Spanish GP Virtual F1 Grid Walk: Familiar story Max versus the Macs
F1 NewsSunday, 01 June 2025 at 03:55
With no Lance Stroll on the grid today in Barcelona, Formula 1 is a safer place, for him and his rivals. The out-of-sorts Aston Martin driver delivered a sick note to his team that will see him sit out today's Spanish Grand Prix.
With Stroll's absence, there is less chance of a crash in Barcelona today, a Safety Car, a Virtual Safety Car, and so on, incidents he tends to attract, cause, or trigger. Officially, it is due to a wrist problem, which means he will not start his 174th Formula 1 race, the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, the much-hyped FIA clampdown on flexi-wings has turned out to be a whole lot of misguided noise, as McLaren’s rivals now scrape the barrel of excuses to justify their failings. The reality is, they were out-thought, out-engineered, and out-raced by the team from Woking.
McLaren have simply done a great job providing their drivers with a car that works well on every track, in all temperatures, rain or shine. The other nine cars are occasionally good here and there. The rest range from so-so pieces of kit like the Mercedes and Ferrari to total sh!tboxes, namely, those at the back of the grid.
At the sharp end, Oscar Piastri will start today's race from pole position, with teammate Lando Norris alongside him in P2. The pair keep raising each other's game. The balance of power swings back and forth like a pendulum. One of them will be F1 World Champion when the lights go out at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to end this season.
Who will be the King of Barcelona? Norris or Piastri? Or Max?
It is a toss-up before each weekend. Advantage Norris after Monaco. Less than a week later, it is advantage Piastri, who has been stellar in turning his bogey tracks into strengths this year. Barcelona Qualifying was another example. His pole lap, two tenths better than Norris’ best, is a massive statement. Catch me if you can, taunts Oscar.
Fresh from his Monaco victory, Norris will need a riposte today. On Saturday, the smart money was on him to take pole, but betting on his teammate proved wiser. Still, if Norris can reverse the order by the end of the race, he will take the Championship lead, provided he beats Piastri.
Heading the second row, Max Verstappen will have one thing on his mind: getting a great start and emerging from the Turn 1 complex in the lead. It is a long run with plenty of options for the Red Bull ace to conjure his Imola-style magic. He is McLaren's nemesis. As a four-time winner here, he knows his way around Barcelona. Expect the expected, Max making gaps that do not exist for mere mortals.
George Russell lines up P4 in his Mercedes, making the top four look familiar. While the Briton has delivered in Qualifying, race pace continues to elude the team. They are never sure which version of the Mercedes shows up, the bad one or the ok one. We will see today.
Hamilton lines up next to Antonelli... Think about it!
On the third row, Lewis Hamilton starts next to Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old who replaced him at Mercedes. Antonelli starts directly behind Russell, while Leclerc is just behind him in P7. Smart money says the Ferrari has better race pace than the Mercedes. The Reds versus the Silver Arrows will be intriguing, with the best of them possibly sneaking a podium if the front three slip up.
Pierre Gasly had a strong Saturday, putting the Alpine in P8, but he is unlikely to stay there, as the team's form and race pace tend to drop off.
Once again shining when it matters, Isack Hadjar was the second fastest of the Red Bull quartet. The others, apart from Max, were outshone by this standout rookie, who is clearly ready for a senior seat. He starts next to his hero, veteran Fernando Alonso, who rounds out the top ten. Hadjar made it into Q3, Liam Lawson didn't and will start P13.
Beyond the top five rows, other talking points include how Gasly destroyed Alpine F1 rookie Franco Colapinto. Alonso once again crushed Stroll, making it 21 to 0 in qualifying head-to-heads.
How much longer for Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull?
And of course, Verstappen crushed Tsunoda in the Red Bull camp. The Japanese driver looks severely out of his depth in a car he cannot handle and is probably wishing he were back in a Racing Bull. If so, that wish might come true after today.
Both Williams drivers missed out on Q3, with Alex Albon outqualifying Carlos Sainz again. The latter has made hard work of beating his rookie teammate, who has been one of the revelations of the season. Much more was expected of the Spaniard, especially on home soil. A Q1 exit is pure embarrassment, no matter how they try to spin it.
Other veteran journeymen were also beaten by their less experienced teammates on Saturday, rookie Gabriel Bortoleto beating Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber. Similarly, youngster Oliver Bearman showed Esteban Ocon the fastest way around Barcelona in the Haas.
Formula 1 statistics for the Spanish Grand Prix by Reuters
- Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, the Round 9 of the 24-race 2025 Formula 1 World Championship
- Lap distance: 4.657 km. Total distance: 307.236 km (66 laps)
- 2024 pole position: Lando Norris (Britain) McLaren 1:11.383 seconds
- 2024 race winner: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull
- Start time: 1300 GMT (1500 local)
- Race lap record: Verstappen 1:16.330 (2023)
- The high-downforce Circuit de Catalunya is hosting what will be the 55th world championship Spanish GP, and the last of a 'triple header' of three races on successive weekends.
- Lewis Hamilton has won the Spanish GP six times (2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), a record he shares with Michael Schumacher.
- Verstappen has won four times (2016, 2022, 2023, 2024), and finished on the podium in the last seven Spanish Grands Prix, with Fernando Alonso winning twice (2006, 2013).
- Verstappen took his first F1 win in Barcelona in 2016.
- The winner at the Circuit de Catalunya, which has a mix of fast and slow corners with two long straights and a smooth surface, has started on pole 24 times in 34 races there.
- Overtaking is not easy: the only drivers to win in Barcelona and not start on the front row were Schumacher (third on the grid in 1996), Alonso (from fifth in 2013) and Verstappen (fourth in 2016).
- Alonso and Williams's Carlos Sainz are the only Spanish drivers in the race.
- Ferrari are the most successful team at the Circuit de Catalunya with eight wins. Since 1951, the Italian team have won 12 times in Spain.
2025 F1 World Championship points ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
- McLaren's Oscar Piastri leads the drivers' championship by three points from team mate Norris. Verstappen is 22 points behind Norris.
- Leaders and champions McLaren are 172 points clear of Mercedes, with Red Bull four further back.
- Piastri, Norris and Verstappen are now the only drivers to have scored in every race this season after Mercedes's George Russell finished 11th in Monaco.
- Piastri has scored for 34 races in a row, the third-longest scoring streak in F1 history.
- Aston Martin's double world champion Alonso has yet to open his account, his worst start to a season in 10 years.
- Two rookies have yet to score this season -- Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who replaced Jack Doohan after six races
Race wins, Poles & Podiums
- Piastri has won four out of eight races, Verstappen and Norris two each.
- Seven-times world champion Hamilton has a record 105 career victories from 364 starts. Verstappen has won 65 grands prix and is third on the all-time list after Schumacher on 91.
- Piastri and Norris both have six career wins.
- Piastri and Verstappen have both been on pole three times this season, Norris twice.
- Norris has started on the front row in four of the eight.
- Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary in 2023.
- Both McLaren drivers have finished on the podium seven times so far in 2025, Piastri seven times in a row.
- Leclerc's second place in Monaco was Ferrari's best result of the season so far.
- Spanish Grand Prix Top 3 Peevee Prediction: P1. Piastri; P2.Verstappen; P3.Russell.
What's your Top 3 prediction of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona?
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