Oscar Piastri “really wasn’t expecting” Max Verstappen to attempt a three-stop strategy at the Spanish Grand Prix, but felt “mostly in control” as he raced to victory.

It was a further impressive, winning drive for the Australian F1 star, Piastri picking up his fifth win of the F1 2025 campaign as he continues to significantly strengthen his push for a maiden World Championship.

Oscar Piastri finds Verstappen a surprise package at Spanish GP

Eyes were on McLaren in Barcelona as a new FIA Technical Directive on front wing flexing came into force, but the team certainly have not lost a step as Piastri went from pole to victory in impressive fashion, leading McLaren team-mate Lando Norris across the line.

The initial McLaren plan was a two-stop strategy for their drivers, but Red Bull and Verstappen looked to apply pressure by going down a three-stop route, a strategy which was unable to fully play out due to a late Safety Car deployment after Kimi Antonelli brought his Mercedes to a stop in the Turn 10 gravel.

That allowed Piastri and Norris to make a third pit stop, and Verstappen a fourth, with Piastri nailing the restart and racing on to a fifth victory of the season from there.

But Verstappen’s strategy was definitely not on the Melburnian’s bingo card ahead of the race.

Speaking about his race, Piastri said: “It felt mostly under control.

“I wasn’t really expecting Max to try a three-stop race, and I wasn’t really expecting it to work… Well, almost work as well as it did either.

“So there was a bit going on at that point definitely, and just with all the traffic and the blue flags as well, that made the race a bit more interesting than I wanted.

“But, apart from a few laps trying to get through the blue flags, I felt pretty much in control and could increase my pace when I needed to.

“So, yeah, it was a really strong race and a strong weekend.

“We did a really good job of managing everything in that race: sticking to our plan on strategy, not getting distracted by the three-stop, really good pit stops. Yeah, I think we just did a good job all around.”

Key details following the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix

👉 Latest F1 2025 standings

👉 F1 schedule: When is the next race and where is it being held?

With that result, Piastri extended his Drivers’ Championship lead over Norris to 10 points, while Verstappen has fallen 49 points behind the Aussie, after a 10-second time penalty for colliding with George Russell dropped Verstappen to P10.

And when Piastri was asked if this was his strongest race weekend yet, he replied: “It’s definitely up there. I don’t know if it’s the best one, but certainly it’s been a strong one.

“It’s pretty hard to complain with the results we’ve had this weekend. And I think more so than that, just the effort that’s gone in, and analysing some of the things from last week that we could have done better, I think we turned it around very nicely and got back to the form we wanted to be on.

“That’s what I’m very satisfied with this weekend. Definitely one of the strongest.”

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