No Thoughts on Anger Management
A recap of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix
I originally debated whether I should just include my thoughts on this year’s Spanish Grand Prix with my recap of the Canadian Grand Prix that’s happening later today. However, I did say in my defense of the Monaco Grand Prix (which you should definitely check out if you haven’t) that I would be bringing you a dedicated recap of the race in Barcelona. Plus, unlike with the race in Saudi Arabia, a lot happened in this year’s Spanish Grand Prix. All things considered, it felt like the better option to do an individual post for the Spanish Grand Prix rather than trying to cram it into another race’s recap.
If you’re broadly aware of what happened in Spain (specifically towards the end of the race), you’re probably wondering what my thoughts are on that incident. However, there will be no thoughts on anger management. That’s because I think everyone else has already covered that, so I won’t bore you by saying stuff that would be pretty much aligned with what’s already been said.
For the specific moment of the race I’m alluding to, you can skip to the Red Bull portion of this recap. But like always, I highly recommend you read through the entire post to get the lowdown on each and every team’s performance!
New regulations, same old McLaren.
Oscar Piastri: 1st (Qualified 1st)
Lando Norris: 2nd (Qualified 2nd)
The major talking point heading into Spain was whether or not McLaren would be hurt by the new regulations surrounding wing flexibility. The answer was a resounding no.
Piastri and Norris never looked in doubt of securing yet another 1-2 finish for McLaren. Even the team’s decidedly weird call to have both cars stay out long in the first stint couldn’t stop both drivers from easily re-passing Verstappen after they finally pitted. My thought is they were trying to extend the tires long enough to make it a one-stop race, but that would’ve been a bold—not to mention incorrect—call even with the McLaren being kinder on its tires than its rivals.
In hindsight, it was clear that all the talk about the new regulations was more wishcasting from the media and the public desperate for a more competitive season (especially in the Constructors’ Championship) than it was about any potential shift in the car’s performance. McLaren had actually tested their new front wing during practice sessions in Imola, and given how the car performed in those sessions it was clear there wasn’t going to be any real shake-up in the pecking order.
That’s not to say McLaren’s dominance is the same as the previous Red Bull and Mercedes eras were. In terms of raw pace, McLaren aren’t necessarily faster than Red Bull, Mercedes, or Ferrari. You can tell in qualifying, especially at high-speed tracks (think Saudi Arabia or Montréal later today) that the McLaren car has limits (notably straight line speed) that make it slightly vulnerable. However, the reason these issues can’t be exploited is both because they aren’t debilitating. Outright speed over one lap doesn’t matter in a race if you can’t sustain it over a full stint, and the McLaren’s superior tire cooling allows its drivers to push harder for longer. At the hands of two great drivers like Piastri and Norris, and you end up with a car that becomes dominant because it’s the most well-rounded rather than because it’s simply superior on every level. So while you shouldn’t expect McLaren to nab pole positions or 1-2s at every single race, you will definitely always see them in contention. And that means, barring a miracle, it’s difficult to see any other team fighting back in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ferrari’s solid weekend still feels too little, too late.
Charles Leclerc: 3rd (Qualified 7th)
Lewis Hamilton: 6th (Qualified 5th)
On paper, Spain looked like a positive weekend for Ferrari given they leapfrogged both Red Bull and Mercedes to sit second in the Constructors’ Championship. In reality, things were much more mixed.
There’s a reason why one of the lasting images of this year’s Spanish Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton getting passed by—gasp—a SAUBER in the closing stages of the race. Let me first be clear: I’m not saying Sauber are now better than Ferrari—the overtake was made possible because of tire strategy paying off for Hülkenberg at the end. However, the shock of seeing something everyone would have written off as a satirical fantasy actually occur underscores just how poor this season has been for Ferrari, despite the Constructors’ Championship standings suggesting otherwise. Case in point: Ferrari leapfrogging Mercedes and Red Bull after Spain was definitely helped by Antonelli’s car breaking down and Verstappen’s moment of madness at the end of the race.
Since this is Ferrari we’re talking about, the finger pointing has gone into overdrive. Is Hamilton underperforming? Frankly, no. Adjusting to a car you had no input in developing and a new team is difficult, even for a driver with Hamilton’s talent and CV. And that’s before we acknowledge the fact Hamilton in 2025, while still a top driver, is definitely not “peak” Hamilton. The only reason we think he’s underperforming right now is because he is who he is. However, this debate definitely isn’t fully shut, and it’s worth examining and potentially reassessing as the season progresses.
Is Team Principal Fred Vasseur responsible for Ferrari seemingly going in the wrong direction this season? Frankly, also no. Given how much Ferrari bounced back after looking similarly lost at this point last season, it would be ridiculous to place all the blame for this year’s struggles at Vasseur’s feet without considering his leadership may have played a role in getting the team the closest they’ve been to winning a championship in arguably over a decade. Vasseur himself also knows this: it’s why he pointed the finger at, in his words, the “one thing” that hasn’t changed.
