Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Spanish Grand Prix

Photo form The Associated Press

The Spanish Grand Prix was headed towards an entertaining race of strategy, before it turned into a few laps of chaos at the end.

And with that, here are the winners and losers from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Haas

It was a dreadful weekend for Haas, but that’s not the worst thing in the world. Midfield teams will always struggle at certain tracks.

The problem is, their rivals in the standings, Sauber, had an excellent day and wracked up loads of points.

Haas is still ahead by 10 points, which may be a lot in the midfield, but it was 20 before this weekend.

It could be crucial.

4. Williams

One team who was not expected to have this bad of a race was Williams.

Their season has been astounding, and Carlos Sainz always finishes in the points at his home race.

But this weekend, Sainz had no pace, and Albon got into too many on track scuffles before he was forced to retire the car and Williams ended up with nothing at all.

Just a brutal weekend to forget.

3. Red Bull Racing

One thing Red Bull usually gets right is strategy.

And that is exactly what they did this race.

The team put Max Verstappen on a three stop strategy, which does seem questionable, but it meant the best driver on the grid could push hard all race, and it put him in great position to get a podium.

And then, after a DNF for Kimi Antonelli, the safety car came out.

Both McLaren’s in 1st and 2nd pitted for new tires, meaning Max Verstappen would inherit the lead.

Sure, he’d be in a slower car than the two McLaren’s with worse tires.

But with only 6 laps left of racing and knowing how great of a defender Verstappen is, it’s worth a shot.

But Red Bull didn’t think so.

Instead, they also pit Verstappen for brand new hard tires, which are not only significantly slower, but significantly harder to get into temperature.

Verstappen almost lost the car immediately, and the podium was gone just like that.

It was a really, really foolish strategy.

They also told Verstappen he had to give a position he didn’t illegally gain back to George Russell, which was bad.

But it ended up getting worse.

2. Max Verstappen

After Verstappen was told the news, he disagreed with it.

But regardless, he slowed down, and let George Russell pass.

Well, he did for a little bit, and then he sped up and drove right into the side of Russell deliberately.

It was an insanely stupid thing and incredibly dangerous to do so.

He should have gotten a very harsh penalty for it.

1. The FIA

But he didn’t. He got a 10 second penalty for it.

Incidents like this have happened before.

Michael Schumacher did it to his championship rival, so the FIA banned him from the championship.

Sebastian Vettel did it, and the FIA gave him a 10 second stop-go penalty.

This time, it was a regular 10 second penalty.

I’m not saying he needed to be banned from the championship, but I think a disqualification would be fair.

After all, cars get disqualified if the cars are slightly too wide or slightly too low on fuel.

But even if that’s too harsh, a drive through penalty (about 20 seconds) would be more fitting.

But no. 10 seconds.

The lack of consistency within the FIA and their stewards has been a problem forever, and it’s long been time to change things for the better.

Winners

5. Oscar Piastri

The biggest gap from pole this season, and a drama free race win that was never under threat.

An excellent drive from the championship leader.

4. Charles Leclerc

Leclerc was fantastic all race, and got a much needed podium to move Ferrari into P2 in the constructors standings.

And considering McLaren’s pace this year, that’s the best they can hope for.

3. Isack Hadjar

I feel like I’m a broken record so far this season, but Isack Hadjar has been unbelievably good this season.

He’s 9th in the standings! In front of drivers like Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz!

As a rookie!

His 7th place finish yesterday was just another example of how immensely talented he has been this year.

2. Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso racing in Spain is just wonderful to watch.

He dragged a poor Aston Martin into Q3, had insane overtakes during the race, and even drove it back into the points after almost beaching the car and having to retire from the race.

It was like he was back in his prime again.

1. Nico Hulkenberg

This was not an accident.

This wasn’t good strategy, or a wet race, or good luck.

Nico Hulkenberg, in a Sauber, had the pace to finish 6th on the road, and 5th in the final results due to Verstappen’s penalty.

It is unfathomable to me how good he was yesterday.

Hulk still has it, and if Audi comes into 2026 ready to compete next season, watch out…

That podium drought for Nico might just end.