As Formula 1 ends its first foray into Europe with the Spanish Grand Prix, which drivers are relieved the break has come and who wishes the triple header was longer.
Oscar Piastri: 10
Piastri bounced back from disappointment in Monaco with a fifth win of the season after securing pole by the biggest margin of 2025 to extend his points lead.
Piastri controlled the race from the start, never looked under any pressure – even with a late Safety Car – and was back to his imperious best in the Spanish sunshine.
The result has also ensured the Australian has joined an elite club alongside Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton with eight consecutive podiums for McLaren.
Lando Norris: 8
Norris was second best to Piastri all weekend and, having been out-qualified as he rued more costly mistakes in Q3, was unable to mount a challenge in the race.
Charles Leclerc: 9.5
Another weekend where Leclerc maximised what he could from his Ferrari, especially on Sunday. Sacrificing his qualifying to have a better strategy on race day paid off hugely as the Monegasque went from seventh on the grid to a late third, capitalising on Red Bull’s call to pit Max Verstappen onto the Hard tyre for the restart to nab a podium.
Lewis Hamilton: 7
A good qualifying and a strong race start for Hamilton slowly unravelled to a disappointing sixth place finish, even beaten by the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in the dying laps as the Briton struggled with rear-end problems throughout the race.
George Russell: 8
Russell matched Verstappen’s lap in Q3, but he started behind as the Red Bull set the time earlier.
But while the Briton ended up dropping behind both Ferraris amid a tentative opening lap, he managed to undercut Hamilton to move back into the top five.
Russell then capitalised on Verstappen being a sitting duck to gain another place in the closing stages, even with the Red Bull careering into the side of his Mercedes at Turn 5.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 6
Antonelli was on course to return to the top 10 until a retirement with 13 laps to go due to a mechanical failure made it three consecutive weekends without a single point.
Nico Hulkenberg: 9.5
Starting 15th, Hulkenberg stormed through the field and was comfortably running in the top 10 until the Safety Car provided him with a chance to land a headline result.
Sauber then could put the German onto fresh Softs for the restart, which propelled him to finish sixth on track – overtaking Hamilton – but fifth after Verstappen’s penalty.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 7.5
Bortoleto backed up yet another qualifying win over team-mate Hulkenberg by an assured run to a 12th-place finish, representing his best result in F1 to date.
Isack Hadjar: 8.5
Another impressive weekend from the standout rookie on the grid in 2025. A fifth Q3 appearance from the Frenchman was backed up with a seventh-place finish.
Liam Lawson: 7.5
While the New Zealander was something of an accident magnet in Barcelona, he was unfortunate not to pick up back-to-back points in 2025, with an 11th still a solid result for a driver seemingly recovering from his early-season demotion from Red Bull.
Pierre Gasly: 8
Gasly returned to the top 10 in qualifying and converted it nicely into an eighth-place finish. The Frenchman put a difficult Monaco weekend behind him and gave Alpine some much-needed points for a team now languishing last in the championship.
Franco Colapinto: 5
A mechanical failure in qualifying curtailed a more promising session for Colapinto. However, the Argentinian driver could only move up three places to 15th come race day and was once again unimpressive as Doohan’s replacement.
Fernando Alonso: 7.5
The two-time World Champion used his home advantage to claim his first points of the season in ninth. It wasn’t the cleanest race from the Spaniard, but a trip through the gravel wasn’t going to stop Alonso from finally ending his points drought in 2025.
Max Verstappen: 5.5
An alternative three-stop strategy ended up being Verstappen’s demise, leaving the Dutchman to fight for a podium with the unfancied Hard compound.
Verstappen almost lost the car completely on the restart, a huge snap of oversteer out of the final corner lost him third to Leclerc. Then, against Russell, Verstappen ran off the road to keep his position, something Red Bull would ask him to reverse a few laps later.
Verstappen strongly disagreed and he collided with the Mercedes at Turn 5, picking up a 10-second time penalty and dropping to 10th at the chequered flag.
Yuki Tsunoda: 4.5
Red Bull went in the wrong direction with Tsunoda in qualifying, leading to the Japanese driver ending up last on the grid in Barcelona. A pitlane start to revert the changes only led to a 13th place finish and another weekend to forget for the second Red Bull car.
Carlos Sainz: 5.5
It was a home race to forget for Sainz, with a Q1 exit and a 14th place finish all he could salvage on a weekend where Williams struggled for competitiveness.
Alex Albon: 5
An incident-packed race, leading to a 10-second penalty before being retired on Lap 29, spearheaded a disastrous weekend for the Williams team in Barcelona.
Esteban Ocon: 5.5
Having been left out to dry on the Mediums for the restart, Ocon plummeted to 16th place come the chequered flag.
Ollie Bearman: 5.5
A race full of drama for Bearman ultimately resulted in a 17th-place finish to compound a challenging race day for the Haas team.
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri takes victory in F1 Spanish GP as Max Verstappen penalised
I think that you got Max’s rating spot on. He overall, actually had quite a decent weekend. He was quick in qualifying, had good pace in the race, and was able to challenge Lando early on, before the MCL39’s superior tyre management made the difference.
The explosion toward the end of the race is unfortunate, but at the same time, Max’s team bears some responsibility there, pushing him across the line he was already teetering on. Maybe in these instances of on track battles, the FIA need to act a little quicker, and maybe they should revert back to the days where rather than handing out penalties, they first advise the team to tell the driver to give the place back, and only hand out a penalty if the driver then refuses, or doesn’t do it in a timely manner. Leaving it up to the team leaves too much bias in the decision, or in this case, an overly cautious decision.
A loss of temper hurt his race, but he’s not the first, and wont be the last to do so. I think he’ll learn from this, and we probably wont see anything like this from him again.