2025 F1 Spanish GP: Driver Ratings

The F1 Spanish GP was an interesting test of drivers as the late race safety car put the cat amongst the pigeons. The racing in Barcelona is often not as intense as other venues but this time around from start to finish it was very close and a lot depended on how measured the drivers were.

The race weekend saw quite a few drivers execute things with perfection while others had forgettable ones. So how did each driver fare af the F1 Spanish GP? Let's take a look.

Criteria

• Performance in both qualifying and races is judged.
• Results achieved compared to the potential of the car.
• Mistakes made over the weekend.
• Relative performance against teammate.

2025 F1 Spanish GP: Rating the drivers

McLaren

Lando Norris

Rating: 7.5

Not the best weekend for Lando. He didn't nail his qualifying lap, and then on Sunday he didn't nail his start. You don't win championships by having this many race weekends where you make mistakes.

Oscar Piastri

Rating: 10

He nailed his qualifying. He nailed the start. He managed the tires to perfection. He had the pace to keep Lando Norris at bay most of the time. The F1 Spanish GP was another proof of Oscar Piastri taking a step closer towards being a complete package.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc

Rating: 9.5

Charles Leclerc is the flagbearer at Ferrari, and he's doing it as beautifully as it can be done. The driver secured another podium for himself at the F1 Spanish GP as the gap between him and his teammate starts to look even worse.

Lewis Hamilton

Rating: 5

Older soft tires or not, Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari should never be getting overtaken by a Sauber. Well, he did, unfortunately. The driver is struggling, and he's in pain to explain what's wrong. It's a long road ahead for him after the F1 Spanish GP.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen

Rating: 3

A brilliant race weekend for Max Verstappen until that one moment. That moment, however, was unacceptable. Verstappen has admitted that the George Russell incident should not have happened, but the fact that it did and it might cost him a race ban as well is something that goes against how the driver put together his F1 Spanish GP race weekend.

Yuki Tsunoda

Rating: 5.5

Yuki Tsunoda is slowly starting to sound a lot like Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson during race weekends. The F1 Spanish GP was no different. The Japanese driver will be hoping for a turnaround or even a return to the form of what he was doing at the start of the Red Bull stint.

Mercedes

George Russell

Rating: 8

A strong qualifying and a strong race for George Russell in the end. The Max Verstappen incident aside, the F1 Spanish GP just showed that the Mercedes lacks those final few tenths to be competitive against McLaren.

Kimi Antonelli

Rating: 6

It might appear a bit harsh, but there might be a case to be made that Kimi Antonelli's progress appears to have stalled. The Italian's last few weekends have not been great in terms of pace. He was unlucky with a DNF for sure, but even before that, Antonelli was a decent distance behind Russell in the F1 Spanish GP.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso

Rating: 7

Fernando Alonso is having a few off-track excursions these days, but the pace is there. The Spaniard got his first points of the season in his home race and will at least not have to answer questions about being pointless in 2026.

Lance Stroll

Rating: 2

If reports are true, then Lance Stroll losing his head and shouting at Aston Martin employees, further leading to the Canadian missing the F1 Spanish GP, is a poor look. The optics are just not right at the team, and you have to question how much impact it has on his driving as well.

Alpine

Pierre Gasly

Rating: 7

Pierre Gasly is more or less doing what he did last season as well, where he continued to get the best he could out of Alpine. Sometimes it was good enough to score a point, and sometimes it wasn't.

At the F1 Spanish GP, the French driver bagged more points for the team.

Franco Colapinto

Rating: 6

Colapinto was just unlucky with the car giving up on him in qualifying and couldn't do much more in the race. There are positive signs, however, from the F1 Spanish GP, as he was getting closer to Gasly. The Canadian GP will be a good litmus test.

Haas

Esteban Ocon

Rating: 6

Esteban Ocon's race got completely dismantled when he was told to stay out on a worn-out set of medium tires late in the race. Before that, the French driver had a decent pace in hand and was knocking on the door of a points finish. A lack of soft tires hurt him in the end, and the driver had nothing to show for his weekend.

Ollie Bearman

Rating: 6

Ollie Bearman had a better qualifying compared to his teammate and was slightly slower in the race. In the end, neither driver could score points as Haas struggled with the high-speed nature of the F1 Spanish GP track layout.

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson

Rating: 6.5

Liam Lawson continued to be a step behind his rookie teammate. The Kiwi would be desperately hoping to get one over Hadjar, especially with Arvid Lindblad continuing to surge in F2.

Isack Hadjar

Rating: 7.5

Isack Hadjar continues to impress and do the job at Racing Bulls. There's maybe one critique of the driver not being able to keep Nico Hulkenberg behind him at the restart, but other than that, the French driver has been brilliant.

Williams

Alex Albon

Rating: 6

A scruffy weekend overall for Alex Albon. Not the one that he'd like to remember as he gets ready for the next one in Canada.

Carlos Sainz

Rating: 6

Carlos had a worse qualifying than Albon, but in the race it was clear that Williams just didn't have the pace to be competitive anyway. A weekend to forget for both drivers.

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg

Rating: 8.5

Every time Hulkenberg pulls a result like this out of the bag, it makes you wonder what he could have done in a more competitive car. The F1 Spanish GP was another brilliant reminder of what the driver is capable of. A strong result as Sauber continues to grow from strength to strength.

Gabriel Bortoleto

Rating: 7

Bortoleto was once again just a step behind Hulkenberg at Sauber, but the Brazilian is not too far behind and will eventually get there. Another good weekend overall for the Brazilian.