The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix had one of the most exciting finales of any race this season.
A late safety car caused by Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s power unit failure threw the end of the race into chaos.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen had tried to pull off a three-stop strategy and was putting pressure on both McLaren drivers before the incident.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both pitted for fresh soft tyres, as did Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc behind him.
Unfortunately, Verstappen only had a set of the hard compound tyres left and it immediately cost him dearly.
The Dutchman did incredibly well not to end up in the gravel on the safety car restart, but left himself vulnerable to Leclerc and all the drivers behind him.
Leclerc had an advantage over Lewis Hamilton all weekend and made a tactical call not to try one final lap in qualifying which perfectly paid off at this point in the race.
Verstappen and Leclerc made contact as the Monegasque sailed past, and despite the four-time world champion calling for a penalty on the team radio, it was the Ferrari driver who had the last laugh.
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Charles Leclerc ‘very optimistic’ after Max Verstappen tyre choice at the Spanish Grand Prix
Leclerc was asked in his official post-race interview what was going through his mind when he saw Verstappen had put on the hard tyres after the safety car and explained: “Yeah, I mean when my engineers told me that Max was going on the new hard for the last stint, I don’t know if they had the choice or they had no choice.
“I guess they had no choice. I was obviously very optimistic because I knew how bad the hard was and yeah, that’s where I thought I really needed to have a good restart and maybe there was an opportunity and there was.
“I just wanted a slipstream but it all worked out well.”
Reviewing the move on Verstappen, Nico Rosberg said: “He goes out wider at the end of the corner and just stays on the throttle.
“It doesn’t need to be investigated it’s just an unlucky touch because they’re both trying to stay in that slipstream of the guys in front.”
When asked about George Russell’s move on Verstappen, the 2016 world champion continued: “You’re not allowed to knock out the other guy who gives you space. You’re not allowed to do that.”
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Max Verstappen pays the price for failed Spanish Grand Prix restart
Verstappen immediately lost a position to Leclerc and was told on the team radio to allow Russell to pass as well.
This meant that by the time he crossed the finish line, he was fifth and had lost a chunk of points to both McLaren drivers as a result.
However, the story wasn’t over for the 27-year-old, who appeared to drive into Russell after being told to let him by.
This earned him a 10-second penalty, and he was demoted down to 10th place, securing Red Bull’s only point of the day after Yuki Tsunoda failed to make enough progress from his pit lane start.
Leclerc will be delighted to have earned his second podium finish of the season but after looking set to put McLaren under pressure for victory on Sunday, Verstappen will be left wondering how everything fell apart so quickly at the Circuit de Catalunya.
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