Piastri Defeats Norris, Leclerc To Win Spanish Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri recorded a hard-earned victory over Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc to win the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday in Barcelona.
The championship leader was in control of the race from the beginning to earn his fifth victory in nine races this season.
Norris soon overtook Verstappen to finish second after the Dutch driver was forced onto hard tyres for the final sprint to the flag while also clashing with Mercedes’ George Russell.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished third, followed by George Russell in fourth; Nico Hulkenberg ended up in fifth.
Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen completed the top 10.
Verstappen crossed the line as fifth in the race but dropped to 10th because of a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Russell. He is now 49 points off the top in the race as the defending champion.
Russell criticised Verstappen’s clash, describing it as a video game stunt.
He said, “I was as surprised as you guys were. I’ve seen these manoeuvres before on simulator games and in go-karting, but never in F1.
“Ultimately, we came home in P4, and he came home in P10. I don’t know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate at the moment so, yeah, it was a bit surprising.
“It is down to the stewards to decide if it’s deliberate or not. Max is such an amazing driver, and so many people look up to him. It’s a shame that something like that continues to occur. It seems totally unnecessary, and it never seems to benefit him.”
It was McLaren’s first Spanish Grand Prix victory since 2005. Piastri described it as a great weekend.
He said, “It was a bit of a surprise to see Max try a three-stop, and it nearly worked for him.
“But it’s been a great weekend overall. The overall pace was really good, and we could turn it on when we needed to – and I am just very proud of the work we’ve done this weekend.
“It’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. It’s been a superb weekend.”
Runner-up Lando Norris admitted that Piastri deserved to win the race.
He said, “Oscar drove a very good race today. I didn’t quite have the pace to match him. We gave it our best shot. It’s a long race, and anything could have happened at the end of the race.
“We both got pretty sideways with the safety car restart. It was a good, fun race and for us as a team to finish one-two is even better.”
Piastri is now 10 points clear of Lando Norris in the World Championship table.
Up next is the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15 in Toronto after the end of the European triple-header.
Piastri Defeats Norris, Leclerc To Win Spanish Grand Prix is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
