Piatri wins at the Grand Prix of Spain - McLaren celebrates double victory!

Piatri wins at the Grand Prix of Spain - McLaren celebrates double victory!

Barcelona, Spanien - Oscar Piatri won the Grand Prix of Spain on June 1, 2025, celebrating its fifth victory this season. The young Australian prevailed north of Barcelona against his McLaren team colleague Lando Norris and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and expanded his leadership in the overall ranking of Formula 1. In this exciting race, which was characterized by several strategic decisions, Piatri started from the pole position and settled early.

Max Verstappen, the defending champion, could not reach the desired position with his aggressive race strategy. He chose a three-stop strategy that briefly gave him the lead, but did not lead to success in the end. Verstappen, who received a ten-second penalty after a collision with George Russell, ended the race in tenth place. Russell took fourth place, followed by Nico Hülkenberg in the clean and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari.

strategic decisions and tire management

Tire management played a crucial role during the race. McLaren turned out to be particularly strong in this area this season, which was also reflected in the choice of Piatri and Norris's two-stop strategy. Verstappen, on the other hand, relied on several pit stops, which ultimately turned out to be disadvantageous. McLaren was able to benefit from the early tire change and the stable pace to further expand their leadership.

The tactical maneuvers were also influenced by a safety car phase, which was caused by a technical defect to Andrea Kimi Antonellis Mercedes. Piatri used his strong position in the final sprint and took the lead with a 2.4 second lead ahead of Norris and Leclerc. While Verstappen had a bad restart and overtaken by Leclerc, he then collided with Russell, which led to his punishment. So Piatri and Norris drove together as the winner of the finish line.

World Cup ranking and failures

After nine of a total of 24 races, Piatri leads the World Cup ranking with a lead of ten points on Norris. Verstappen is already 49 points behind the leading one. There were only 19 cars in the starting line -up, since Lance Stroll had to cancel Aston Martin due to injury. Stroll has been suffering from pain in his operated right hand for weeks, which he suffered in a bike accident in 2023.

Overall, the Grand Prix of Spain was characterized by gripping racing, strategic decisions and a strong team appearance of McLaren. It remains to be seen how the rest of the season will develop, especially with regard to tire management, which, according to an analysis of Paceeteq, is of central importance for all teams and is even closer this season than in previous years. Piatri, who fought with an average tire wear of 0.083 seconds per round, will certainly have to make an effort to improve his consistency in this area.