both Ferraris had a dream launch from the grid, with Charles Leclerc moving up to fifth from seventh come Turn 5 and Lewis Hamilton making his way past George Russell in fourth, leading his teammate and keeping both Mercedes at bay.

The race start saw action in the mid pack too, with Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso finding themselves wheel-to-wheel. Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg took advantage of the fracas and slid up to tenth all the way from 15th, but he too became involved in the early battle, exchanging overtakes with home hero Alonso and giving fans a treat with the racing action.

By Lap 3, Verstappen in second began to put pressure on race leader Piastri while also checking his mirrors to keep Norris behind. At this point, Ferrari with both cars positioned behind Norris were contemplating team orders to let Leclerc past Hamilton and chase down the McLaren. On Lap 10 when this decision was finally made, it was too late, as Norris was six seconds ahead of Leclerc, who had lost valuable race time.

While Lap 10 saw early pit stops in the midfield, Norris continued to hunt Verstappen down to reclaim second, and eventually made the move. Elsewhere on Turn 5, Alonso suffered a lock up and bounced across the gravel, but fortunately for his supporters at home, he rejoined the track with a daunting challenge ahead to recover lost positions.

A couple laps after the front runners had made their first round of stops, drama ensued on track between Liam Lawson and Alex Albon. Lawson made risky overtaking attempts throughout the race, one of those being on Lap 25 over Albon’s Williams which shattered the latter’s front wing. As Albon peeled into the pits for a second front-wing change of the day, the Thai driver attempted to get back out racing but eventually had to retire the car.

Alex Albon retired after damaging contact with Liam Lawson | Credit: Formula One

At this stage, Verstappen was unexpectedly called into the pits for an early second stop. It was evident that Red Bull were going for an aggressive three-stop strategy to hold out hope for a win.

Piastri still firmly in the lead and Norris pushing behind in dirty air, Verstappen eventually climbed back up the ranks after his early pit stop while the Ferraris behind took their second stops of the race. Soon after, the McLarens bolted on new tyres too and crucially held on to track position.

As the laps ticked down and plenty of moves were made up and down the grid, Lawson and Alonso’s overtake on Ollie Bearman being one of the highlights, the drama was only just beginning.

Kimi Antonelli lost power in his Mercedes, careening off the track and into the gravel, calling out a Safety Car on Lap 56 of 66. This was the signal for the entire top six to pit for a tyre advantage with ten laps to go. Verstappen, who had already completed his three stops and was now in third on the softs, was also called into the pits, much to the consternation of the Dutchman who had no other tyres left but a set of hards – an unheard of choice in this Grand Prix.

Verstappen was vocal about his frustration with the tyre choice following the Safety Car | Credit: Formula One

With Verstappen bolting on the hards and everyone else in his vicinity on soft tyres, carnage at the Safety Car restart was bound to rewrite the race. When the green flag was finally shown, Leclerc in fourth pounced on the opportunity, immediately jumping into third to secure his third podium of the year, yet not without banging wheels against Verstappen.

Verstappen’s troubles were far from over, as just as he was expressing his frustration at Leclerc’s move, Russell took a leaf out of Leclerc’s book and passed Verstappen, with more contact caused.

Verstappen retaliated but was ordered to give the position back to Russell. However, just as he was allowing Russell to pass through, another collision between the two caused by Verstappen resulted in a ten-second time penalty for the Red Bull driver. This deliberate move on Russell also resulted in three penalty points for Verstappen, only one away from a race ban.

Verstappen plummeted down to tenth as a result after trying to pull out all the stops with their alternate strategy but ultimately being caught out by the Safety Car — Red Bull's own risky three-stop and Verstappen's relentless racing undoing his weekend.

Contact between Verstappen and George Russell | Credit: Formula One

Amidst this drama for P3 secured by Leclerc and P4 by Russell, the McLaren pair cruised to another double podium and their first win in Barcelona since 2005. The top five was completed by a jubilant Hülkenberg, who collected ten points for Sauber after a stunning overtake in the final moments of the race on Ferrari’s Hamilton, who ultimately finished a place behind where he started.

Behind Hamilton, Hadjar took home a third points finish of the triple header after completing bold overtakes, with memorable ones against Alonso and Bearman. Hadjar was joined in the points by fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly in eighth, ahead of Alonso who finally scored his first points of the season in front of a home crowd.

Lawson and Bortoleto only just lost out on points after being overtaken by Alonso, and finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 13th to wrap up a dismal weekend for Red Bull.

Another team with an off-weekend was Williams, who after a promising run of results over the last few races, completed the triple header with Carlos Sainz in 14th and a retirement for Albon. For home favourite Sainz, this marks the first time he has not scored points in Barcelona.

Franco Colapinto and the two Haas drivers occupied the bottom of the pile, with Antonelli and Albon the two retirements of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Championship Standings

Piastri’s commanding victory sees him extend his championship lead ahead of Norris by ten points, while Verstappen drifts further away from the top two. 26 points separate Verstappen from Russell in fourth, a precarious situation for Red Bull and their number one driver.

Over in the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari have moved up to second ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull, yet are miles away from McLaren’s mighty total of 362 points after nine rounds. Sauber follow their engine manufacturer's lead and they too move up two spots in the championship to eighth, following Hülkenberg's charge from 15th to fifth.

Another 1-2 for the Papaya team | Credit: Formula One

Key Quotes

Sharing his elation after a fifth season win, Piastri stated: “I think the pace was really good, we could turn it on when we needed to. Just very proud of the work we’ve done this weekend.

“It wasn’t the best first practice, and then we got our stuff together. It’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco so it’s been a superb weekend.”

The race winner also commented on Verstappen’s strategy choice, sharing: “It was a bit of a surprise to see Max [Verstappen] try a three-stop and it nearly worked for him but, yeah, it was a great weekend overall.”

Up Next

We head to Montreal next, where the key stories will be the ongoing battle between Piastri and Norris for the championship lead, whether Verstappen will be able to recover lost ground and Stroll’s update on if he’ll be taking part in his home race or not.