Oscar Piastri bagged the fastest lap at the F1 2025 Spanish GP with a 1:15.743, as the young McLaren driver survived a late safety car to deliver his fifth victory of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The 24-year-old started from pole position and never lost the “true” lead of the race as he successfully held off the charges of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen through the pit stop sequences on Sunday.
Showing good pace and excellent tyre management to control thermal degradation in the blistering hot conditions in Montemelo, the Australian continued to maintain the gap to the cars behind to avoid stressing out his MCL39 package too much.
However, the picture changed when a late safety car was deployed for Kimi Antonelli’s mechanical failure as the Italian’s Mercedes became beached in the gravel, thus wiping out his lead.
With Norris and Verstappen now right behind him, he chose the perfect time to restart the race when the safety car pitted and once again checked out from the field; eventually going on to win by 2.4 seconds.
In the process of bolting away to break out of DRS range, he also delivered the fastest lap of the F1 2025 Spanish GP with that 1:15.743, although he doesn’t get a bonus point as that rule was abolished at the end of 2024.
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“A great weekend overall,” Piastri said to F1 TV following the race. “The pace was really good.
“We can turn it on when we needed to. Just very proud of the work we did this weekend. It’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco.
“A superb weekend.”
Norris celebrates McLaren 1-2 as Piastri wins 2025 Spanish GP
For Lando Norris, the weekend represented a brutal reality check following his emphatic performance at the Monaco GP from May 23-25, as a poor qualifying lap in Barcelona cost him pole position.
From there, he had a poor Lap 1 start that allowed his teammate to escape away with the lead whilst he also dropped behind Red Bull’s Verstappen – a theme common throughout 2024.
However, he did manage to get back ahead through McLaren strategy and solid pace but he could not catch Piastri through 66 laps, even with the late safety car. So how does he feel about his performance?
“Oscar drove a very good race today,” Norris told F1 TV. “I didn’t quite have the pace to match him.
“But we gave it our best shot. It was a good fun race and to finish one-two is even better!”
