The Spanish Grand Prix last on the Barcelona Catalña circuit was surprisingly interesting with a fascinating strategy fight and explosive track controversy.
Here are the biggest winners and losers of an action-packed Formula 1 race in Barcelona…
Winner – McLaren
The perfect weekend for McLaren, who appears to have left Spain without being affected by F1’s Flexi-Wing clampdown, levelled their paths.
Changes to the rules did not allow McLaren to be brought back as their rivals would like when Oscar Piastri led the All Papaya front row in qualifying and converted Paul’s position to victory with another best drive.
Piastri led the McLaren 1-2, strengthening the team’s grip against the constructor’s crown, marking a key bounceback result for the Australians.
After consecutive defeats to Imola and his teammate Rand Norris in Monaco, Piastri’s fifth victory in nine races led him to increase his championship lead by 10 points.
Piastri and Norris made another McLaren 1-2
Loser – Max Verstappen
Barcelona’s Max Verstappen’s frustration has improved as he wasted important points in unnecessary self-destruction.
Verstappen fought the McLaren battle with a three-stop strategy, but his race fell apart during the slower safety car. The Dutch struggled with grip on the restart as he was forced to fit hard tires into his car while his rivals were all on the soft side.
After a collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Verstappen found himself entangled with George Russell’s Mercedes in Turn 1 and entangled with the escape road to hold the truck’s position.
Verstappen appeared to be returning the place to Russell as directed for five turns while driving, but he began driving to the side of Britton’s car at the red minimum moment when he was slapped on a 10-second penalty.
This causes Verstappen to be dropped from the fifth to the 10th of the road, and he is now a 49-point Piastri drift. It was an avoidable and costly moment of self-harm from the four-time world champion.
Winners – Nico Halkenberg and Sauber
Hulkenberg celebrates Sauber’s best results in three years
Nico Furkenberg has created a sensational drive to give Sauber his first point finish since the Australian Grand Prix opening season.
The experienced German rose incredibly from the P15, passing Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and transformed into a P5 when Verstappen was punished.
Hulkenberg may have had some fortune along the way, but his run to Sauber’s first top five finish for over three years was after the introduction of a promising upgrade. The rookie teammate Gabriel Boltreto was particularly impressed by the qualifying rounds, highlighting the Swiss team’s encouragement benefits.
Loser – Horned Yuki
Yuki Tsunoda’s struggle shows no signs of ending following another disaster over the weekend.
Not only did Japanese drivers suffer from an embarrassing first quarter elimination, they also set the slowest time in the session, leaving the plum at the end on the grid.
Tsunoda, whose performance is protected by his teammate Verstappen, was only able to recover on the 13th as he finished the last of four Red Bull drivers again on another hot day of the RB21.
Winner – Charles Leclerc
Leclerc won his third podium
Again contrasting fate story on Sunday for Ferrari. Hamilton had a difficult and frustrating afternoon, but for Charles Leclerc things were far more varied.
Leclerc only suffered a second qualifying loss to Hamilton after choosing to run only once in the third quarter to save the tires in hopes of a better Sunday. And that’s exactly what happened.
A great start and help, Leclerc made up a quicker ground, a faster Ferrari, which resulted in Hamilton being moved aside. Monegasque passed Verstappen (after contacting at high speed) after a slow, safe vehicle reboot followed by a well-earned podium.
Loser – Lewis Hamilton
What appeared to be a promising weekend for Hamilton was unleashed as he slid seventh on the streets from the season’s high qualifiers on Sunday.
Hamilton struggled with wonder at the pace throughout, crossing two spots that were lower than he started. He was instructed by Ferrari to pass his teammate Leclerc on lap 10, and was unable to take advantage of the slow safety car with the pack bundled.
The seven-time world champion granted Hulkenberg a place to insult the injury before being promoted to P6 only due to a post-race penalty for Verstappen.
Hamilton remained a very downbeat as he lamented Barcelona as Ferrari’s “the worst race I’ve had.”
Winner – Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso had an action-packed home race as he moved from gravel to the much-anticipated first point finish for the 2025 season.
The Aston Martin driver ran inside the points early until an uncharacteristic failure caused him to lose control of his car, slack down the gravel and sacrifice two places where he saw him fall to 11th place.
However, the two-time world champions fought back and crossed the line on the 10th. This will be P9 if the Verstappen penalty is applied.
Alonso finally ended his point drought with an eventful race
Loser – Some Antonelli
It proved to be a painful triple header for Kimi Antoneri, who failed to score a single point on the Imola Monaco Barcelona triple header.
Antoneri came in seventh when a suspicious engine problem hit him and stretched towards gravel just 11 laps from his home. It added to the tragedy of Imola’s Italian teenager power unit and joined the miserable run in 18th place at Monaco.
Winner – Isaac Hajar
Isack Hadjar continued his recent form of great running in Barcelona. There, in contrast to fellow rookie Antoneri, the Racing Bulls driver created a hat trick for a point finish.
Following Monaco’s Imola and P6’s P9, Hajar once again became the second-highest Red Bull driver behind Barstappen, as he scored a strong P7 before Alpine’s Pierre Guthrie.
Another great show from a 20-year-old Frenchman who has moved from seemingly strong to strength amid the ongoing troubles of the horndas.
Loser – Williams
Albon got entangled with Lawson
Williams’ four consecutive double-point finish runs ended with a Spanish Grand Prix, which was scrambled and disappointing for the British team.
Alex Albon retired after losing his front wing in a skirmish with Liam Lawson. He saw him receive a 10-second penalty, but Carlos Sainz managed to finish in 14th place after the first quarter elimination was forced to do it on Sunday.