F1. Spain 2025 Review

By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Aiden McLaughlin, and Graeme Woolf

Driver of the Weekend

Gavin: A masterclass from Oscar Piastri all weekend long. He put the McLaren on pole with the biggest margin so far this year (so much for the loss of flexi-wing being a game changer). It does look like he is more worried about Max Verstappen than his teammate Lando Norris who he seems to have in his back pocket for now. It was a big statement after a very scrappy Monaco race for the Australian last week, but I still think he and Lando will be trading blows long into the season before someone finally wins the title.

Chelsea: While all the drama was happening up front, Nico Hulkenberg – the only Nico I’ll be passing comment on today – quietly made his way through the pack to achieve his first top five finish in a whopping six years. This was especially outstanding given he was eliminated in Q1, below his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. Hulkenberg started strong by overtaking five drivers into the first turn, then held his own through the field to cross the line sixth. Max Verstappen did the rest and Hulkenberg took home ten points, finally bringing relief to the long-furrowed brow of Mattia Binotto.

Aiden: What a weekend for the Nicos in Barcelona. Rosberg got to sit in for Martin Brundle and meet his favourite Bayern Munich striker (no, not chequered flag waver Robert Lewandowki, he’s with Barcelona now), Harry Kane, who almost rivalled Rosberg’s incredible hair with his own magnificent mane. On the track Hulkenberg started in P15 and finished in P6, but was quickly elevated to P5 after Max Verstappen was awarded a 10 second penalty. Sauber brought a pretty handy upgrade package to Spain and Hulkenberg took full advantage, even passing Lewis Hamilton late on. It was the team’s highest finish since the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and has moved them off the bottom of the constructors championship. I’m not sure who his favourite footballer is, but he deserves to meet them after that performance.

Graeme: Nico Hulkenberg! Where did that drive come from? When all of the talk recently has been about the big 4 teams along with Williams and the Racing Bulls, Sauber generally don’t rate a mention too often. So, when Hulkenberg started P15, no one blinked. But he gradually worked his way through the pack and finished P5, an outstanding result for his team. His overtake near the end on Lewis Hamilton was something to savour and helped to heap more misery on the 7-time Champion.

 

Talking Point

Gavin: “Mad” Max Verstappen in back, but did he really go anywhere? Really this is just a bit of a storm in a teacup, there was a coming together, Max ignored instructions and retaliated and got penalised, so what. I would be asking why Red Bull decided to pit him for the hard tyres which everyone knew was atrocious? If that was the option he would have been better off staying on track behind the safety car which would mean he is in the lead at the restart. Yes, the McLaren’s would probably both have sailed past him but he would probably have kept third place and a bunch of points keeping his title hopes alive. Failing that, the call to swap places with George Russell in the Mercedes was wrong too, I understand why they did it but ultimately it was the wrong call – this is after all a review piece so hindsight is our stock in trade.

Chelsea: What else is there? Max Verstappen’s unseemly conduct with George Russell had heads falling off across commentary feeds and social media alike. Having been instructed by his team to give a place back to Russell after a dubious overtake, Verstappen initially appeared to comply, before having a mid-manoeuvre brain explosion and changing his mind. That led directly to Verstappen making intentional contact with Russell’s Mercedes, a move that is considered Very Bad Indeed. Verstappen’s statement, describing it as “a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened”, fell short of an apology, but Russell was happy to accept Verstappen’s 10-second time penalty in its stead. I love this season.

Aiden: It’s Max Verstappen but boy oh boy, there’s some layers to this. Firstly, the obvious; angry Max still doesn’t like it when things don’t go his way. I was almost tensing up, sensing his anger growing as things escalated. Hard tyres, bugger. Charles Leclerc passes on the straight, oh no. Turn one George Russell, eeek. Asked to give the place back, boiling point. Gorgeous George is close to passing on the approach to turn five, brain explosion. A ten second penalty saw him relegated to 10th, meaning a solitary point for his efforts, which up until the safety car, had been excellent. Three penalty points on his licence takes him to 11, one short of a race ban. He’s now 49 points behind Piastri in the drivers standings and after the race he dismissed that as being important, as he said he doesn’t feel he has the car to win the championship anyway. After nine of 24 weekends, that’s either very honest or defeatist and really that depends on what improvements the Red Bull can potentially make in the remainder of the season. One of the things that makes Max so great is also his biggest weakness – his competitive instincts can lead to misjudgments and chaos. Fatherhood hasn’t tamed that and it’s hard to see anything that will.

Graeme: Leopards never change their spots, and old mate Max Verstappen seems to be the same. The race was going quite smoothly for the most part until young Kimi Antonelli had a failure and ran off the track, bringing out the safety car. This caused a raft of pit stops and bunched up the field, bringing with it hard tyres for Max for the run to the end. A culmination of things led to Max swerving to hit George Russell on purpose when he was supposedly letting him retake position after Max ran off track. The postrace follow up wasn’t a great look for petulant little Max, but at least he stayed on brand for himself & Red Bull and refused to answer questions about it. A really poor look all round for him in my opinion. And downright dangerous!

