2025 Spanish Grand Prix

Going into the weekend, Oscar Piastri led the Drivers' Championship with 161 points, three points ahead of his teammate Lando Norris in second, and 25 ahead of Max Verstappen in third. McLaren, with 319 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, who were second and third with 147 and 143 points, respectively.^[6]

Los pilotos y equipos fueron los mismos que los publicados en la lista de inscritos de la temporada con dos excepciones; ^{[ 7 ]} Yuki Tsunoda en Red Bull Racing ocupó el asiento originalmente ocupado por Liam Lawson antes de que este último fuera relegado de nuevo a Racing Bulls a partir del Gran Premio de Japón , ^{[ 8 ]} y Franco Colapinto reemplazó a Jack Doohan en Alpine a partir del Gran Premio de Emilia Romagna hasta al menos el Gran Premio de Austria en un sistema de rotación de asientos. ^{[ 9 ]} Después de la clasificación, Lance Stroll se retiró del evento debido a que experimentaba dolor en la mano y las muñecas. ^{[ 10 ]}

Durante la primera sesión de entrenamientos libres, dos equipos presentaron pilotos que no habían corrido en más de dos Grandes Premios, como lo exigen las regulaciones de la Fórmula Uno: ^{[ 11 ]}

• Ryō Hirakawa por Haas en lugar de Esteban Ocon . ^{[ 12 ]}
• Victor Martins para Williams en lugar de Alexander Albon , haciendo su debut en los entrenamientos de Fórmula Uno. ^{[ 13 ]}

El proveedor de neumáticos Pirelli trajo los compuestos de neumáticos C1, C2 y C3 (los tres más duros de su gama), designados como duro, medio y blando, respectivamente, para que los equipos los usaran en el evento. ^{[ 14 ]}

Notes

• ^1 – Max Verstappen and George Russell set identical lap times in Q3. Verstappen qualified ahead of Russell as he set the time earlier.^[15]
• ^2 – Lance Stroll qualified 14th, but withdrew after experiencing pain in his hand and wrist. Drivers who qualified behind him gained a grid position.^[10]
• ^3 – Yuki Tsunoda qualified 20th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions.^[16]

Oscar Piastri of McLaren defended his pole position easily down the run to the first corner, whilst his teammate Lando Norris got a poorer start from second and was challenged by Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing to the left and George Russell of Mercedes to the right. Verstappen ultimately took the position by braking late and driving around the outside of Norris through the turn 1 righthander, whilst Russell was overtaken in the same fashion by Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who moved up to fourth position. Russell was then passed by Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc at turn 5, who himself had got in front of Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli during the run to turn 1. Further back in the pack, Liam Lawson of Racing Bull broke late into turn 1 and clipped the rear-right tyre of Aston Martin's driver Fernando Alonso. This caused Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber to take evasive action, which led him to making contact with Alexander Albon of Williams. Albon suffered front wing damage as a result, and he would pit to have it replaced.^[17]

At the start of lap 2, Hülkenberg passed Alonso into turn 1 to take 10th position, up from starting 15th. On lap 9, Hamilton was told to swap positions with his teammate Leclerc behind, allowing Leclerc to move into fourth place. On lap 13, Norris passed Verstappen into turn 1 to retake second position, with Verstappen pitting at the end of the lap to take a new set of soft tyres. Verstappen initially dropped to eighth place, but was able to make good use of the new rubber and quickly dispatch of those who were yet to pit. Indeed, Verstappen's new tyres were so effective that Verstappen was able to undercut the McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri after their pitstops on lap 21 and 22 respectively, propelling Verstappen into the race lead.^[17]

Meanwhile, Albon and Lawson were fiercely competing over twelfth position. Lawson's first attempt to overtake was on the inside of turn 1, which led to Albon cutting across the run-off area yet maintaining the position, much to Lawson's annoyance. Lawson then attempted to pass around the outside of the same corner one lap later, but on this occasion made contact with Albon's front wing, damaging it. With his race already compromised by the first front wing change, and now facing a second wing change with not even half the race completed, Albon was retired from the race on lap 28 after serving a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as to avoid the penalty being applied as a grid drop for the next race in Canada.^[18][19]

Verstappen made his second stop at the end of lap 29, switching to medium tyres and rejoining in fourth position behind Piastri, Norris and Leclerc. This made it clear Verstappen intended to make three pit stops in the race, whilst the leading McLaren pair could make it to the finish on just two. After easily passing Leclerc into turn 1 on lap 35, Verstappen made his final planned stop on lap 48 to switch onto another set of soft tyres. The leading McLarens quickly responded to the risk of another undercut by themselves stopping, also switching to the softs. On lap 55, Antonelli, who had been running in seventh place, suffered an engine failure – his second in three races – and pulled off into the turn 10 gravel trap. This caused the safety car to be deployed, resulting in the top nine drivers making pitstops and taking fresh tyres for the restart. All these drivers switched to the soft tyre except Verstappen, who with no soft sets remaining was forced to take the hard compound – something which he expressed displeasure with over the team radio. As the drivers prepared to return to green flag running, the top ten was: Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls, Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly of Alpine and Lawson.^[17]

El coche de seguridad entró al final de la vuelta 60. Verstappen, que tenía dificultades para calentar sus neumáticos duros, tuvo problemas para controlar la parte trasera de su Red Bull cuando el resto de coches recuperó velocidad en la curva 14 a la derecha. Esto comprometió su salida a la recta principal y permitió a Leclerc colocarse a su lado. A pesar del contacto entre ambos, Leclerc pudo adelantar a Verstappen en la curva 1 para hacerse con el tercer puesto. Russell frenó tarde en un intento de seguirle, metiéndose por el interior de Verstappen y obligando al piloto de Red Bull a salirse de la pista. Verstappen se dirigió a la radio del equipo para criticar a sus rivales, acusando a Leclerc de "embestirle en la recta" y de negarse a cumplir la petición de su ingeniero de dejar pasar a Russell para evitar una posible penalización por salirse de la pista y obtener ventaja. En la vuelta 64, Verstappen pareció dejar pasar a Russell a la salida de la curva 4, pero luego se lanzó deliberadamente por el interior al entrar en la curva 5, lo que provocó el contacto con Russell. Verstappen finalmente dejó pasar a Russell en la curva 12 en la misma vuelta, pero aun así recibió una penalización de diez segundos por la colisión. ^{[ 17 ]}

Mientras tanto, la pareja de McLaren completó su última vuelta sin incidentes, con Piastri cruzando la meta en primer lugar para conseguir su quinta victoria en un Gran Premio de la temporada y la séptima de su carrera. Le siguieron su compañero de equipo Norris, Leclerc, Russell y luego Hülkenberg, quien había superado a Hamilton para hacerse con el quinto puesto en la penúltima vuelta. Hülkenberg, por lo tanto, logró su mejor resultado desde el Gran Premio de Italia de 2019 y el mejor de su equipo desde que Valtteri Bottas también terminara quinto durante el Gran Premio de Emilia Romagna de 2022 , cuando competían como Alfa Romeo . A pesar de una salida de pista anterior, Fernando Alonso terminó noveno para asegurar sus primeros puntos del campeonato de la temporada. ^{[ 17 ]}

Notes

• ^1 – Max Verstappen finished fifth, but received a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with George Russell.^[20]
• ^2 – Oliver Bearman finished 13th, but received a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.^[20]
• ^3 – Lance Stroll withdrew after experiencing pain in his hand and wrist. Drivers who qualified behind him gained a grid position.^[10]