The fact is, Ferrari are where they are in 2025 not because their drivers are bad or because their leadership is lacking, but because their car isn’t good enough to contend for the championship. The problem is, trying to fix this issue puts the team in a catch-22. Because they’re currently second, they should try and improve their car. However, spending all of that time and money would potentially cost them in the long run. The completely new car regulations for 2026 mean the 2025 car will be rendered completely irrelevant after this year, and McLaren are so far ahead that any significant effort to improve the 2025 car simply feels like simultaneously burning money and shooting yourself in the foot. But not doing anything and throwing in the towel now means not only ceding ground to Mercedes and Red Bull, but also making your two superstar drivers even more unhappy.
There’s no doubt Ferrari will try and find a middle path through this storm, but don’t expect whatever solution they come up with to quell it.
Mercedes bounce back.
George Russell: 4th (Qualified 4th)
Kimi Antonelli: DNF (Qualified 6th)
Antonelli’s retirement may have put a damper on Mercedes’ weekend, but Russell’s finish was still able to give Mercedes enough points to stay right behind Ferrari and extend the team’s lead over Red Bull. Spain was good enough to stop the team’s slide after frustrating weekends in Imola and Monaco, but the team won’t be able to fight Ferrari and Red Bull with a bunch of fourth-place finishes. Looking ahead to the race later today in Canada, Russell’s pole position is a good starting point, but whether Mercedes can translate the pace they’ve shown in one lap to an entire race remains to be seen.
YES, SAUBER DID SCORE POINTS THIS RACE.
Nico Hülkenberg: 5th (Qualified 15th)
Gabriel Bortoleto: 12th (Qualified 12th)
Hülkenberg’s fifth-place finish was Sauber’s best result since Imola 2022 (when the team were still competing as Alfa Romeo). It will no doubt be a morale boost for the team, who brought a flurry of upgrades and will be floored that the improvements helped them land what will be considered a boatload of points by their standards. Hülkenberg’s incredible start also has to be mentioned: he jumped a lot of the cars ahead of him in the first few laps and was able to stay in the points by the time the Safety Car came in late in the race. From there, Sauber were able to turn his qualifying pains into joy: since Hülkenberg was knocked out early on Saturday, the team had an extra set of unused soft tires they could put on his car, which ultimately made the final difference in allowing him to shock everyone by passing Hamilton. Verstappen’s post-race penalty only made what was already a great result even sweeter.
The name of the game when you’re in the middle—or, in the case of Sauber, back—of the grid is to maximize your points haul when you have a great weekend. For Sauber, those weekends are few and far between, and I would still expect it to stay that way the rest of the season. But in both Australia and Spain, they’ve done a brilliant job of squeezing as many points as possible when things go right for them, and as a result they deserve to celebrate their hard-won points.
There’s even more reason to celebrate in the short-term too: Hülkenberg’s fifth-place finish means Sauber are (temporarily) not last in the Constructors’ Championship. In fact, they’re not even second-to-last: Sauber actually win the tiebreaker with Aston Martin because their fifth place in Spain is higher than any finish Aston Martin have had so far this year.
Racing Bulls continue their quiet consistency.
Isack Hadjar: 7th (Qualified 9th)
Liam Lawson: 11th (Qualified 13th)
I suppose calling Racing Bulls’ consistency “quiet” might be a bit inaccurate given Hadjar’s impressive rookie season is deservingly making waves. But if you look at the results themselves, Racing Bulls are currently sixth in the Constructors’ Championship precisely because they’ve been consistently scoring objectively solid, if not flashy, results. The team doesn’t have a top-five finish like Sauber or Haas, but they’re ahead of both teams precisely because their performance week-to-week has also been a lot less volatile.
A lot of that consistency so far has been down to Hadjar’s performances, but don’t disregard Lawson just yet. While his race in Spain wasn’t the cleanest, there were signs that he carried over the confidence from scoring points in Monaco. Given Hadjar’s success with the Racing Bulls car in both qualifying and races so far, Lawson could potentially throw a wrench into the midfield battle if he continues to improve.
Alpine take one step forward, move two steps back.
Pierre Gasly: 8th (Qualified 8th)
Franco Colapinto: 15th (Qualified 18th)
All is not well in the land of “democratic dictatorship.”
Sure, Spain looked on paper like a good weekend for Alpine. After all, the team scored points in a regular Grand Prix for the first time since Bahrain five races ago. However, because Hülkenberg finished fifth, Alpine actually slipped down to last place in the Constructors’ Championship. It literally can’t get worse than that.
Except, maybe it still can?
