Spanish Grand Prix: Piastri winner, Verstappen tenth after penalty

(Patria) - Oscar Piastri is the convincing winner of the ninth race of the season in Spain, ahead of teammate Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen is the big loser after a late safety car, a clash with George Russell, and a penalty he received afterwards, which saw him finish only tenth.

The safety car, due to a failure on Antonelli's Mercedes, completely revived the race about ten laps before the end, and Verstappen was the only one on hard tires while the drivers around him were on softs, writes MAXF1.net.

PIASTRI WINS IN SPAIN!! 👏👏

He secures the victory in dominant fashion! 💪#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/ghuaB76CmD

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 1, 2025

Piastri defended from Norris and sped to victory, Norris was a secure second, and Verstappen spun at the last corner, giving Leclerc a chance to take third place.

But Russell also smelled his chance in the first corner, and Verstappen had to go off track, for which he received instructions from the team to let Russell pass, but after briefly letting him by before the fifth corner, he collided with him with a late lunge from the inside, resulting in a ten-second penalty and dropping him to tenth place.

Leclerc finished third after a quiet race, following minor contact with Verstappen on the start-finish straight after the safety car period, while Russell finished fourth for Mercedes despite a damaged car.

Piastri defended the lead at the start, while Norris lost second place to Verstappen, which he regained on lap 13 as the soft tires, on which everyone except Tsunoda started, began to wear significantly.

At that moment, Piastri was about four seconds ahead of Norris, Verstappen was third and pitted earlier, again taking softs and trying a three-stop strategy.

The McLarens stayed much longer on their initial set of softs, switched to mediums, and pitted for the second time a lap after Verstappen's third stop, bringing all three of them into a similar tire situation as they were all on used softs with less than 20 laps to go.

After all that drama... let's take a look at our top 🔟 in Spain! 🇪🇸⬇️#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/Ces37N1VtF

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 1, 2025

But then the safety car completely turned the race around and gave drivers a chance to attack, providing plenty of action in the final six laps.

Hulkenberg in the Sauber, who was already in the points before the safety car, made excellent use of the situation, overtaking Hamilton in the closing stages and finishing fifth after Verstappen's penalty.

Hamilton let Leclerc pass in the early stages of the race after struggling much more with his tires than his teammate and finished far behind him, in sixth place, ahead of Hajjar in the RB and Gasly in the Alpine.

Alonso in the Aston Martin scored his first points of the season, finishing ninth ahead of the penalized Verstappen.

The next race will be held in two weeks in Canada.