It’s the last race in this triple-header, and this time we are in Spain. Let’s be honest, anything will be better than Monaco, so this should be somewhat more interesting. Spain first debuted in 1991 and has a track length of 4.657 km with 14 turns. It has held 34 races, and the track record is held by Lando Norris in 2024 with a time of 1:11.383, while the lap record is held by Max Verstappen with a time of 1:16.330 in 2023. Both Schumacher and Hamilton share the record for most wins here, with six victories each. Ferrari has the most wins, with eight, and 25 podiums at Catalunya. Schumacher also holds the record for most Spanish Grand Prix pole positions, with seven. The overall finish rate is just over 70%, and the fewest drivers to finish a race were six out of 20 starters in 1996. So let’s see how many drivers finish this race.

Qualifying kicks off with 18 minutes on the clock for Q1. Colapinto is the first driver out on track. Five minutes in, Stroll is currently top of the timesheet, followed by Albon and Colapinto; however, that doesn’t last long, as once again, it’s the two McLarens heading straight to the top spots. Shortly after, Max is able to split them apart, being just 0.001 ahead of Norris and 0.247 behind Piastri. Colapinto experienced an issue at the pit lane with his car, forcing the rest of the grid behind him to try and get around him. A few minutes later, Colapinto had no choice but to pull aside and will not be making it through to Q2. Also eliminated are, shockingly, Tsunoda, Hülkenberg, Ocon, and Sainz, a few drivers we shouldn’t have expected to see out in Q1. The green light once again comes on for the second part of qualifying. This time, Alonso, Albon, and Bearman are the first drivers to take to the track, and it’s Max that goes to the top with a time of 1:12.358; however, shortly after, Norris beats him with a 1:12.056.

Seven minutes remained, and the drivers under threat of elimination were Bortoleto, Lawson, Albon, Stroll, and Bearman. Only Albon seemed likely to advance; however, Hadjar jumped to P6, pushing Albon out of Q2. Albon then accused Haas of instructing Bearman to slow down, though this did not appear to be the case. Moving on to Q3, the drivers had twelve minutes to secure their positions. Piastri initially took the top spot with a 1:11.836, but Norris quickly surpassed him. The McLarens battled for first, with Piastri ultimately taking pole at 1:11.546. Norris took P2, followed by Max in P3, Russell in P4, Hamilton in P5, Antonelli in P6, Leclerc in P7, Gasly in P8, Hadjar in P9, and Alonso in P10. Max and George actually qualified with the same time, but Max secured P3 due to setting his lap time first.

Well, this race put me in a bad mood for a while at the end, but let’s take it right back to the beginning. We started with only 19 cars on the grid because a stroppy Stroll had an outburst of anger and had to withdraw due to injuring his wrist. Lights out, and Piastri gets a good start and is already driving off into the distance, while Max gets the better of Lando and is up into second place. Russell did not get the best start and is passed by both Ferraris. There’s a nice bit of to-and-fro with Alonso and Hulkenberg battling it out to be in the points. Meanwhile, we are shown a replay of Hulkenberg, who started in 16th, now moving his way up the points. He did clip Albon’s front wing during his climb, though, leading to Albon having to pit to change his front wing. Lewis and Leclerc are told to swap positions as Leclerc is showing himself to be quicker. On lap 13, we see Norris sweep around the outside of Max and take second position. With the McLarens being the last to pit for their first tire change, Max, who pitted early, now leads the race.

Albon has front wing damage for the second time in this race after contact with Lawson. He serves a 10-second penalty and retires. Meanwhile, Max, on 14-lap-old softs, soon pits for mediums. Piastri is the new race leader, followed by Norris. Max climbs back up the grid, passing Leclerc for third. Piastri extends his gap to almost 4 seconds over Lando. Max makes his third stop, switching to softs, followed shortly by Lando and then Piastri. Things then get chaotic. While overlapping, Lando and Max get caught up in a scrap between Lawson and Bearman. A few laps later, a yellow flag flies for Antonelli, who has gone off into the gravel at Turn 10. He retires with another Mercedes power unit failure. Almost everyone pits, and Max is put onto hard tires as the only option.

No one else has used the hard tire because it is so awful. As the safety car came in, Max was easily overtaken by Leclerc, and George clipped Max in Turn 1, but Max stayed ahead. Max was then instructed on the radio to let Russell through; however, Max was rightfully fuming, and as Russell thought Max was letting him past, the Red Bull collided with the Mercedes. That led to an investigation and Verstappen receiving a ten-second penalty. We should probably talk about who won the race, as the drama surrounding that incident was everyone’s main focus, but it was Piastri again. Norris got second, Leclerc third, Albon fourth, and Hulkenberg fifth! I am happy for him; he finished higher than Hamilton, who was sixth. Seventh was Hadjar, eighth Gasly, ninth Alonso (scoring his first points of the season), and due to the penalty, Max managed to still be in the points in tenth. As a Red Bull fan and a Max fan, it was a very frustrating end to the race in more ways than one.

So let’s hear it from Max and George themselves. When George was asked whether he thought the collision was intentional from Max he said “”I mean I was as surprised as you guys were. I’ve seen the maneuvers before on simulator games and 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 in the moment so yeah it was a bit surprising.” Max was asked the same question and he told Sky Sports “”Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.” Nico Rosberg also gave his opinion stating “It looked like a very intentional retaliation. Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at Turn 1.That’s something which is extremely unacceptable and I think the rules would be a black flag yes. If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that’s a black flag.” Despite the comments around Max’s maneuver, he was voted driver of the day.

I honestly get Max’s frustrations with the safety car and the tire change screwing him over, and having to give that place back to George, but I can’t help but be annoyed at him for that move on George, which cost him points in the championship. He’s just opened that door wider, and I feel like he’s given up the fight. Let’s be honest; in a way, I can’t blame him. Unlike both McLaren drivers, who qualify in the top 10 and can rely on each other to defend well, Max has Yuki, who is just not up to par, and neither was Lawson. In fact, they both make Perez look half-decent now, and that second seat is quite frankly a mess. But if I were Max, I would be sick of having to carry that team, and some serious changes need to happen in the future. I hate to say it, but I think the championship has already been decided unless McLaren suffers some serious bad luck. Anyways, I am glad that we get a little break now before Canada, and I can chill out a bit and hopefully regain my passion for the sport!

2025 Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Car	Pts
1	Piastri	AUS	McLaren Mercedes	186
2	Norris	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	176
3	Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	137
4	Russell	GBR	Mercedes	111
5	Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	94
6	Hamilton	GBR	Ferrari	71
7	Antonelli	ITA	Mercedes	48
8	Albon	THA	Williams Mercedes	42
9	Hadjar	FRA	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	21
10	Ocon	FRA	Haas Ferrari	20
11	Hulkenberg	GER	Kick Sauber Ferrari	16
12	Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	14
13	Sainz	ESP	Williams Mercedes	12
14	Gasly	FRA	Alpine Renault	11
15	Tsunoda	JPN	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	10
16	Bearman	GBR	Haas Ferrari	6
17	Lawson	NZL	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	4
18	Alonso	ESP	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	2
19	Bortoleto	BRA	Kick Sauber Ferrari	0
20	Doohan	AUS	Alpine Renault	0
21	Colapinto	ARG	Alpine Renault	0