F1 Barcelona: McLaren stays on top in Spain, Ferrari improves but challenges persist. McLaren dominates again at the Spanish GP with Piastri and Norris, while Ferrari makes progress thanks to Leclerc's podium.

Nothing has changed: flexible wings or rigid wings, McLaren continues to dominate with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris doing whatever they wanted on the Montmeló test track. Will it be a one-sided championship from here to the end? The suspicion is there, because Ferrari and Red Bull tried everything possible to overturn predictions and logic, without changing much. However, Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc’s third place and Hamilton’s sixth, made a big leap forward, grabbing second place in the Constructors’ standings, overtaking Red Bull and Mercedes in one swoop, and returning—more or less—to the top spots. Leaving the German team behind shouldn’t be an issue given the mistakes and mechanical failures of Toto Wolff’s team, but beating Red Bull will be difficult, although not impossible.

The excitement of the Spanish Grand Prix came from the unconventional strategies chosen by Ferrari and Red Bull. The two sets of new Medium Pirellis were supposed to give Charles Leclerc a big advantage and push him higher up. In reality, the Soft Pirellis turned out to be faster than expected even over race distance, and the final Safety Car gifted Charles the podium—otherwise his position would have been a modest fourth. Despite this, Charles Leclerc got off to a great start, jumping from seventh to fifth, and then fourth thanks to a box-ordered position swap with Hamilton. It must also be said that with the first set of Mediums, Charles Leclerc clocked many laps at the same pace as the McLarens ahead of him, with a gap of about 10 seconds at mid-race. That’s a lot, but also not much, considering Ferrari’s struggles in this first part of the season. Then, after the Safety Car, Charles Leclerc didn’t hesitate to decisively attack Max Verstappen, who was on Hard tyres unlike the Ferrari running Softs. Yes, the Monegasque moved slightly off the line, but there’s a difference between that and dirty driving: Charles made a firm attack, not an attempt to push his rival off track. If this isn’t the lens through which these moves are assessed, F1 ultimately loses its essence.

As for Max Verstappen, the reason for the late collision with George Russell—when the Briton was already ahead—isn’t entirely clear. He probably braked late and tapped the Mercedes. But given his past incidents and aggressive driving style, there are no certainties. The 10-second penalty given by the stewards—despite Max returning the position—was harsh, dropping him from fourth to tenth and ruining Red Bull’s spectacular three-stop strategy.

Back to Ferrari, the thrills and strong points once again came from Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton was invisible and, to make matters worse, was overtaken two laps from the end by an impressive Nico Hulkenberg, who had started 15th on the grid. It was the first real standout performance from the Sauber-Audi under Mattia Binotto. Lewis Hamilton’s slump continues: will he wake up at some point? As for the Scuderia, something is moving. Slowly, cautiously, with desperate attempts like Charles Leclerc sacrificing qualifying in favour of race setup. The limitations of the SF-25 project remain, exposed by a demanding track like the Catalan one. Just to give a sense: in the final five laps, on equal tyres, Charles Leclerc lost 10.4 seconds. Realistically, hopes for the title are now just a flicker, but maybe, step by step, some wins will come. Provided there is patience—a lot of patience. A virtue Ferrari fans have long resigned themselves to.