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Oscar Piastri won the Spanish
Grand Prix to round off a pretty much perfect weekend for him and his
McLaren team. Apart from Lando Norris setting the fastest time in FP1, the
Australian topped every other time sheet, including all three sections of
qualifying. This is Piastri’s seventh Formula 1 win, the fifth this season,
as well as his second hat-trick (the win, pole position and fastest race
lap). McLaren now has 196 wins to its name, nine of them in this Grand Prix.
With Lando Norris finishing second, the team notched up its 52nd one-two
finish. The last time that happened at this track was in 2000, when Mika
Hakkinen won ahead of David Coulthard.
Charles Leclerc finished third
to claim his 46th podium finish, his first in this event. It is Ferrari’s
third podium of the season, the 39th at this race.
THE DAY ON TRACK:
Lance Stroll did not take part in the race and for the start, most of the
remaining 19 drivers opted for the Soft for the first stint: ten went with a
used set and eight with a new one, while Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was the
only driver to fit Mediums for his start from pit lane.
The
appearance of the Safety Car in the closing stages prompted almost all
drivers to make an additional stop, with the Red Bull drivers pitting in
total four times, having previously decided on a three-stop strategy. That
meant Verstappen had to take on a set of Hards for his fifth and final
stint, thus providing a small splash of white on the race’s tyre usage
colour chart.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“A very interesting Sunday in terms of tyre usage. As happened last year at
this track, the Soft turned out to be the most competitive tyre, maybe even
more so than in 2024. In terms of degradation, the data we saw today is
pretty much in line with what we got from Friday free practice, namely that
it was significant but manageable. Wear was also significant but there were
no surprises, even if in some stints, the limit was reached on the front
left, the tyre that comes under the most stress at this track.
“Some
drivers did over 20 laps on a set of Softs, even though they started with a
full fuel load, while others managed to do 30 or even more on a set of
Mediums. Then there was the Red Bull variable, as they tried to mix things
up by going for a three-stop strategy, which on paper was clearly slower.
They had nothing to lose with Tsunoda, as he was starting from pit lane, but
with Verstappen it was a gamble that should have ensured a podium, allowing
him to finish not far off the McLarens. However, the Safety Car in the
closing stages changed things for Max, who had driven a very aggressive race
up to that point, always pushing to the maximum, but then his chances were
wiped out.
“Pirelli will stay at this circuit for two days of testing
on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be very important for 2026. On this
occasion, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls will provide cars and
drivers. On Tuesday, George Russell will be on track for Mercedes, while
Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson will both drive a Racing Bull. On Wednesday,
Kimi Antonelli will be at the wheel of the Mercedes, while Yuki Tsunoda will
drive a Red Bull.”
Formula 2
Arvid Lindblad converted pole position into a win in the Feature Race. The
Campos Racing driver crossed the line ahead of Sebastian Montoya (PREMA
Racing) and Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport). All three chose to start on
the Soft before switching to the Hard, which as expected proved to be the
most efficient strategy. In fourth place, Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), had
extended his first stint on the Hard to lap 22, in the hope of a Safety Car,
but that only came out right at the end, which meant he was unable to
exploit being on fresher Softs which could have seen him finish on the
podium. Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) finished fifth today and leads the
Drivers’ classification on 87 points, just three more than Verschoor and
eight more than Lindblad.
Formula 3
A dominant performance saw Rafael Camara (Trident) win the Feature Race. The
Brazilian, racing in Ferrari Driver Academy colours, started from pole and
did a good job of managing the two restarts after Safety Cars, going to win
ahead of two French drivers: Theophile Nael (Van Amersfoort Racing) and
Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport). In the Drivers’ standings, Camara has
overtaken Bulgaria’s Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing), who is now 26 points
behind (105 to 79). Third is Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) on 70.
Despite not scoring this weekend, Brazil’s Rafael Camara (Trident) still
leads the Drivers’ standings on 77 points, 12 more than Germany’s Tim
Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) and 16 ahead of Tsolov.
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