PIASTRI WINS IN SPAIN AS VERSTAPPEN LOSES GROUND IN TITLE FIGHT

Formula One was in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix as the first triple header of the season comes to close. Piastri who dominated all weekend took the victory over his teammate Lando Norris who takes second place for yet another McLaren 1-2 in what has been a very strong weekend for the Woking based team. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari will be happy with a third place finish in what has been a difficult season so far for the Prancing Horse.

Pole sitter and Championship leader Oscar Piastri got away well and was clearly in the lead heading into turn one, with Max Verstappen taking second ahead of Lando Norris with Lewis Hamilton fourth and Charles Leclerc moving up to fifth.

It only took thirteen laps for Norris to repass Verstappen to take back second place in this race - a fight Verstappen doesn’t put much effort into as he knows the McLaren’s tyre wear is so much better than the Red Bull.

In what was a difficult weekend overall for the Williams team the misery was added to when they decided to retire car No.23 Alex Albon who was running at the back of the field after two front wing damage incidents,

Williams felt it was best to retire Alex and save the car.

The race was very level for most of the afternoon until on lap fifty five when Kimi Antonelli goes off into the gravel and is out of this race, a power unit failure for the Italian driver as his Mercedes machine makes the sound similar to a balloon letting out air.

This causes the Safety car to be deployed, which lasts for five laps and on lap sixty one we get the green flag which for McLaren was routine but the drama came when Verstappen got a massive snap of oversteer on the exit of turn one and Leclerc makes it past and into third. Max complains that Leclerc hit him when he’s no where near the Red Bull which brings memories of Romain Grosjean at Baku complaining about Marcus Ericsson.

As they come into turn two Russell is forced into the run off attempting a pass on Verstappen and three laps later on lap sixty four a very frustrated Verstappen is told to give the position to Russell and Verstappen knowingly slows down to hit Russell as he attempts the overtake.

Max was given a ten second time penalty after the race which pushed from from fourth to tenth in this race.

The incident between Russell and Verstappen

But the moment of the race was when the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg passed the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton for SIXTH! An incredible result for Hulkenberg and the Sauber team who will become Audi in 2026.

The next race is the Canadian Grand Prix.

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