Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix, beating Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen seemed to intentionally collide with George Russell near the end of the race.
Piastri drove perfectly in front and increased his lead over Norris in the championship to 10 points, regaining some momentum after his teammate’s win in Monaco a week earlier.
However, the race was largely influenced by the current world champion, showing both his skills and mistakes throughout. In the beginning, Verstappen showcased his talent with an aggressive three-stop strategy that put pressure on McLaren. But a late Safety Car changed everything for him, as Red Bull chose to put him on less favored hard tires, leaving him vulnerable to other drivers.
When the race restarted, Verstappen almost lost control of his car. He then lost a position to Charles Leclerc from Ferrari after their cars made contact down the main straight. There was more contact at Turn 1 with Mercedes’ Russell. Verstappen managed to stay ahead but had to take an alternate route at Turn 1.
After being instructed to let Russell pass for fourth place, Verstappen seemed to slow down but then collided with Russell again when they raced alongside each other. Russell eventually got ahead a few corners later.
The stewards quickly decided on a punishment, giving Verstappen a 10-second penalty as he crossed the finish line, which pushed him down to 10th place. He also received three penalty points, putting him just one point away from facing a possible race ban.
Verstappen didn’t want to talk much about the incident with the media afterwards, but Russell shared his thoughts with Sky Sports: “I’ve seen those kinds of moves in simulator games and go-karting, but never in Formula 1.
“In the end, I finished P4 and he ended up in P10, so I’m not sure what he was thinking. It felt intentional at the time.
“Max is an incredible driver, and many people admire him. It’s disappointing that situations like this keep happening. It’s completely unnecessary and doesn’t seem to help him at all.”
Because of Verstappen’s penalty, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg moved up to a surprising fifth place. Hülkenberg managed to pass Lewis Hamilton, who had a quiet race in the other Ferrari, shortly after the restart. Isack Hadjar continued his strong season by finishing seventh ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Local hero Fernando Alonso took ninth place, earning his first points of the season, which was a nice boost for Aston Martin after teammate Lance Stroll unexpectedly withdrew on Saturday night.
