The Formula 1 edit

Hello everyone and welcome to the conclusion of our European triple header! With two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and Williams driver Carlos Sainz calling Spain home, this is quite a famous race! Here is everything you need to know about the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying and the race.

qualifying: q1

We start qualifying off with Piastri setting the fastest time in Q1, definitely no surprises there! He is followed by rival Max Verstappen and teammate Lando Norris.

With 3 minutes left in the first sector, while in the pit lane, Alpine driver France Colapinto reports to his engineers that there is a problem with the car. Carlos Sainz is told he can pass him.

Fast forward to the last minute of Q1, Carlos Sainz is ripping through the turns. A lot of pressure is on him this Grand Prix, with a majority of the crowd rooting for their hometown hero. He finds himself with an already existing time of 1.030 while completing his lap. He turns that lap time into a much faster one which jolts him to 15th position! Just on the cusp of getting eliminated but not quite!

Time is up for Q1, but Colapinto’s time is up for the rest of qualifying. He pulls his car off the track for unknown malfunctions.

All heads turn to the 5 drivers who are currently grasping at straws to make it to Q2. Both Haas cars are at risk for elimination. Esteban Ocon finishes his lap and makes it to 15th, pushing Carlos Sainz back into the drop zone. Here goes rookie Ollie Bearman! If he makes it out of the disqualified positions, his teammate will be replaced and eliminated. Can he do it? Yes he can! The 20 year old British driver catapults to 11th place! Unfortunately, that means a race start towards the back of the grid for Haas’s senior driver.

Two more drivers are yet to finish their laps and find themselves in the bottom five. Those drivers are Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll. Yuki Tsunoda only manages to gain one position, which isn’t very beneficial when you were in 20th position to start with! 19th for Tsunoda. Lance Stroll, on the other hand, shoots up to 7th place! Quite the improvement! That does unfortunately mean that a different driver has to replace Stroll in the bottom five. That driver is none other than Nico Hulkenberg, and since Hulkenberg got sent to 16th, Yuki Tsunoda ends up in his original 20th position!

The drivers eliminated in Q1 were Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto, and Yuki Tsunoda.

q2

All the action happens towards the end of the quali sectors, so we pick up in Q2 with 30 seconds left on the clock! Piastri currently has the fastest lap, followed by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

With Carlos Sainz already being eliminated in Q1, his teammate, Alex Albon, has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to make it to Q3. Currently P14, he finishes his lap and makes it to P10, but barely being on the outskirts of the bottom 5, he could easily be disqualified!

Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto fights his way through the final turns to make it out of his devastating 12th position, but he has no such luck. He can only manage to make it to 11th, still in the bottom five.

Isack Hadjar replaces Bortoleto in 11th place, but he is yet to finish his lap, so anything could happen for the French rookie! He finishes his lap with a lighting speed that jolts him to 6th position! The best for any rookie so far on this track!

Hadjar’s Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson is in the hot seat, 14th position, that is. He’s fighting his way through his lap in an attempt to bring home an equally satisfactory outcome for qualifying! He unfortunately can’t find the pace that his teammate did and only makes it up the 13th.

Oliver Bearman is currently in last position. He doesn’t improve and finishes in 15th.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 are Alex Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll, and Oliver Bearman.

q3

Oscar Piastri, yet again, jumps up to pole! Both Mercedes drivers follow closely behind the lead, George Russell in 2nd and Kimi Antonelli in 3rd. The young rookie’s shot at a 3rd place diminishes when 4-time world champion Max Verstappen replaces him.

Now it’s time to see what Lando Norris can do! He has the fastest first sector of any driver! Norris definitely has a renewed confidence after securing the win in Monaco last week! He finishes his lap and takes first from his teammate!

Fernando Alonso shoots up to 5th! The entire crowd roars in excitement as their fellow Spaniard passes the grandstands!

Charles Leclerc makes the decision to jump out of the car early because he’s proud of his fastest time, which landed him in 4th place. With three minutes left on the clock, there is still an opportunity for someone to pass him and take 4th! Charles apparently doesn’t agree!

As the drivers rush to complete their last (and hopefully fastest!) lap, Oscar Piastri finds himself following closely behind his fellow Papaya teammate. Both McLaren drivers are currently finishing their last lap. Piastri is having better reaction times than Norris, does that mean a swapping of the positions? Yes it does! Oscar Piastri takes pole position right out from under Lando Norris! Oscar Piastri will start the Spanish Grand Prix in pole position!

Lewis Hamilton improves to 3rd, only for Max Verstappen to immediately take it from him! Verstappen to 3rd! Then George Russell comes in and takes 4th from his previous teammate! Probably not what Hamilton was expecting, but nonetheless, 5th is still a wonderful position to be in!

the grid

Here is your starting grid for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix!