Colapinto’s struggle to adapt to his new team (which, remember, is difficult even for seven-time world champions!) means the team is now in an increasingly awkward position. With Imola being his first race in a new car and Monaco being F1’s most unique outlier (yes, it does still deserve a place on the calendar!), Spain was really the first race where you could judge Colapinto’s performance. The result wasn’t great. That would be fine, if it weren’t for the part of the story where Alpine supposedly brought him in on a five-race contract. If that’s true, Colapinto essentially has two more races to prove himself. If he doesn’t, Alpine are left with no good options. Keeping him if he underperforms would be a bad look. Although I still believe Colapinto is the better driver compared to Jack Doohan, giving him more time would raise eyebrows considering Alpine clearly weren’t willing to give Doohan that same courtesy. Meanwhile, going back to Doohan or ditching both for yet another driver would both look equally bad for obvious reasons.
At the end of the day, Spain really turned out to be less of a celebration and more of a car crash for Alpine. Then again, this team would know something about car crashes, wouldn't they? (Stay tuned for Omakase Formula’s post on #crashgate, dropping crash landing into your email inbox later this year. Remember to subscribe, it’s free!)
Aston Martin get back on the board.
Fernando Alonso: 9th (Qualified 10th)
Lance Stroll: Withdrew
Aston Martin’s overall uptick in performance starting in Imola meant it was only a matter of time before Alonso finally scored points, and it was fitting his first points of the year came at his home race. Alonso putting points on the board for the team was also much needed in a week where they suddenly found themselves only starting one driver in the race. Stroll initially qualified 14th, but withdrew from the race after experiencing hand and wrist pain linked to a cycling injury he sustained a few years ago. The good news for Aston Martin and Stroll is that he has recovered and will race in Canada, where they’ll hope to keep the momentum from Spain going.
Red Bull’s strategic genius overshadowed by Verstappen’s moment of madness.
Max Verstappen: 10th (Qualified 3rd)
Yuki Tsunoda: 13th (Pit Lane Start)
Before we talk about what happened with Verstappen at the end of the race, I do want to give credit to Red Bull for demonstrating why strategy matters in F1 (and also why the lack of strategy makes sprint races boring). Sure, you might think going for extra pit stops is counterintuitive. But in certain conditions, such as those in Barcelona where high track temperatures lead to high tire degradation, having better tires than your rival can actually give you more pace even if you’re driving the worse car (see Exhibit A: Hülkenberg passing a Ferrari in a Sauber). Red Bull knew they couldn’t beat McLaren in a straight fight, and quickly realized they had a shot at victory by going to a three-stop strategy. Considering they had the option of staying in first and having track position when the Safety Car appeared, the gamble nearly paid off.
I’m still not sure what Red Bull were thinking at that point when they chose to pit Verstappen for the only set of new tires they had left: the hards. I know degradation would have been an issue on the used softs, but there were so few laps left at the end of the race that it would have made more sense to steal track position from McLaren under the Safety Car and lean on Verstappen’s incredible skills as a driver to try and defend that position. I’m not saying it would’ve worked. However, it was clear the hard tires weren’t going to do the job even if they were new. The reason no other team went anywhere near them during the race was because that tire had no performance to give. And even if it was a new tire, the hards take so long to warm up that they would’ve made no sense anyway with how few laps there were left in the race. All in all, losing track position for a poor tire choice just didn’t make sense.
Perhaps that was why Verstappen let out his frustration by deliberately slamming into Russell’s Mercedes on Lap 64. It was an inexcusable move that saw his original fifth place downgraded to tenth after he was given a ten-second penalty post-race. As you would imagine, Verstappen was universally condemned for the move. That means that I can turn my attention towards questioning another part of this whole saga: the inconsistent stewarding. If Norris gets a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags in Qatar last year (let’s also ignore for now how the stewards botched that whole situation) in the name of “safety,” I don’t understand why Verstappen gets a less severe penalty for purposefully crashing into another driver.
It was "Spain” without the “S” for Williams.
Carlos Sainz: 14th (Qualified 17th)
Alex Albon: DNF (Qualified 11th)
Williams will want to forget Spain ever happened. The team could not get anything going from the start of the race, with the only positive thing for them being that the race ended.
Luckily, Williams can quickly move on: their strong season so far means Spain was an exception rather than the norm, and they still sit comfortably in fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Haas’ roller coaster season continues.
Esteban Ocon: 16th (Qualified 16th)
Ollie Bearman: 17th (Qualified 14th)
Like Williams, the best part about Spain for Haas was that it ended.
Unlike Williams, Haas don’t have the same strong season to fall back on as reassurance. There have been highs (both cars scoring points in China), but those great moments have been complemented by weekends such as Spain where the team looked incapable of being competitive. That week-to-week oscillation is why Haas now find themselves behind Racing Bulls in the Constructors’ Championship despite their best performance of the season (Ocon’s P5 in China) being better than Racing Bulls’ season high (Hadjar’s P6 in Monaco).