 

Gossip Time

Gavin: So the game changing technical directive changing the amount of flexibility in the front wing came into play this weekend, and so far it has not done much at all, and it certainly has not affected McLaren. Arguably it may be affecting Williams who had a weekend to forget. How does any F1 team not perform at Barcelona when this is where they do all their testing is beyond me. Alex Albon even destroyed two front wings before retiring his car, if he had wanted to carry on I suspect Williams would have had to resort to the ultimate work of their aero team and deploy James Vowles’ shirt collars for Alex to finish the race – have you seen those things, it is like Harry Hill is sitting on the pit wall.

Chelsea: “I’ve done that before… in Mario Kart,” mocked Lando Norris when shown the footage of the Verstappen incident, which chortled the cat right off my lap. After Verstappen’s sarcastic references to banana skins after a dull-as-dishwasher Monaco Grand Prix, I’m thinking I’d rather enjoy seeing some of our young drivers fight it out on Rainbow Road. I’d put money on Lance Stroll playing as Waluigi, given his dramatic tantrum after Q2, which led to his withdrawal from the race with an… injury to his hand? Unrelated to the tantrum? Okay then.

Aiden: Cricket fans, remember when Devon Conway punched his own bat out of frustration in the semi-final of the 2021 T20 World Cup and missed the final due to that injury? Well, a few hours after Lance Stroll qualified in P14, his team announced he wouldn’t be racing on Sunday. The official line from Aston Martin was:

“Over the course of the past six weeks Lance has been experiencing pain in his hand and wrist, which his medical consultant believes is in relation to the procedure he underwent in 2023. As a result his medical team have confirmed that he will not race tomorrow and he will undergo a procedure to rectify these issues before focusing on his recovery.”
Andrew Benson at the BBC subsequently reported:
“The Canadian is said by sources to have damaged equipment in the garage and sworn at team members after being eliminated at the end of the second qualifying session.”
So did Stroll injure himself further after losing his temper, or did he lose his temper after not being able to put up with the increasing pain and the frustration of his qualifying performance? It’s not the first time he’s behaved like this. Stroll threw his steering wheel out of his car and shoved his trainer out of the way after qualifying 16th for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. It’s not known if his Dad Lawrence sent him to his room without dinner on Saturday night.

Graeme: I haven’t mentioned Lance Stroll before in past reviews, mainly because he’s just there and doesn’t do anything noteworthy. So, it’s ironic that I’m writing about him when he didn’t even race in Barcelona. I’ve always thought that seeing his father owns the Aston Martin team, that’s the only reason he has a seat. Yes, he can drive, but he’s never set the world alight and finishes in the low points and beyond each weekend. After qualifying, he suddenly needed to withdraw from the race last weekend with a sore hand that requires surgery. This all seemed quite sudden and then news comes out that he had a big tantrum after qualifying which may have caused this reoccurrence of an old injury. If anyone in that team is having a tanty, it should be Fernando Alonso, one of only 3 drivers this season not to score points, until Sunday at his home race. Pressure may be mounting for Stroll and Daddy might have had enough.

 

Looking Ahead

Gavin: Wouldn’t it be funny if Lance Stroll isn’t ready for his home race, I am betting he will be available but if not I suspect Felipe Drugovich or Stoffel Vandoorne will miss Le Mans for the opportunity to race in F1. They kind of have to don’t they? If they got the call up and said they would rather race Le Mans it would be the kiss of death for their F1 hopes in the future especially at Aston Martin as I don’t think pappa Lawrence Stroll will take kindly to the snub.

Chelsea: My notes from late in the race read “Verstappen on hards? Genius?” Apparently I gave the Red Bull strategy crew a little too much credit. In a move only really worthy of Ferrari, Red Bull decided to switch Max Verstappen to hard tyres during the late safety car. Given there were about ten laps to go and Verstappen was already going a fair clip, it seemed a nonsensical move that confounded even Verstappen himself, and led directly to the drama above. It was a rare strategic blunder by Red Bull that again raised questions about the out clause in Verstappen’s contract, should his position fail to improve. He could switch with Hadjar?

Aiden: If Stroll’s missing at his home Grand Prix in Canada, who’s in line to replace him? Reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne are both racing at the Le Mans 24 hour race on the same weekend (weirdly, not in Aston Martins), so Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas suddenly comes into the reckoning as he’s available to the team in green as part of their partnership with Mercedes as an engine customer, before their switch to Honda power units in 2026. The Finn has been enjoying his reserve driver role for the Silver Arrows and he’s certainly helped to up their social media game. But he’d certainly be happy getting back on track, even if it’s with another team. By the way, check out the Le Mans Hypercar entry list, it’s a who’s who of former F1 drivers.

Graeme: After 3 race weekends in a row, it’s time for a weekend off. My sources tell me that the drivers have some interesting plans. Max Verstappen has enrolled in an anger management course in the Swiss Alps. Being high up in the thin air, it’s hoped this will cool him down also. Lewis Hamilton has disappeared completely and has gone off grid for the week. This must mean that there will be no change at Ferrari and he’ll finish 6th again and will still be unhappy. As mentioned Lance Stroll will have his surgery, but he’ll return in Canada to finish 10th , and we’ll never see him in the coverage or hear his name mentioned. Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto will holiday together and continually get confused for each other. Lando Norris is having face surgery to wipe that stupid grin away each time he doesn’t answer a question. And Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas is cycling from Spain to the next race in Canada, which is no mean feat. See you all in 2 weeks.

Bonus Picture

Some Mario Kart action from Mad Max.

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