McLaren gem Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position for his fifth win of the 2025 F1 season and took his lead in the drivers’ championship to 10 points.
Teammate Lando Norris had sliced the 24-year-old’s advantage in the F1 drivers’ standings to only three points before going to the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona last week. But Piastri hit back in the perfect fashion with a controlled cruise to Spanish GP glory by 2.471 seconds.
While Norris made mistakes at Turns 1 and 4 during Q3 in Spain, Piastri overturned an initial 0.017s deficit after the first goes into a 0.209s advantage. Piastri scored pole for the Spanish GP by the biggest margin in 2025 so far, as well, and was seldom challenged during the race.
Piastri did not destroy his soft compound Pirelli tyres during the early laps to ensure the 24-year-old had enough grip to respond to Max Verstappen and Norris when required. The Red Bull ace also kept Piastri safe from his teammate, who failed to capitalise on a late safety car.
Jolyon Palmer doubts Oscar Piastri would lose control of his emotions like Max Verstappen did in Spain
But Piastri did not dominate the headlines leaving Montmelo in the same manner as he won last week’s Spanish GP. Instead, a lot of the talk was and continues to be about Verstappen driving into George Russell in the Spanish GP, which even puts him at risk of a one-race ban.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
186 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
176 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
137 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
111 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
94 |
| 6 |
Lewis Hamilton |
71 |
| 7 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
The four-time defending champion lost control of his emotions after Red Bull incorrectly told Verstappen to yield a position to Russell in Spain in the fear of a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. But Jolyon Palmer doubts Piastri would lose it like Verstappen did.
Palmer told the official F1 website: “Oscar seems to have the calmest head, certainly that I can remember, in Formula 1. It’s still early stages in his career and we haven’t yet seen him under title-deciding pressures – that’ll come later this year.
“But the man is insanely calm with whatever is going on around him. Kimi Raikkonen was known as the Iceman in Formula 1, but I’ve even seen him more animated than Oscar. This can only be a strength to be able to stay so composed.
“I’ve yet to see him make pressure mistakes, and you can’t imagine him squandering points due to red mist as Max Verstappen did on Sunday.”
Max Verstappen often shows the cracks in his craft when the Red Bull driver feels under pressure or wronged
Verstappen has shown throughout his F1 career since Red Bull gave the Dutchman his debut with their junior team, then called Toro Rosso, at 17 years old in 2015 that he is hot-headed and can step beyond what many believe are the limits when fighting a rival wheel-to-wheel.
The cracks in his craft only ever show if Verstappen feels under pressure, as seen during his title fights with Lewis Hamilton in 2021 and Norris in 2024. Even amidst his dominant 2023 campaign, Verstappen drew a penalty for running Charles Leclerc off the road in Las Vegas.
READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Norris then got under the Red Bull racer’s skin throughout their 2024 title fight, even though Verstappen was always likely to win the title after winning five of the first seven Grands Prix. Their first major incident was when Verstappen crashed into Norris in the 2024 Austrian GP.
The Red Bull driver later avoided a penalty after forcing the McLaren man off the road at the start in America, whereas Norris was penalised for overtaking Verstappen off the road in the 2024 United States GP. But his emotions were again not in check as F1 moved on to Mexico.
Just like with Russell in last week’s Spanish GP, the Dutchman lost control of his emotions as Verstappen received two penalties for forcing Norris off the road in the 2024 Mexico City GP. His second incident in Mexico was the most divisive as he never aimed to stay on the circuit.
