A highly intriguing 2025 Spanish GP saw plenty of winners and losers as McLaren come out on top as Oscar Piastri extended his championship lead over team-mate Lando Norris, while controversy involving Max Verstappen stole the headlines.
Piastri was in fine form across the weekend and controlled the race from the front to move 10 points clear of Norris, who recovered from a poor start to finish second.
But it was Verstappen’s antics late in the race that focused attention in the aftermath and with good and bad luck stories across the grid in Barcelona.
All the winners and losers from the F1 2025 Spanish GP
Find out who made the cut and who faded away in the Total-Motorsport winners and losers from the F1 2025 Spanish GP.
Winner – McLaren
There was uncertainty heading into the weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with regards to the latest technical directive that saw teams facing stricter flex testing on their front and rear wings.
McLaren had been suspected of profiting from excessive flexing across the past 18 months, with rivals hoping that the newer tests, which have led to stiffer wing flaps, would stall its momentum somewhat and bring the pack closer to the top.
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But in the first race with the changes, it was another dominant performance for the Woking-based outfit with Piastri and Norris never seemingly under threat from the rest of the field, even after Verstappen had jumped ahead of Norris at the start.
Even nine rounds into a season, which is now almost certainly a two-horse race for the drivers’ title, McLaren is yet to be faced with an uncomfortable situation between its two pilots. That makes things easier in the short term.
Loser – Max Verstappen
Championship over for Verstappen? Any slim hopes he may have had of overhauling the McLaren duo seemed to have vanished in a red mist moment in the closing stages of the race.
After being left on hard tyres after a late safety car, the four-time champion was hit in a straight line by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari before being biffed by George Russell’s Mercedes into Turn 1, keeping position afterwards by cutting across the runoff.
But while he was right to challenge his team’s wishes to let Russell back past – the FIA later confirming no action would have been taken against Verstappen – the Dutchman lost any sympathy from all but his biggest fans when seemingly intentionally colliding with Russell.
His response in the immediate aftermath was poor, when asking “does it even matter” after the question was put to him as to whether it was a deliberate action. An Instagram post on Monday morning suggested it was, though at least in that post he addressed the situation head-on and conceded he was in the wrong.
But it’s just another instance of his generational talent being tarnished by unnecessary antics on track. A 10-second penalty dropped him to 10th.
Winner – Nico Hulkenberg
If there was a team that needed a strong weekend it was Sauber. Last in the constructors’ standings before the event, the car finally became a real contender for a strong points haul in Spain.
Both drivers were showing pace in the early stages of the weekend but Nico Hulkenberg was the one who made it count on race day.
The German put on a display reminiscent of his form with the Hinwil-based outfit during his first stint over a decade ago, rising through the field with a number of fine overtakes. His pace in the final stint saw him jump to sixth, before Verstappen’s 10-second penalty promoted him to fifth.
That puts him 11th in the drivers’ standings and boosts Sauber above Aston Martin and Alpine in the constructors’. Now the team needs to carry that momentum through the rest of the campaign.
Loser – Williams
For all the good Williams has achieved this season, the Spanish GP was a nightmare weekend. Carlos Sainz went out in the first part of qualifying in front of his home crowd and Alex Albon failed to reach Q3.
While the team expected more of a struggle given the circuit’s layout, the lack of competitiveness will have been disappointing – though there is no real concern for championship position given a rapid start to the campaign.
The biggest issue the team will face is the cost of three front wings after different incidents for both drivers – Albon being penalised for the third before retiring from the race. With resource being put into next season’s new regulations under the cost cap, each collision is more costly than ever, so three broken wings in one race will have irked management.
Winner – Fernando Alonso
Finally, Alonso has points on the board to make a difficult weekend for his Aston Martin team easier to take.
Team-mate Lance Stroll withdrew from the race after qualifying due to discomfort in the wrist he damaged in 2023, leaving the team with just Alonso in the race.
The Spaniard had a strong qualifying and started the race in a fiesty fashion, pulling off trademark overtakes around his home circuit. A clumsy off at Turn 5 threatened to derail his efforts, only for a return to form at the end of the race – with the help of the safety car in the closing stages.
Tenth on the road became ninth after Verstappen’s penalty, meaning the two-time champion put an end to his 2025 points drought. A welcome return to the top 10 after the pain of Monaco.
Loser – Mercedes
Another strong performance for George Russell for fourth in the race was soured by a retirement for Kimi Antonelli.
The Italian triggered the late safety car when his car shut down with a power unit failure into Turn 10, leaving him in the gravel and needing recovery.
It was the second Mercedes PU failure in as many races after Alonso’s retirement in Monaco a week prior and is a concern given the German marque’s strong record for reliability in the hybrid era of F1.
McLaren will no doubt be keeping an eye on any explanation for the failures given that any retirement could drastically change the championship outlook between Norris and Piastri.
