Spanish Grand Prix Report
Round 9 of 24 of the 2025 Formula 1 season and it's a return of the Papaya 1-2.

There was quite the speculation surrounding the Spanish Grand Prix and the FIA imposed technical directive on flexible wings, would this change finally pin back the charging McLarens? Well not quite, it did seem to bring the pack a little closer together, but it seems those Papayas are well within the regulations.
Qualifying
Since its removal as the testing track, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has turned into quite the exciting race and unpredictable qualifying session. Three extremely busy practice sessions with the new front wings indicated that McLaren would indeed be the team to beat this weekend, but you can never truly count of Verstappen. Softs were the tyre of choice for all three qualifying sessions in the heat and favour to Oscar Piastri after the first runs, putting him ahead of Verstappen and his teammate Norris. The real drama was Colapinto breaking down in the pitlane queue and having to allow drivers to overtake him. All drivers, apart from the Alpine man made it to the line and Hulkenberg, Ocon, Sainz, Colapinto, and Tsunoda were eliminated.
Onto Q2 then, and once again it was Piastri leading the way, this time ahead of teammate Norris and then the reigning champion. The driver really struggling in this session was Kimi Antonelli who was on the cusp of elimination when Russell offered to give him a tow to get him through the session. However, when the final runs began there was no sign of any of the top five drivers, and no tow for Antonelli. The drivers knocked out in Q2 were Albon, Bortoleto, Lawson, Stroll, and Bearman. This is when a message appeared stating that Stroll had missed his mandatory weigh-in and the story got weirder later in the week.
Onto the top ten shootout then and it was lining up to be a close battle between Oscar and Lando. In the opening runs, it was advantage Lando, the Brit beating his teammate by 0.017 seconds, with Russell and Verstappen unable to get ahead of the pair. Home hero Alonso then went out all by himself to set a very respectable lap amidst cheers from the crowd before we lined up for the final runs. Oscar Piastri pulled it out of the bag and shot up to pole, 0.209 seconds ahead of his teammate. Verstappen and Russell set identical times, with the former securing third place. Hamilton had a decent quali to secure fifth, ahead of Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly, Hadjar, and Alonso.
Race
Things just keep going right for championship leader Oscar Piastri as he strengthens his championship lead after winning the Spanish Grand Prix. The Aussie leads a McLaren 1-2 with Norris in a dramatic end to the race. Piastri made a great start and built a lead from the outset, benefiting from a battle between Norris and Verstappen behind. Verstappen was clearly running a very exciting three-stop race to take the fight to the McLarens in the later stages of the race. This is one of those slow-build strategies that hopes to catch the other team off-guard because they don't coincide until the very end, at which point it is too late.
The strategic brilliance of Verstappen and Red Bull, however, was somewhat halted by the fourth Mercedes retirement in three races, this time for Antonelli. The rookie pulled off track with a mechanical issue and brought out the safety car, which naturally allowed the front runners to pit again for fresh rubber. During the pit stops, most of the drivers pitted for soft rubber, either partly used or fresh in some instances. Verstappen, however, was told he had nothing left to use and was forced onto the hard tyre, a choice he did not agree with.
At the restart, the two McLarens leapt away, and Verstappen found himself facing the pit wall with a boot-full of oversteer. This allowed Charles Leclerc to make a run on the Dutchman down into turn 1, a move that he almost pulled off successfully, had it not been for the slight drift to the left and some rubbing. This then opened the door for George Russell to take a dive up the inside, and thus the controversy began.
Russell was trying to get ahead at the apex, but he was not in control of his car when making the move. The contact between Max and George resulted in the Dutchman being forced off track at turn 1. Max, as if he hadn't already been through enough stress by this point, was then instructed by the team to let George through, fearing he might receive a penalty. But this is Max Verstappen, and he knows the rule book, so he refused. The team insisted and the red mist descended. Verstappen appeared to be letting Russell through when the two collided, wheel to wheel, resulting in a penalty for the reigning champion and dropping him to 10th.
Further down the grid, or further up the finishing order, Nico Hulkenberg had a quiet but excellent race, which saw him overtake Lewis Hamilton at the safety car restart utilising some fresh soft rubber he had after dropping out in Q1. The German finished fifth after Max's penalty behind Russell in fourth. Lewis finished in sixth ahead of Hadjar in seventh, who is steadily becoming a very consistent driver. Gasly claimed eighth for Alpine with Fernando Alonso finally taking his first points of the season in ninth ahead of Verstappen after his penalty.
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