F1 Spanish GP: Ferrari masters soft tires and capitalizes on Max Verstappen’s mistake

Ferrari claims a podium with Charles Leclerc in the Spanish Grand Prix, the ninth round of the 2025 Formula 1 championship. The Barcelona F1 race ends without penalties for the Monegasque driver, who after the FIA investigation comes out “clean” from the close encounter with Max Verstappen. For Lewis Hamilton, however, things did not go as expected. The Englishman struggled with balance issues while carrying a lot of fuel and was unable to deliver his best performance in the SF-25.

At the start, most drivers opted for Soft tires, both new and used. Strategic forecasts indicated a two-stop Spanish Grand Prix to maintain a high pace. Ferrari chose Pirellis marked with red for both drivers, but Charles Leclerc had a slightly fresher set than the one Lewis Hamilton was using. In the first laps, Max Verstappen showed an impressive pace.

But his set of tires was two laps older than Oscar Piastri’s, the race leader. Then the Dutchman began to suffer, while McLaren stood out for a more effective thermal management. Oscar Piastri nevertheless reported some rear difficulties, understandable considering how front-loaded the MCL39 single-seater was.

We are talking about a balance aimed at favoring rotation, but at the same time it stressed the rear axle of the papaya-colored cars a bit too much. In contrast, other teams focused on protecting the rear axle as much as possible, but this automatically compromised the front-end’s effectiveness.

Ferrari responded to a Mercedes move, while Red Bull tried something different by bringing Max Verstappen in for his first stop on lap 14. Once back on track, the Dutchman pushed at full throttle, without even a lap to adapt: a clear sign of the intention to play the three-stop card. The pace was not enough to threaten the McLarens but was better than Ferrari and Mercedes.

Red Bull found itself in the ideal position to attempt a more aggressive strategy. The first of the two Ferrari cars to stop was Lewis Hamilton’s, forced to cover the undercut attempt by George Russell. To avoid losing position to the seven-time Formula 1 world champion, the Italian team chose to bring him in early, accepting to extend the next stint.

Meanwhile, Mercedes faced a difficult choice: extend the stint or pit immediately. However, the overcut proved to be ineffective or even counterproductive. Charles Leclerc was also called in the following lap to prevent Lewis Hamilton from gaining ground with new tires. As often happens, Ferrari set a cautious start to the stint for both drivers, a further reason to avoid losing positions during the pit stops.

Both mounted Medium tires, the same compound the Maranello team planned to use again at the end. With the stop game, Mercedes managed to pressure Ferrari, forcing it to pit earlier. George Russell pitted on lap 23 to put on Mediums. The four-lap gap to Lewis Hamilton could have mattered in the second part, but front tire degradation showed up earlier than expected, negating some of the advantage.

Red Bull’s plan was to gain through pace. Between laps 21 and 22, both McLaren cars made their first stops, fitting Medium tires as predicted. Each pit stop costs about 21 seconds, and knowing he had to make three stops, Max Verstappen needed to recover at least four-tenths per lap. In the middle phase, until the MCL39 cars stopped, the Dutchman cut the gap by about one and a half seconds per lap, enough to alarm the Woking pit.

According to Red Bull’s calculations, around lap 40 McLaren truly felt the risk. After a very intense second part, Max Verstappen pitted for the last time on lap 41 switching to Softs: the idea was to try a final charge to grab at least one podium step. At the same moment, Charles Leclerc made his second tire change. The only realistic objective was to lock in fourth position and defend against any Mercedes comeback.

Again, the choice fell on a second set of Mediums, considered more consistent than the Softs. However, the Ferrari team preferred not to risk, choosing strategic consistency over creativity. The management of the Pirelli tires appeared solid, as already seen in Imola, especially for Charles Leclerc, a sign of improved control over surface temperatures.

The Safety Car ruined everything for Verstappen and proved an unexpected opportunity for the Maranello team. On lap 54, the Safety Car came out due to Kimi Antonelli’s retirement. However, its appearance did not offer significant strategic advantages since the main stops were already done. In fact, for Max Verstappen—already having pitted three times—the neutralization was a blow.

With Soft tires used for 11 laps, Red Bull was forced to pit for a fourth stop because the competition was preparing to mount fresher tires (almost all on Softs used for 4 laps). Only Nico Hülkenberg had a new set. Essentially, Red Bull judged Max Verstappen’s tires too worn to defend at the restart, especially against rivals with fresher compounds.

Without any other sets of Soft tires available, they opted for the Hard tires, the only alternative left. At the restart, however, the hard compound proved ineffective: the temperature had not yet reached the ideal range and Verstappen lost grip exiting the last corner. The result was a double overtake by Charles Leclerc and George Russell, which excluded the Dutchman from the podium.