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2. Lando Norris (Mclaren)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
9. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
10. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

the race

Welcome to the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix! Unfortunately, Lance Stroll suffered an injury to his wrist. He had to get surgery and couldn’t race. Yuki Tsunoda, who was supposed to start in 20th, will now start in 19th from the pit lane.

Oscar Piastri is on pole followed by his teammate Lando Norris in second and Dutch driver Max Verstappen in 3rd.

It’s lights out and away we go! Oscar Piastri hangs onto 1st but his teammate is quickly put under pressure by both Max Verstappen and George Russell, who drive on each side of Norris in an attempt to pass him. Max Verstappen goes around the outside and takes 2nd place!

Both Ferrari cars pass George Russell right away, sending George into 6th.

Home favorite Fernando Alonso tried with all his might to pass the Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, but Hadjar is just too fast for the Spaniard! He holds onto 9th. Unfortunately for Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg makes a move to pass him and is successful! Hulkenberg to 10th! But we spoke too soon! Alonso receives DRS and passes Hulkenberg to regain his original position!

In lap 13, Verstappen looks in his rear-view mirror and sees Lando Norris fast approaching and ready to pass him! He gains DRS and passes Verstappen in a very clean overtake!

In lap 14, the driver who proudly wears the number 14 on his helmet, Fernando Alonso, has his breaks lock up. The Aston Martin driver drives off the track into the gravel. Luckily, he is able to retain control of the vehicle and continues on his merry way!

15 laps later, Williams driver Alex Albon retires his car from the grand prix, only the second time that the Thai racer has failed to score points in the 2025 F1 season.

In lap 31, things start to get interesting! Liam Lawson lunges on Oliver Bearman and hits him! 21 laps later, the two cars crash together once again! While Lawson and Bearman lash it out, Lando Norris comes up from behind to lap the two cars. Clearly distracted, Liam Lawson doesn’t let Norris pass. Eventually, Lawson gets out of the way, but not without Norris losing a significant amount of time! Max Verstappen, currently P3, has to pass the rookies as well. Once he finally passed Oliver Bearman, the Dutch world champion threw up his arms in agitation at the stubborn Haas driver. If the young drivers are testing Verstappen’s patience by driving slower, it will be very interesting to see how Max is as a girl dad! My dad would tell you that I’m constantly pushing his buttons, so hopefully Verstappen adjusts well!

With 10 laps left to go, Kimi Antonelli drives off the track and into the gravel! That is a retirement for the young Italian! He joins Albon at the bottom of the grid. The yellow flag is deployed. Everyone leaps at the chance to get a free pit stop under the safety of the yellow flag. Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen pit.

Since Max Verstappen took an outstanding 4 pit stops, the mechanics had no other choice but to give him hard tires, which aren’t very desirable for this circuit. Verstappen certainly let his engineers know how he felt about it!

The green flag waves signaling the return of full speed racing in Barcelona! Charles Leclerc quickly passes Max Verstappen for 3rd position! In the process of the overtake, Leclerc and Verstappen bang wheels! Charles successfully takes third. Now George Russell is close behind the Red Bull! Russell attempts to pass Verstappen but also ends up banging wheels with him! Max can’t seem to catch a break! According to the FIA, Verstappen needs to give the place to Russell. His engineers tell him this and Max throws nothing short of a hissy fit! Russell goes to take his rightfully earned 4th place when Verstappen decides to let his anger get the best of him. He rams into Russell’s car then takes back 4th! Verstappen is told to let him pass once again, this time, he obeys the commands of his race engineer. Russell takes 4th.

Never would I think that I would be saying this sentence, but Nico Hulkenberg is currently trying to pass Charles Leclerc! He goes to make the move…and he passes! Nico Hulkenberg to an outstanding 6th position!

Fernando Alonso passes Liam Lawson within the final turns of this grand prix!

With all the chaos happening behind him, Oscar Piastri stayed calm and collected! He sees the checkered flag first for the 5th time this season! Oscar Piastri wins the Spanish Grand Prix! What an exciting race!

Upon FIA investigation, it was decided that Verstappen’s collision with Russell was deliberate, so he was issued a 10 second time penalty, sending him into 10th place! Verstappen was probably expecting to get away with it, but in the end, justice was served!

Nico Hulkenberg finishes the grand prix in an amazing 5th place! Starting in 15th, the German driver worked his way up 10 positions! Oddly enough, he wasn’t awarded the driver of the day award, Max Verstappen was! For unknown reasons, apparently the Formula 1 fans love a little bit of foul play!

the results

Here are the results for the Spanish Grand Prix!

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2. Lando Norris (McLaren)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. George Russell (Mercedes)
5. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
7. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
10. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

I’ll catch you in Canada!