Claiming his fifth victory in nine races this season, Piastri always looked in full control at Barcelona after converting his impressive pole into the race lead at the start as Norris almost immediately dropped behind Verstappen to third.
Norris soon overtook Verstappen to move back into second but a charge behind his team-mate never truly materialised, meaning Piastri leaves the European triple header with an extended lead of 10 points in the championship.
- Spanish GP result | F1 championship standings
- Got Sky? Watch F1 races LIVE on your phone! 📱
- Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW 📺
- Choose the Sky Sports push notifications you want! 🔔
But reigning champion Verstappen is now 49 points back after a tumultuous – and highly contentious – end to the Red Bull driver’s race saw him drop to fifth on the road and then demoted to 10th by the stewards.
Seemingly aware they were unlikely to beat the McLarens on absolute pace on the same strategy, Red Bull had rolled the dice by placing Verstappen on a three-stop strategy compared to Piastri and Norris’ more conventional two.
That kept Verstappen in the hunt for second behind Norris into the closing stint before a Safety Car was called with 10 laps to go when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopped in the gravel.
The leaders all changed tyres again but Verstappen was now vulnerable for the restart as, while Red Bull fitted his car with the only tyres they had left – new hards – the rest around him were on used, but quicker, softs.
Almost spinning out of the final corner when the race restarted, Verstappen was overtaken by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the run to Turn One, with the two cars making contact down the main straight as the latter went past.
That clash is itself under a post-race stewards’ investigation.
Mercedes’ Russell then tried to follow through into the first corner with a move of his own down the inside, but the two cars touched and the Red Bull went wide into the run-off area.
Verstappen came back on track out of Turn Two still ahead of Russell but the Red Bull pit wall, seemingly sensing a possible penalty for their driver from the stewards, instructed the Dutchman to cede position to the Mercedes on track.
“What? I was ahead! He ran me off the road!” protested Verstappen on team radio, to which his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied: “But that’s the rules.”
But into lap 64 and with the two cars approaching Turn Five, Russell went to the outside of the Red Bull to seemingly overtake as the Dutchman appear to slow. But Verstappen did not cede the position and the two cars ended up making contact.
Russell did overtake later around the lap but stewards swiftly took a dim view of Verstappen’s driving in the previous incident and issued the four-time world champion with a 10-second time penalty, which dropped him from fifth to 10th in the final classification.
With Leclerc taking third and Russell fourth, Nico Hulkenberg claimed a stunning fifth for Sauber with a late overtake of Lewis Hamilton, who had struggled all afternoon for pace in the second Ferrari.
Isack Hadjar continued the fine start to his rookie career to come home seventh ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, as Fernando Alonso bounced back from an early grip through the gravel to finally register his first points of the season on home soil in ninth ahead of the demoted Verstappen.
Verstappen’s Russell clash and 10-second penalty – what has been said
George Russell, speaking to Sky Sports F1:
“I was as surprised as you guys were. I’ve seen those sort of manoeuvres 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 really know what was going through his mind.
“It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising.”
Max Verstappen, speaking to Sky Sports F1:
“Does it matter?”
“I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment.”
The official stewards’ verdict:
“From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 [Verstappen] was asked by his team to ‘give the position back’ to Car 63 [Russell] for what they perceived to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage (in fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that incident).
“The driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team’s request to give the position back. At the approach to Turn 5, Car 1 significantly reduced its speed, thereby appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake.
“However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of Turn 5, Car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10-second time penalty on Car 1.”
More to follow…
The 2025 Formula 1 season pauses for breath after the European triple-header before resuming live on Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
